Moon in the rigging
Ah well, it’s finally arrived, our last night (possibly ever?) aboard the Magic Badger. The last two weeks have been, I’ve got be honest, pretty horrendous! Poor Jamie’s been working manically on the engine and he finally managed to put it all back together again this afternoon and it works, phew! It’s lovely and shiny and red too, great improvement.
Shiny red engine
I’m afraid that there isn’t much else to report, it has been work, work and more work with the exception of an afternoon off to celebrate our first wedding anniversary (at my insistence, Jamie would have carried on…)
The heat has been oppressive for the last week, sweat is streaming by 10am and it doesn’t stop until 6pm and we can’t just jump off the back of the boat into a lovely, turquoise sea like we used to be able to, we are limited to a meagre basin wash in 3 inches of water. If there’s one lesson I’ve learnt whilst I’ve been away it’s the art of water conservation. How recklessly wasteful we are in our houses! It’s so funny how excited we both get when we find a rare fresh water shower on the beach, I always take my shampoo with me just in case.
Another lesson learnt has been not to live in a boatyard in the tropics without an electric mosquito killing bat. I’m afraid I’ve gone from someone who tries at all costs never to kill anything (unless I’m going to eat it) to someone who takes sadistic pleasure in electrocuting as many mozzies as possible with the bat. Although not a lesson but more of a tip really, is that the BBC world service rocks! We wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on in the rest of the world most of the time if it weren’t for the good old BBC. Oh, and our supermarkets are really pretty damn good, I’ll never slag Sainsbury’s off again (mmm, that’s probably going to turn into a lie…)
Jamie means business
I feel I should conclude our blog somehow but I’m bit stumped as to how to. I have nothing witty or profoundly interesting to say with which to tie it all up. I just feel a strange mix of sad sentimentality at leaving the boat and our ‘free’ lifestyle and a nervous excitement at returning to the UK to build a big nest! Poor Jamie’s gutted, he hates England whereas I love it. I know it has it’s faults, it’s overcrowded and the weather is sh**e most of the time but it’s not always a bed of roses living on a yacht in the Caribbean either!
That’s it I think, I’d like to acknowledge what a fabulous and privileged opportunity we’ve both had for the past year and what amazing adventures we can look back on for the rest of our lives. We’ve met some great people and seen plenty of beautiful places and I hope that we can do something similar again one day in the not too distant future… maybe Europe next time?!