Snork Maiden redux

Thursday, May 21, 2009 OK some of you asked for pix and this is the only one that appeals right now. Being in the water means no longer having to pee in a pot. This is a weird day in between all the hustle of getting the boat launched yesterday, and leaving for London tomorrow for a week of yoga, then coming back to Marans, with my birthday sandwiched in between, along with a shopping list of forgotten/desired items not findable or affordable in France. Prices here can be a bit shocking. We have to buy a new battery for the boat when we get back - bigger than a car battery so I’m expecting 100 Euro or so. Food seems expensive - but maybe it’s just difficult to make the comparison. Anyway - I’m not going to describe the boat launch - you can see it on YouTube. STOP PRESS EEK UPLOAD TAKING TO LONG, WILL HAVE TO DO THIS TOMORROW: I want to write about the harbourmaster. The harbour master here is the appropriately named M. Coindeau. For me he symbolises the way France is. I ...

Monday, May 18, 2009 MUCH better today - so sunny I began to re-evaluate my ideas about Greece… I think we need to make a serious plan. This will be our fifth summer with Snork Maiden and we have to be careful that we use her wisely! The provisional plan this year is to cruise the islands that we didn’t see enough of last year. It seems to be what we like best so far - anchored (or moored) somewhere quiet-ish, where we can take out the dinghy, go fishing, swimming, beachcombing, rent bikes and go exploring. We went to several of them on the way down in 2007 - Yeu, Belle Isle, Houat, Houdec, and a few others so far north we might as well go home! (More about this after we’ve had our planning meeting.) I’d like to do much more anchoring, so that we can start to feel secure about leaving SM at anchor. It also saves a few eurobob. Today was all about anti-fouling and getting the boat sorted on the inside, after 2 days of chaos. Actually managed to make lunch yesterday too. Tonight s...

Sunday, May 17, 2009 After a grim day yesterday - cold, rainy, frustrating and 2 hot water bottles in my sleeping bag at night - today was much better. I have been watching Bergman’s ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ and stopped at a low point on Friday night. Saturday night was almost a happy ending, at least by Bergman’s standards. As a production it’s beautifully sparse in terms of design - very different from contemporary film & television. Shot sizes are also used to maximum effect. The first time the camera leaves the wide is a jolt and the first real close-up is a real thrill. The rain cleared by mid-morning, and I was able to get on with my work. Managed to join 2 hoses and get a water supply on the boat. Cleaned the deck, cockpit and hull - now ready for anti-fouling. Forecast promises sunshine tomorrow. The rust line between keel and was in pretty good shape after wire brushing and metal paint last year. Not sure what happened to last year’s pots, so have used Hammerit...

Sorry - slow going this year - both the poor little overloaded powerbook, creaking under the weight of 2000+ pix and a pile of shash on the desktop. Will try to do better. Meanwhile there are a few pix on http://picasaweb.google.com/wikidrat/SNORKMAIDEN2009?feat=directlink Chitra - thanks for reminding me that the pictures are important! You can subscribe to RSS to check for updates - go on, you know you want to...

Friday, May 15, 2009 STILL NO PIX Went to La Rochelle to book rail tickets to get back to London by TGV. They charge a whacking 250 Euros, so have settled for RyanAir to Stansted at around 85 Euros. This is mad! I am disappointed but I just can’t justify the cost against our dwindling Euro budget. And so, children, the planet Gaia was destroyed. Then a tour of the chandleries to replace flares. The old flares are fine, but past the sell-by. And if you need them (and they are called distress flares) you do need them to work. There was a bad story about a chap who blew a hole in himself - be sure to point them the right way! Followed by an afternoon at the Internet coalface - how can it take hours to book a flight? Gave up on National Express after being ejected from the card security system. Closely followed by a call from Egg telling me that I hadn’t got through their security. They have been nice enough to let me back into the system, but I’m going to buy my bus ticket at the ...

(B)log Thursday, May 14, 2009 SORRY NO PIX - HAVING PROBLEMS WITH UPLOAD Well, here we are again - the Snork Maiden and me. It always takes a day to adjust to life aboard, especially when she’s out of the water. (I will put some yard pix on Picasa tomorrow.) The horses and frogs don’t seem to be here, but there’s lots of birdsong morning and evening. Just to back up, I came over on the ferry Tuesday night. Usually the boat (from Plymouth to Roscoff) is an elderly vessel, the Pont Aven. She’s a bit lived in, and the cheap cabins were situated somewhere below the car decks, next to the engines. The deep throb used to send me to sleep - just as well, since the partitions between cabins were not up to the ceiling, and there was no barrier to noisy sleepers, kids, or party animals. The bathrooms were communal, but you were never far away from an exit route! (Think Poseidon.) The new ferry - the Armorique, named for Brittany’s Cote d’Armor (not ‘amour’) is the exact opposite. She’s muc...

Help! I have been struck down with a disobedient back. No obvious cause apart from the usual suspect - stress. But why? And why now? So today is the 11th and I am not sure whether or not to take the ferry tonight. Yesterday evening I thought I was practically OK, then this morning couldn't hardly get out of bed without crying. "Will all drivers rejoin their vehicles on the car-deck..." I will have to be carried down there... Checking out Brittany ferries to see whether I can get a cabin tomorrow night - website says not. Maybe on compassionate grounds, har har... Back to re-rigging my travel arrangements. Virtual massages accepted!