Sunday 15th September
This morning we
did a cooking class. Very pleasant it
was, sitting in a big shady area watching five pleasant women making
sambal. They produced a large amount of
fish satay and urap urap (mixed veggies…) and we were all able to eat as much
as we wanted at lunchtime.
It was not only
a cooking class…
It was also a
sex education class…a mortar and pestle can be quite a phallic combination, and
the action of grinding up spices can only be done with a very suggestive sway
of the hips. Mothers teach their teenage
daughters how to make sambal, and how to wriggle their hips but… NOT TOO MUCH!!
Norman and
Sara, from Wales, sailors off lovely little Norsa, enjoyed it very much too. We had heard them on the radio coming down the coast of Sumbawa;
they were very excited, if faintly alarmed, to have caught…half a tuna… I asked
them about this, over lunch and found that the tuna had indeed been whole when
it took the bait but by the time they had hauled it aboard, something very
hungry had eaten half of it. Oh the
horror of fishy life!
In the meantime
we had a gang of boys poring fuel into the thirsty tanks of 2XS.
They required
frequent icy drinks, and posed, faintly menacingly, for a photo. I make three photos on my little Canon Selphy
and they were speechless with delight.
Well almost speechless…one of them rushed up to the cabin to ask me to
take another one, of just him and me, and to print it out too, thank you very
much.
We also had a
film crew on board. They just suddenly materialised
on the deck, with a large camera. I was
a bit nonplused; the cabin was in just a bit of a mess… I darted about, getting
very hot, and putting things away at high speed. I do hope I can find these “things” again…
Had to search high and low for my mouse, which was coyly hiding in a packet of
seasickness medication… They were so lovely, these young TV Personalities. They had never been on a yacht before and
were totally fascinated. Surely there
must be more people on board this ENORMOUS boat than just Pete and me?? Where were our children?? I showed them photos and the girls looked at
me, awestruck. So many children! So many cucu
(grandchildren)!! And oh how beautiful
your hair is! I wish my hair was like
that! I looked at them a bit sadly;
my hair is perfectly OK, for an oldchick.
It needs cutting and is now a strange mixture of colours – brown, blond,
white, grey. And their hair is long,
lustrous, shiny and black…
I rest my case!!
Just outside
our berth, on the edge of the beach, they are erecting a series of
canopies. Plastic chairs are acquiring
cute little coats and blue sashes. The
film crew is getting more excited by the minute… The Bupati (Regent of Northern
Lombok) is arriving at 4.00 for a welcoming ceremony for Rally participants. There will be speeches…maybe dancing girls…certainly
food…
I have cut Pete’s
hair and have banished him to his bunk for a nap – he is so very tired he will not
be able to survive a welcoming ceremony without a bit of a nap… The fuel boys
did most of the work – ie lugging the cans and pouring the fuel through filters
into the tanks - this morning but they did manage to spill a whole lot of
diesel over the deck and into places where diesel should not be, so Pete has
been darting about with de-greaser and rags in the hot hot sun…mad dogs and Englishmen…
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