The mysteries of the British honours system usually leave me yawning but this time a particularly unprepossessing, second-rate actor with pretensions to adequacy as a tv presenter caught my eye.
One Tony Robinson, a non-academic dig enthusiast, ever-present at political events and a sycophant of the first water is now to be addressed as ‘sir’. Gawd ‘elp us!
Hey, what’s with the CAPTAIN’S WHEEL STUCK TO YOUR PANTS?
AAAAAAAGH
IT DRIVES
ME NUTS!
June is a busy month for me, what with my birthday and fathers day all falling in the same month!
On the left is one of my gifts, there’s a heck of a story behind it. when I initially received it I thought, oh no, more mass produced tat.
It’s from one of my good mates, he gave it to me in a bar just as we were about to watch some rugby, I put it to one side, thanked him and thought no more of it but there’s a twist.
Apparently “it drives me nuts” is a saying that I frequently use*, my mate had found the pic on the web, got it to a T shirt shop and had the shirt specially made!
How cool is that?
I’m wearing it now
🙂
*there’s another saying that I was told I frequently use (“it burns my ****”) he (wisely I suppose) selected the other one.
Dragged anchor in the night, found myself up against a megayacht at zero dark thirty in something North of a gale.
The captain came up and graciously moved his gin palace while I fended off, both in our PJ’s. Fifty degrees and soaking wet, I think these are called retirement benefits.
We had to move and re-anchor as we were too close into the shore, so I spent the next few hours on “Anchor Watch “ to make sure we were OK. I finally turned in at daybreak (about five thirty), by then the wind was dropping.
Surprisingly, I did not take the camera on this adventure so the written transcript will have to suffice.
The rest of the day was a non-event, except for the strange repetitive noise heard emerging from the bilge, about noon I finally tracked it down to a malfunctioning bilge pump. I replaced it with one of the spares onboard and all was quiet by one pm.
All these spare parts were somewhat mocked by person who shall be nameless (why do you need five toolboxes?) but when needs must…….
Fast asleep by 8:30 pm. More tomorrow.
Was I surprised to see this, talk about being a keen biker!
“Violent thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail.” Nice forecast to start the day. Well we said we did not have a schedule.
Storm passed through around noon, this was our neighbor the steel trawler, he’s only about two hundred feet away.
Ruminating on LW’s soggy sojourn in the NE docks I was reminiscing on holidays from Hell one has known.
As you all know, my opinion of holidays is zero rated and I am now quite old enough to refuse to go anywhere. In the past I have been more persuadable. Once upon a time, a million years ago the boy, when little, 8/9ish, moaned and bitched about he had never been on a beach holiday abroad. Well of course he hadn’t, my idea of hell would have been a package holiday on some foreign beach!! Well, he moaned and bitched sufficiently for me to relent. We booked a summer holiday at a resort on Fuertaventura in the Canaries. It was a beach resort sort of place, not too cheap and not too dear, looked quite attractive, a bit out of the way with no vulgar bars etc. Little cottages rather than a hotel. So off we went, some dreadful airline that expected you to get out and push, half the clients pissed before it took off. One knew right then it was a BIG mistake! Only to be confirmed when the peasants broke out in a rousing chorus of Ole Espan(y)a on landing right side up!
Still hanging on the hook, winds of alarming velocity, today we were planning to take the dinghy ashore for provisions (beer is getting down to panic levels) but could not find a time where launching it into the water was an option rather than having it go airborne.
A brave group of lads were about earlier, when the wind was still somewhere short of gale force, they rigged one of the local cat boats and did two terrifying tacks across the river.
No, the other one – of ‘Doctrine’ fame. In short it allowed the good ole boys to stop other kids playing in their own backyards too close to the land of the free. And in the ’80s Sheriff Reagan and Col. Oliver North sent some help to the Contras in Nicaragua, funded by the sale of arms to Iran. And all on the hush-hush too.
The two canals
So I wonder if there’ll be some behind-the-scenes jiggery-pokery again in Nicaragua now that the pesky Chinese plan to compete with the US-controlled Panama canal by digging a new, much better one? Will the US of A bribe the poor Nicaraguans to reject the project? Has the Pres already told the Chinese to butt out? And will we ever know?
Eating out is not my natural environment. Ordering, lavish décor, waiting to be served, polite conversation, slow eating of ordered food, ambient atmosphere, the tip- it’s really not for me. I’m far happier in a rowdy public house. Nonetheless, it was a special occasion so Mrs W and me had a night out at a popular eating place in town.
After the pre-ordering ritual we waited for our starter for ten. It duly arrived and no complaints so far. Halfway through the first course is when I had an inkling this was going to be one of those nights. “Is everything OK?” asked the waiter. Oh yes, delicious, tasty etc. etc. Continue reading “Westcentric grub”
Still here as expected, looks like a series of gales going through from the West.
Windy but dry for now so I took the opportunity to put another patch on the dinghy just to be sure.
Saw a big sailboat in a slip nearby, the Nina looks like a large schooner rigged wooden boat.
Port of registry is Baltimore Maryland, so she’s just as far from home as we are.
Boadicea's Chariot 
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