Saturday, March 05, 2005

Its Bloody cold here and my boats still not out of the water

I am sitting at my PC 07.30 wondering if my boat will ever come out of the water. the pedantic "NO" Marina has still not taken it out for me to do my maintenence.

It was supposed to be out two weeks ago. This year they imposed a strict "fill out a form" system so that it would become "more effecient" and, surprise, surprise! it hasn`t.The whole problem is that some of the space used by the boatyard has now had flats built on it and the developers are doing more in the future. (too many boats, not enough boat yard space) Moan! Moan! they couldn`t organise a pis* up in a brewery.

Yes it is cold here but nowhere near as cold as Poland or Japan, I guess? I met some friends at Le Cafe (with accent over the "e")Evanthia was as unkind as ever taking the mickey out of me. Paddy and Roger two very different friends of mine arrived and we tore the world and its inhabitants to shreds ! as you do.

Moving on to something with no connection to this blog so far) I say this in case you are starting to think that I have altziemers?) Where was I? Oh yes!

Some years ago I went to the London Boat show at Earls court London, and whilst walking from the tube I stopped to adjust my back pack and my back immediately whent into spasm. I was stuck in the exit tunnel without any chance of moving due to the immense pain in my back. I didn`t know whether to ask for help from the passing commuters or just accept that, as they gave me a large berth as they passed, I was seen as a vagrant who was Pi*sed. I almost expected to have been given money if I had put my hat down on the floor. I waited for about ten minutes and slowly I managed to make my way to the entrance of the show. I found the first aid post and spent two hours and 6 full strength codene (available at that time, due to the change in shift of the nurses who didn`t know that I had already had taken some!)laying flat. after this time I ventured out into the show and really was as high as a kite and still in pain. I eventually came across, a what can only be described as, a tented area, and desperate for a seat ( there never is any at shows, as they want to keep you moving ,unless of course you are eating exorbitantly priced food)I crept inside.

In the gloom of the inside and while my eyes adjusted to this, I was immediately greeted by two wonderful people a bear of a man sporting a white beard and a beautiful small dark haired lady. they asked me if I was alright, I apologised for disturbing them and explained that I was searching for a seat for a few moments and that I was not too hot, and told them about my back pain. they sat me down in the back (nearest) row seat of what looked like a theatre layout, and said jokingly that if they got no one else for their talk, at least they had got me and that I was their first and maybe their only customer. I wasnt and they had a sell out show, their talk on "Storm tactics" went down Brilliantly with people walking up too them as they left and shaking their hands in admiration, for what they achieve in their life. I waved goodbye to them (I am not sure that they even noticed in the mele that was going on around them)and left ,grateful for the rest and more so their very informative talk.

I now know that they were of course Lin and Larry Pardey ( at the time of course I didnt know who they were!) I had read all of the Hiscock "Wanderer" series of books though, and unbeknown to me the Pardeys were achieving similar aims. They sailed around the World in their 27 foot (8 Metres) un engined boat which they built themselves, and were now doing talks to supliment their cruising life.

Needless to say I never got to see much more of the show and got home eventually. Later in life I came across this web site http://www.landlpardey.com and pass it on to any would be cruisers out there as a very informative and interesting site
" their cost consious sailer" bits are awe inspiring, given that they had no engine just a small boat, lots of sailing capability,drive, and food. and they circumnavigated the globe, and whats more they enjoyed it having met many friends, as they call them, on the way. Truly one of the nicest people I have had the fortune to very briefly meet, Thankyou Lin and Larry........ Now!!! where`s those glasses? Who am I? ... Gosh its cold! Mumble, Mumble! Nurse ! Nurse!!!!!!!!! :o))

2 comments:

Yvonne said...

Hi Rob!
I'm sorry I haven't commented but I was away(visit my blog :))
No I haven;t finished translating the poem.It's hard to do it and make the poem unpointless(?)(By the wayis there any other way to say "For nothing now can ever come to any good"??) so I'm still working out the poem.The deathline is on 17 MArch ( I guess I need to hurry up)
Yes, It's pretty cold now here ( I don't know the accurate temperature because my thermometer got broken :):) but it's snowing and there is cold wind here. I assume it's about -3C.
The school is ok this week, I have just 3 tests from English,Geograpy and Wok (culture and art in the past) so I should get on well with school this week.Oh and as every Monday I have small French test but I just love learning languages so there shouldn't be any pproblem with that.
Kind regards
Yvonne :]

rob said...

Sound like a great Idea! Motorboats have their similarity to sail in that if you treat the engine purely as an Iron sail you are left with a boat. the same navigation is required to "sail" her. Most of the expertese learned from Sailing is good for use on them ie Rope work, sun sites, compas bearings,anchoring. etc.
Rob