Let’s Hope
As we tumble into 2024, wondering with not just a little fear and trepidation what on earth current world events will bring; while we journey on, unable to make any real difference to them, but are forced to watch horrified at the appalling suffering of the innocents, I do hope you carry with you some good memories from the old year.
All of this as Covid continues to rampage through society at home and where, later in the year, we will be subjected to the electoral speal, brim full with empty promises to be left unfulfilled by whichever party is successful; I will continue to search and find the good things that are going on in life with people and nature.
Voltaire became despondent about the big picture after the Seven Years War and surmised all the thinking individual can really do is look after the immediate world around us that we inhabit. But if we carry a little dilly bag and gather specimens of hope, we can maintain a positive outlook on life which is healthy for heart and mind and often proves worth the effort.
Dilly bag in South Australia Museum, Adelaide
I feel that family life is one amongst the few most important institutions and occupations in the world, and we are so fortunate to be able to see our lovely family growing up and thriving; acutely aware that 70% of the victims in the Israel/Palestinian war are children. A modern atrocity that will become a dark part of global history for sure.
The Loss of a friend
Friends that we choose are another perennial joy, aren’t they; so, Rob and I were shocked and saddened to learn that our friend Hannes had died while trying to launch his dinghy for a trip ashore from his yacht Cayenne in Indonesia, to chat by phone with Sabine, his lovely wife, who is in Austria.
We first met them in Bora Bora and have spent cruising time and fun evenings with them in New Zealand. We sailed in company with them to Minerva Reef, exploring the reef together by foot and more recently had a lovely time with Hannes in Ceduna while we made our way across the Australian Bight and Hannes had just driven eastwards across the Nullabor, an area and road linking Western Australia with its southern sister.
He was too young and Hannes and Sabine had such lovely plans ahead.
Out of the blue
Talking of dear friends, out of the blue recently our American cruising buddies, Gail and Tony, whom we met in Tonga in 2016, have invited us to join them, or rather just Tony as Gail is recovering from some medical care, to help him sail his fine Cheoy Lee, 53-foot sailing yacht, Cetacea, from Batam Island, Indonesia, just offshore from Singapore, northwards to Phuket, ready for her to be shipped through the Red Sea to Turkey. Whenever that might happen, in view of the attacks on shipping by Houthi rebels.
Cetacea in the Whangarei River
Zoonie has never sailed in that area as we crossed the Indian Ocean from South Australia and rounded into the South Atlantic Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope, so this opportunity really appealed to us from the cruising point of view. Also, the chance of seeing Tony again, and possibly Gail if she can join us later, means we might be able to do a land tour of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia together after we leave Cetacea.
Such a big adventure at the very beginning of the New Year is exciting and not in any way phased by the struggle we had to get an Indonesian Visa, for the few days we will be on Batam Island before we set off.
Suffice it to say that the official website, while not wanting to take our money, so the visas could not be issued, did have a link to the iVisa site, and for a few pounds more they sorted us out in a trice. If you have similar problems for visas anywhere, they might be able to help you.
So now the spare bedroom is festooned with clean, ironed hot weather clothes, rescued from Zoonie, the malaria tablets have been checked for their efficacy in Southeast Asia, and my daughter has kindly offered to look after home and garden while we are away. So, my little vegetable seedlings can stay in the frost-free shelter of the greenhouse, where Emily will give them a weekly drink.
Home repairs
While we are away, the chimney is going to get a wash in a liquid sealer to hopefully stop the leak that dripped onto sleeping Rob’s nose the other night during a stormy night. It has been leaking for a while and we don’t mind because the house is old. If that treatment doesn’t work, the 130-year old stack will have to be taken down and re-built with a drainage tray installed half way up it, as you can see on modern chimneys, and that will be expensive.
While the guys are around, they are going to move the scaffolding to the end apex and make good, years of wear and tear in the bricks and mortar, repaint the apex wood black and fix three house martin cups and one swift/swallow box ready, hopefully, for some feathery home-makers in the spring. More exciting stuff!
Our sojourn abroad this time is so different from our circumnavigation returns to Zoonie after home visits, because we can look forward to coming back to this lovely home, which is so similar to the dream home I imagined a thousand times as we crossed the oceans. Another joy.
Banged up
No, nothing to do with the Post Office scandal, and there is so much more to put right there isn’t there. Our Christmas present from our Broadstone family is a guided tour, with the family, around Shepton Mallet Prison, where numerous executions and prisoner burials took place since it was opened in 1624. Apparently one can stay overnight in a cell; quite a challenge when you know the prison is allegedly the most haunted on the planet. I’d do it for a sum!
A cold snap
We have just embarked on a cold spell for the next two weeks. So, my brassica seedlings are languishing under some white agricultural fleece to protect them from frost, and I have made a bubble-wrap cage for the caulis and carrots I have grown from seed in the greenhouse. The compost in Rob’s compost box is looking more like it should by the day, and will improve and shade the soil when it is ready.
I love having systems in operation around me; vegetables growing, wine and beer brewing, my book about the second half of our circumnavigation now at the stage where Rachel, my editor, is looking at the book ready for us to start our to-ing and fro-ing of the text with corrections and suggestions.
Napoleon
We went on a date yesterday. Walked in the calm chill (after all the wind and rain-made floods of late) down to Wimborne, to see the film, Napoleon. I had heard some of the reviews and wondered how the portrayal of the character would compare with the, almost reclusive man who was liked and respected by the French and British soldiers when he was living out his life exiled on St Helena. It was a further insight into a complex character, capable of commanding the respect of vast armies, while at an insecure loss in personal relationships, a brilliant tactician, yet capable of making whopping mistakes. Another narcissist? Maybe, but a likeable one for many because his message was simple and his care was obvious. Fighting a losing battle to escape his insecurities, for sure, with all the behaviour traits that such a lack of self-confidence can create.
Napoleon and me in Jamestown, St Helena
I really liked the way Ridley Scott, David Scarpa and the screen writers focussed on his personality because he was one of the most interesting leaders in recent history.
What also had us wondering was where had we seen this convincing actor, Joaquin Phoenix before? Johnny Cash in Walk the Line of course! A rare and versatile American talent.
After the cinema we were a little thirsty so we found a nice comfy settee in our favourite, The Rising Sun Pub, and read from cover to cover the Ladybird book on Dating. Well, that was entertaining. There were two other titles in the series of adult books under this well-known publishing house, and we decided to save those for two future dates!