Sleepless in Suva
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Sun 29 May 2011 12:00
I should be out with her tonight, not just as a night watchman but maybe
to give her moral support (can you give an inanimate object moral support?
To me she's a living thing, so yes in this case I think you can and I hope
she knows I'm thinking about her) but after a quick visit this morning
when it became obvious that one of the rescue crew had locked her up and
had the key so I couldn't get access to tools to fix the outboard it
seemed pointless remaining on board.Also I realise now how close I came to
'checking out' last night. I remember wondering how the hell I was going
to get back on board when a large surge took care of the problem for me
and dumped me on the second step. I've read that drowning is a fairly
peaceful way to go and I have to say that I'm not sure, towards the end,
how much effort I was putting into staying alive. It did cross my mind
that I wasn't too concerned about it, but before any body reads that and
panics, NO. I say no more on the subject, it was just my feeling at that
particular time.
A couple of hours after getting back the Royal Suva Yacht Club Commodore
handed me the keys, apparently the crew handed me the keys but I was
pretty much out of it so he took them for safe keeping. He also paid for
the taxi and refused to accept any payment for it. I also found out that
it was one of the ladies from the Marina restaurant who came with me to
the hospital and also the senior guard from the marina. Apparently I made
a fairly rapid recovery, about an hour or so and no need of a doctor
although one was monitoring the situation. Seemingly the lady gave me a
head and neck massage, she says the tension was intense; I have no doubt
that the massage aided my recovery, if only from the point of view of
caring human contact.
Today, the restaurant gave me lunch which was a wonderful surprise, I
reckon that I hadn't eaten for perhaps 36 hours so I'm going to have to be
aware of that and make sure that I do eat, even if it's just some fruit or
bread....not much appetite at the moment and as you can tell I'm not
sleeping much either. The lady who came to the hospital with me also
grabbed a large bag of sodden, muddy sandy laundry that I brought back
ashore with me. She's insisting that she will do it although I'm going to
have to try and insist that I pay for it. She/they wouldn't let me pay for
my coffee after lunch, but honour was satisfied when I brought one later.
It seems that I might have misinterpreted the situation re Cadey, she's
actually staying with the restaurant owner and his wife. Having hinted
otherwise I'll publicly retract what I insinuated. It would be fair to
say that I've pretty much ignored her this last week, apart from a few
hours when it was pointed out to me that she was having a hard time coping
and I sat down and talked to her for a short time. She could legitimately
complain about my lack of communication so talk time at the first
opportunity (and no guys, I haven't gone soft in the head. The trip up was
pretty traumatic for an inexperienced sailor in it's own right, let alone
what happened at the end. In our brief chat she mentioned that she had no
idea how tired I'd become and said she should have overcome her fears of
the night watch. No excuses though, I was the one who screwed up).
Trouters has suffered some more damage, as I've mentioned in a previous
post. I don't think it's terminal, but I should know in about 36 hours. I
have no idea how the hell I'm going to pay for the repairs except to say
that I will.
Right, to press the send button or not? A very personal post, but on
balance if only to be fair to another person, yes; perhaps my mental
confusion might be understood if not forgiven. A traumatic time for both
of us.
Hopefully I'll find my phone on board tomorrow and I'll be interested to
see if my sandals are on board as well or whether I lost them in the surf.
Due to minor foot injuries I've tended to take them off unless I actually
need them so it's possible that I did the same thing this time on my
'assisted return' to the boat. Certainly I have no further injuries so I'm
cautiously optimistic about finding them. They cost me £7.50 in a bargain
shoe store in Whangerei dammit and have proven to be as good as Clarkes
sandals at about a seventh of the price.
Fiji: +6799212518
A writer's life for me?
http://roastbeefonsundays.blogspot.com/