Tuesday 18th February
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| One of the boats nearby at the anchorage |
am
Today is a day to
give heartfelt thanks to my iPad, and to the Kindle app in particular…
What would I do
without it?? 2XS would sink under the
weight of the number of books I would need to keep me happy… With Pete asleep
most of the day – sleep it is a blessed
thing, beloved from pole to pole* – I have been able to keep sane and happy
by reading for many hours at a time, interposed with dips in the sea, and the
odd game of mahjongg. I am too scared to
swim; the water rushes past most fiercely and I don’t want to be washed out
under the Surin Bridge…that would be VERY embarrassing. I just climb down the ladder and hold on for
dear life as my legs get swept out into the current.
 |
| Through the tarpaulin |
My role as Pete’s
nurse is not very taxing. I check on him
regularly, to make sure the sun hasn’t crept round to beat down upon his head
through the hatch, in spite of the many tarpaulins stretched out across the
boat. And whenever he wakes up, I force
him to drink a whole glass of fluid.
And in the
meantime, oh the joy of so many books awaiting on my Kindle app! Jabba recommended a new detective series, by
John Burdett, beginning with Bangkok
Eight. So far so good; a great set
of characters, a racy story, and wonderful sense of location – Bangkok,
obviously, with the odd foray into the Thai countryside!
While on the topic
of ebooks…I have finally worked out how to download my Kindle books onto Pete’s
mini iPad. Yes I KNOW this is very
simple, but…so far I haven’t had uninterrupted time to do it, slowly and
carefully. He now has ten books ready to
go, starting with Crazy Rich Asians,
Kevin Kwan, which I thought was terrific, just by the way. So maybe now I won’t have to scour the
shelves in various marinas and 2nd hand bookshops, looking for books
which aren’t too dirty… Reading away happily and finding what you only HOPE is
somebody’s squashed lunch and not something worse is so very unpleasant…
Very happy I am to
be able to report that we are now IN the marina, not lurking on the
outskirts. I really didn’t like being
away from dry land, with a sickboy on board… He does seem to be improving,
however, so…all is well.
pm
I left him for an
hour and had dinner at a little restaurant along the track. I could see 2Xs, peeking shyly through the
trees…
I had my computer
for company but…no need! Craig and Robyn
were there – friends from the Indonesian Rally – and they invited me to join
them.
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| Robyn and Craig (Gemini II) |
And then Jon and Irina arrived,
with Jon’s long-awaited daughter Amy and her friend Bec.
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| Amy Bec Irina Jon |
Craig told me that
last July four yachts were washed up onto the beach at Nai Harn Bay!! They were quite badly damaged, as one might
imagine. It was all so serene and
lovely, when we were there… But July is the time for violent winds, called
sumatras, in this region so it is a very good idea to do a bit of research
before anchoring…
 |
| It all looks gentle and peaceful in February |
Breaking news:
Pete is MUCH better.
Tucking into bacon, baked beans, toast as we speak…
* Thanks S T
Coleridge, Rhyme (or is it Rime??) of the
Ancient Mariner…love this epic poem!
Does this mean you've been sailing the boat alone? Wow!
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