1^st December 2012

Happy New Year

Many platitudes come to mind but all I can really say – I hope it is another good year, full of new babies, good health, good cheer.

A 2XS moment – Things Which Stick

It has been brought to my attention more than once that…some things stick and some don’t on a boat.  I am sure that if I put something precious on the deck, securely fixed – my iphone, a $50 note, a photo of my beloved children – whatever it is which is beloved by me or by Pete would blow away, fall into the sea, never be seen again.  But if it is something I either don’t want or don’t care about – well, it sticks!  A yucky bit of paper towel, used to clean the BBQ – this not only stays around forever, it also blows right back up at you, out of its secure garbage bag, and floats daintily round the deck for weeks, looking yucky.  Likewise a used bandaid, tissue, fish scale.  Fish scales are remarkable – I hose them viciously off the deck into the sea, and there are always some to be found, on the deck, on the outdoor carpet, threatening to drift into our meals.  Yum!

When Nick and Steve were on 2XS, at the very beginning of our trip from Australia to New Caledonia, they tied a spare water bottle onto the railing, for emergency use.  For some reason, Nick stuffed a newspaper in, around the middle of the bottle, and tied it on tightly with string.  This newspaper has been drenched over and over, with sea water and rainwater.  The wind has howled around it and it has flapped and fluttered for many months.  And – it is still there!  Bedraggled and unreadable, but definitely surviving.  How could this be??  If it had been treasured documents, or a stash of $$$s, it would have dissolved and deteriorated long since.

A mystery of the sea!!