31st August - Kudat - Pete does another Mr Fix-it job

Sunday 31^st August

A bright and pretty flower blooming, unregarded, near the bike stand

Yesterday I woke earlier than Pete and did a few domestic things while it wasn’t too blisteringly hot.  I swept all of the carpet areas, on hands and knees, while listening to a random shuffle of songs on my iPod.  Life on a boat is not ALL sundowners and scallops…

Not scallops but prawns, last night...

I was moderately satisfied with my endeavours.  Until the outdoor table did its THING again.  I had already swept up hundreds of tiny silver shards.  The top of the table was completely rotting away and the top layer had disintegrated and peeled, in tiny silver shards.  I seem to have swept up millions of the buggerish things in the past few months, but there is an inexhaustible supply.  I also saw that the table not only was peeling and disintegrating, it had also got so soggy and wretched that there was a slumped big hole, getting bigger by the minute.  All I wanted to do was throw the whole damn thing into the nice big skip they so kindly provide at Kudat marina.  Poor Pete awoke to a flood of complaints – I just can’t take it any longer…(I wanted to cry but managed just a bit of decorum and restraint.) 

First half inserted - no as easy as you might think...

So, a bit wearily, he started MacGuyvering it.  Somewhere under the building he found a nice big sheet of plywood, asked for permission to use it, and then spent many hours turning what was a ghastly table into a beautiful one!  I want to get a big plastic cover to protect it from the elements IMMEDIATELY but there is no such thing, in Kudat.  Shopping here is just a bit limited…I will no longer have to hide the table under layers of sarongs, hoping that nobody will notice the ghastliness below.  In fact, I think it looks quite Scandinavian and almost chic…maybe the rest of the boat will have to be revamped!

Today is Lynne Headlam’s birthday.  It seems like only a few weeks since we celebrated her glorious 70^th in her beautiful beach house, Stella Maris, but I think that was two YEARS ago…Lynne is still working hard in her business and being the most wonderful mother, grandmother, and friend.  She is an inspiration to us all!