Saturday 3^rd March

2XS is still in Eden.  I think Pete is hoping to leave tomorrow but it depends on the gale force winds out there on the sea.

The good news is – they found the backgammon set, lurking under some handcrafted baskets from the Louisiades, made by Moses's mum, Sanity.  I have been led to believe that this was an impossibly difficult place to HIDE the backgammon…

The bad news is…well… Do you remember I wrote that I was going to restore the oars?  They had been in the tender for years and had been very neglected.  Every now and then we would use them for their intended purpose and they would row us across the sea.  But mainly they lurked in the tender, getting more weather-beaten by the day.  If I hadn’t decided to administer some love and affection and expensive marine varnish they would probably have turned into two long piles of splintered pale wood.  I took eleven days to get them looking like the works of art and usefulness they should have been all along.  First I sanded them for about five hours, maybe more – I went into a bit of a trance as we sailed down the coast and just kept on until they were all smooth and ready for varnish.  They got a new coat every day, and Pete told me that they needed to be sanded back a bit before the varnish was applied.  I put (sob) a lot of effort into the project and on the eleventh day – well they were glorious!  I was very proud.  So…the bad news is…one of the oars has vanished.  It just fell off somewhere between somewhere and somewhere, Pete and Steve don’t know.  One oar is, of course, no use at all so we will have to buy new ones ASAP.  And I will TRY to love them as much as the original pair.

All is well here.  It is about 8pm and I am starting to fade just a bit.  A 2am bedtime was fine yesterday but the Friday night fun and games is taking its toll and I can feel Sleepyboboland beckoning.

Lots of people have assumed that I am relishing having a break from 2XS, and more specifically, from Pete.  They blink incredulously when I say well no, not so.  I am missing Pete very much, and feel very interrupted with regard to our big adventure.  I am, mind you, having a lovely time and have no regrets whatsoever re my decision to come and be with Katy, Jeff and the darling children for these few weeks.

On the plus side:

• lovely familly

• lovely baby

• lovely friends

• lovely Tasmania

• lovely lovely lovely

On the minus side…no Pete, no 2XS.