Inspector Clouseau was assigned to the case
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Wed 1 Feb 2012 19:56
The engine spares have arrived! They came with DHL, which is why DHL called me to get the customs rotation number. That in itself is a bit of a mystery, because on at least three stickers and the address label itself was plainly typed....the customs rotation number, never mind, they're here. I contacted Martin the Mechanic, who's very busy at the moment so he spouted some whimsical 'meknik-speke' about not wanting the engines 'to deterioate sitting in the boat' so he proposed to work in slow time. I proposed that 'au contraire' he work in fast time and get them reassembled and back in the boat, where they wouldn't deteriorate, because engines don't do that sort of thing, at least not for the (probable) month or six weeks that they won't be used.
Still anxiously awaiting the rudder posts, but for some reason I haven't been able to access the TNT tracking site. The last time I could, two days ago, the posts were in Heathrow. Oh well, you can't have it all I suppose, but a bit more would be nice.
I now have a visa case officer. I didn't include a copy of the boat registration with my application, so I've rectified that. There was a question of what was my proposed itinery, but I explained about small boats, winds and tides. Very politely, I guess in Fiji they don't get that many yachts applying for a twelve month multi-entry visa. I explained that (hopefully) I would get the version which allows me to apply for an extension for a further twelve months, otherwise I'd be forced to make my way up to Darwin this coming (Northern) summer and leave by September/October. There was no mention of why hadn't I applied electronically, so it looks like I might have done the right thing. That'll be a first for a long time then.
Alas, I am definitely fridgeless. At some point the Waeco portable freezer must have been floating around inside the boat. Rich the refigerator reports total corrosion mon! I'm going to take a closer look at the compressor, but certainly the electronics are shot, I could see that through the air vents in the box. Never mind, Columberg didn't have a fridge either, and of course red wine doesn't need chilling!
It's been raining cats and dogs here, although the tropical depression that caused it is finally slipping away. That's meant that work has been slowed on the interior of the boat, although I have written about another two and a half chapters of Eliezer 2. The first draft should be finished in a couple of weeks, then I'll put it to one side whilst I visit Brisbane. The other bit of 'good news' is that the plot of the third, final Eliezer book, has 'clicked' into place, although when I start on that I don't know, I need some encouragement but Emma the Agent can only do so much.
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