Preparing for a cruise post-pandemic

When you haven't done something routinely for a couple of years, it takes a bit of memory jogging to get with it again. How are the sheets run relative to the shrouds? What's the sequence for turning on the inverter and charger with the generator running? And so on. 

It took us a couple of weekends to square the boat for the delivery back home. Then it took several days to bring aboard all the stuff we needed for cruising since we'd taken it all off for the selling process. Of course, we forgot stuff and needed to spend a day or so on anchor in Rosmoney to find out all the things we'd forgotten. 

When we finally did get ourselves settled, we found we were still missing things we used to have aboard when full-time cruising that I didn't think we'd need for a couple of weeks close to home. Reference books belong in that category

We did bring loads of stuff aboard and stowed it somewhere. It was actually nice not to have to squeeze it between legacy stuff that was cumulatively carried. 

As we started using things, we found the quirks that needed correcting: a faulty return valve in the toilet needed some oil to soften the rubber, a stuck solenoid on the gas tank needed persuading, and doors that wouldn't close needed realigning.  

Somehow, I'm just not as enthusiastic about cruising as I used to be. It all seems to be work. Schlepping stuff from here to there, wearing many layers, getting wet and cold, hauling sails and canvas around, and pulling on ropes and heavy things. It's the same with skiing. Am I just getting old and disinterested?  Or is it that much more difficult now? I'll be 68 years old this week. 

Perhaps I've moved on to the land side of adventure with the vineyard and polytunnel and gardens. Perhaps I've grown more curmudgeonly with age. Or perhaps the pandemic intensified my introversion. I know it has caused bouts of anxiety.  If it's a confluence of all these factors, perhaps I may be in trouble.