October/November
After our summer in
the UK we arrived back in Trinidad to our home aboard S/Y Piano. I
must say she looked a sorry sight in the dark! We slept the first
night comfortably in an apartment at Power Boats then went for our
first inspection very early the next morning.
While we were away
it had been found that the hull also needed drying out and after
contact with Ghislaine we went ahead and had it stripped right back.
This has taken quite a while with liquid stripper, then sanding,
preparation and finally new layers.
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| Cooper. |
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| Andy, who also doubles as a phone technician! Awesome. |
Meanwhile, Alan and
his son Brandon have done a superb job refurbishing the tired Fridge
freezer- it looks like new again! As do the toe-rails and (wood
below?) Another minor job since we returned was to seat the new
Navigation screen in the old hole, Alan’s team have helped with
this too.
Abdu the varnisher
has completed his work on the saloon table which now has protected
fiddles which will not scratch!
Busy Bee and various
boaters have relieved us of many treasures of the bilge. (i.e. items
packed far below and never used or just surplus to requirements.) We
now have a modern car radio for the music center, so I am trying to
amalgamate all the work done before we set sail. I had digitised the
old Cassettes and L.P’s, Malcolms Reel to reel recordings and
started to produce MP3’s while still at Darby Green. This has paid
off big time, but there are still many CD's to finish. Meanwhile chaos
rules with with the different operating systems being used, Windows
10, I-tunes and Linux not to mention all the formats to contend with
lets not go there! To register the App on the radio I had to invent a
car the same age as Piano, these do not exist! It also appears that
the App can only be used while on line (and this never happens while
we are on passage!) so technology has still to come up to Pianos
standards. Plus after all that hard work it turns out that the new
car player cannot cope with the latest stick it does not have
sufficient memory! So back to the original MP3’s which I made all
those years ago. Malcolm is also making new folders to cope.
Life on the hard
has been a depressing trauma apart from the highlights of eating out
with friends. We had S/Y Minnie B (Phil and Norma) round for a poor
excuse of Chilli- and it was all devoured even without the kidney
beans -. We also ate shark & bake at the Wheelhouse Pub on a
Saturday and either pork ribs, rib eye steak, or fish on a Tuesday.
Chris and Sharon invited us and Minnie B over to S/Y Quicksilver for
the large Moon show. No-one was particularly impressed with it, but
the Chicken Mediterranean with garlic bread was delicious- thanks
Sharon.
Kay has finished the
new dinghy chaps which look awesome, and fit perfectly. She has also
made a cover for the outboard and a new one for the cockpit table.
Malcolm has been busy putting a fluorescent paint layer onto the back
of the dinghy for greater visibility at night. All the security
padlocks are fully functioning and ready for use.
Shopping always
has to be done but one exception to the household stores was a trip
to visit Debbie at Rumpa swimwear, to pick up my new swimming suits.
I took Norma and Sharon along and we had a smoothie at elevenses
these are made to order on the spot and sooo yummy.
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| Maybe 20 plus blenders and racks of fruit shows these Smoothies are in demand. |
of course Debbie
mentioned the Christmas Bazaar at Movietown and after a quick word
with Jesse we arranged one of his maxi’s to transport us there and
back.
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| This is the Caribbean version of the many that mum has been making for Christmas. |
The whole Island sends crafts people to show their goodies,
food, drink, pastries, knitted goods, chopping boards, jewellery,
handmade soaps and candles, jigsaws from Tobago, all in an air
conditioned conference center! We also had coffee in a swanky coffee
house…
Plus ice cream which
was filled with any topping after being thrown across the counter and
caught in a tub! The whole of Movietown hummed with Christmas cheer.
We were also
invited over to Gasparee Island to Kay and Collins’ house, first
for a swim at the beach, then for a jacuzzi at their home followed by
a tour of the gardens which even has a blow hole down to the sea.
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| Shady Beach |
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| What a garden feature eh? |
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| Private Bay too |
To
top it all afternoon tea with home made cheesecake and summer
berries. This was all a welcome treat after all the time aboard
doing various jobs to fill our time.
The end of the
month soon came with another invite to dinner aboard S/Y’Minnie B’.
This time a delicious curry with chutneys from the Bazaar, very
yummy! Finally back to the Queens’ Hall Auditorium for another
performance by the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Philharmonic and Singers
for a tribute to Earth Wind and Fire. It was as awesome as the
classical rendition last year. Plus the transport (driven by Keiran )
was both full and buzzing. Yet again a marvellous trip organised by
Jesse James (Members only Taxi Service) . What would we do without
him around??
I’m pleased that
November is over, I expect all my avid readers in the UK are
wondering when they will see Piano afloat ans enjoying life on the
Ocean Blue. It can’t be soon enough for us!
More next month
before the Christmas rush…
