Turning a corner
DecaDance's Web Diary
Chris White and Jeanna Coleman
Wed 15 Dec 2010 19:49
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Position: 37:06.6N 008:40.5W
- Lagos Marina (still)
Things are looking up on board the good ship DecaDance.
Chris chased up the dishy electrician yesterday, who had phoned us on Monday but
we didn't notice the missed call. He's fixed the bow-thruster, sorted
out the interface problem with the chartplotter to the laptop (it was a firewall
setting which I think I might have changed - oops) and they also
installed our cockpit speakers so we can blast out tunes on deck
now. We have finally started to fix things at a faster rate than we're
breaking them (although I hope I haven't just tempted fate).
Yesterday morning, one person, Rob, confirmed he has
booked his flights to join us as crew, and this morning the owners of La Belle
Poule (Chris chatted to them in passing once and stuck the feelers out, when I
walk pass I always wonder why someone would call their boat The Pretty Chicken
- or more accurately, hen) sent over a young lad who is working for
them, Stewart, who also wishes to join us. Stewart is a commercially
endorsed yachtmaster who has sailed the Atlantic twice, which is pretty good
going for someone who looks about twelve. So we're set to go at
the end of the week, weather permitting.
Yesterday, I decided to brave a haircut, something that has
been a bit of a worry since I left behind the expertise of Denise
at Passion 4 Hair when I moved to Devon, and is more so now with the added
complication of the language barrier. My three words of Portuguese don't
stretch to ,"Could you chop into a bit more?", or "Please don't gel the
back of my hair, I don't like it when it sticks to my neck."
The hairdresser was very nice, although full of cold, bless
her. Her English stretched to repeating the phrase "More short?"
until I finally said no, and the final result was passable, although I should
have said no slightly earlier. She gave me a really relaxing
head massage when conditioning my hair which was much appreciated as I've
started to grind my teeth again since arriving in Lagos, something I haven't
done since we first moved onto the boat.
It was the marina Christmas dinner last night in the West Bar
and a welcome excuse for us both to dress up. I wasn't sure whether the
gaps in the pontoon or the cobblestones were going to be worse for my heels (the
first time I've worn any since our leaving party). It was neck and neck,
or rather break neck, and I was hobbling at the end of the 10 minute walk.
The organiser, Fiona presented us with a glass of champagne on arrival and Nige
(no 'el') and Martha came over and introduced themselves, probably because we
were just about the only ones in the group who don't yet qualify for a
free bus pass. Nige and Martha stood out from the crowd, not just due to
their relative youth, but because Nige was wearing a kilt and Martha is best
described as a Brazilian bomb-shell. We sat with them during a delicious
meal of chestnut soup, chicken or sea-bass, and chocolate brownies.
They have a catamaran, Angel of Rio, and they're doing pretty much the
same route as us for the next eighteen months, minus the Canary Islands.
There was a great atmosphere in the restaurant and everyone was really
friendly, including the staff. After the meal we all moved onto
the South Bar and we bumped into Peter and Ayli from our first night here.
They've invited us to their apartment to watch the final of Strictly on Saturday
if we're still around. As much as I love Strictly, and their company, I
hope we'll be gone by then. |