Work, work, work

Thursday 14^th June

We’ve spent the past few days working like dogs. Alex pulling wires through masts and in the boat, replacing and repairing various mast components, and generally making a mess of our abode.

Trying to stay out of his way, I’ve had to do things up on deck. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of jobs up there. I cleaned up goopy gunk from gorilla tape the guys used in the winter to hold things together on deck in stormy weather. I sanded and varnished the coaming and trim (first coat – only 4 more coats to go), sanded and varnished the teak trim on the deck hatches, cleaned the mold from the hatches, sprayed mold killer in preparation for an intensive deck cleaning, and tried to post entries into my blog. I acquired two part teak cleaner in the knowledge that I’d really need it. I removed the tattered lifesling after three Atlantic crossings and ten years of hard sailing and replaced the old tired throwing lifering with a new one. It’s amazing how little things can make a big difference in how something looks: treasured or forgotten.

It’s been very difficult without internet access. I spent hours in the office the other day, on the couch with no table trying to catch up on OCC website updates, which I managed okay. I also converted the new Flying Fish to eZine format and posted that and the pdf online.

I did my banking there and luckily things were okay. But then my Wells Fargo private banker sent me a form to sign for transfer of funds. I could not access it via mobile at all as secure correspondence is not supported in mobile format. There was no form in her note. And if there had been a form, I could not have printed it, signed it, and scanned it to send back to her. No printer. No scanner. People just don’t get this lifestyle. They think everyone has access to everything. When you go cruising, you find out just how dependent we’ve become on technology. It is concerning.

Yesterday, back home in Ireland they had 90 k/h wind sustained through the night from storm Hector. Fortunately, there was no significant damage at our house. But 35,000 are without power today. Three headsails were ripped to shreds among the MSC fleet. I feel blessed that we are here in Portugal with sun and fair weather.

Alex has just announced that he has finished his work down below aboard Aleria and now can begin the cleanup. That means I’m closer to the other cleanup that he doesn’t see. Washing the walls and ceilings and floors of the grit and dirt that has collected through the winter and with his constructions. Oh joy, yet another job for paradise.

But not tomorrow. Tomorrow we get an early start. We’ve reserved a rental car for a road trip to Sintra and along the coast. I suppose I should have acquired a map.