Sunday, rest day, Monday, wash day.
Fleck
Mon 9 Jun 2014 18:09
|
Monday, 9th June 2014
Location, St Georges, the same spot (a relief, see
below).
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday
lunchtime I was marooned on board, and the sheltered anchorage that I
previously described had been been transformed by Saturday evening
into an unpleasant place by a frontal system moving in from the NE. SW winds
F6/7 blew arcoss a 1.5 mile fetch producing quite big waves, far too big to
contemplate launching the dinghy. By Sunday I was quite concerned that the
anchor might drag, and that we would fall back onto the huge wreck that was
about 25 metres downwind. So the anchor drag alarm was set, and we yawed about,
dangling from the anchor, and waited. I wished we were back safely at home. At
night we were tossed about, no sleep came, but then at 6am I woke! S
slapping sound against the hull, and otherwise complete silence. An odd sound,
so up on deck: we were under attack, a shoal of big sardines were
jumping all over the place, and it would seem, battering themselves against the
hull. Dawn and a millpond in the anchorage duly noted, back to
sleep!
9am. Remembered that the weather forecast for this
week is abysmal, ie no wind at all. So may be stuck here for a while. But such a
relief to find the sun shining again, I stripped my bed, gathered some more
washing and headed for the town launderette. Am I just getting blasse about
prices, or did $US 25 for the wash and drier seem good value!! Passed the
morning in my favourite cafe with the free computer, reminds me of the Fowey
coffee shop that I frequented last Autumn. A large Cappuccino is $5. Discovered
that Vicky is off to a good start in the last Ocean crossing of the race, so
fingers crossed for her and the crew.
Depressing World News: The Taliban knock out
Karachi Airport, and push Putin's push on the Ukraine into second spot in the
hit parade. I love it when my reading becomes topical. My history book,
sleepwalking into WW1has provided much appreciated background into The Balkan
Wars, the Crimean War, and the strategic importance of the Bosporus. So it is
not just a crossing on the Istanbul Marathon course. Russia has always
had to keep a close eye on the Black Sea, and its access to the Med. Also the
Statelessness of Europeans confounds us Islanders. The Serbian PM: 'Serbia's
borders should encompass all those areas where Serbians live' takes a bit of
thinking about, before becoming, dare I say, a little absurd. So the other
literary angle on current affairs comes from my friend (I wish) Orhan Pamuk. His
novel 'Snow' set in the 1990's and written in 2002, is a wonderful story about
secularism, the state, and religious fundamentalism in Turkey. Played almost as
a black comedy, there are no good people, no evil people, and the whole thing is
cliche free from begining to at least page 230. Highly recomended. Maybe Hannah
should take it to school: the women and girls who wear headscarves are a central
theme, but nothing is quite as it seems.
Painting has improved, a little. Conditions were
not ideal on board yesterday, poor light, and tossing about. Last night I looked
at my work and decided it was rubbish, poor drawing, poor colours. Today have
been back to the flowers, photographed and measured them, and indeed it is the
flowers themselves that are not symmetrical. Question: how do you get shadow
onto a yellow petal without it turning green or grey? I should have my textbook
with me!
A medical emergency on Friday evening also
unsettled me. Cooking a piece of Tuna fish (a real steal at $6) I rubbed lemon
pepper seasoning into my eyes. By that time I already realsied that I would be
stuck on the boat for 36 hours, and no chloromycetin drops anywhere (fact, no
matter how big your First aid box, what you need isn't in it). Filled a bucket
with bottled water, and washed my eyes for ages, right was quickly better, but
obviously scratched something on the left, and could not get comfortable.
Finally fell alseep wondering what the morning would bring, and pleased
to discover no worse, probably a little better. Today definitley better,
and no conjunctivitis. Still 'catches' when I blink. Hopefully all is well.
Tuna was delicious, and lemon pepper is a great all round seasoning, might be
safer to use black rather than white pepper in future.
Can someone please rustle up some W wind, 15
kts?
|