Fish Out Of Water

Wait a minute...

Don’t be alarmed.  I know that is Papillon on the hard.  And you must be concerned.  Why are we out of the water?  Sure, we have no mizzen and lost our forestay, but that is no reason to haul out.  What could have possibly brought about this unwelcome change?  Because, as we all know, the hard is not one of your correspondent’s favorite places.  No running water.  No toilet.  Just grinder dust and painty elbows.

The fact of the matter is, into every life a little work must fall.  Cruising isn’t that expensive, aside from the repairs.  But one does need money in the bank account in order to eat regularly.  And call me an over-indulged first-worlder, but I like eating regularly.  And so, in order to keep eating and carry out all of those repairs we talked about, it is working time.

Long story short, we are in Adelaide for a couple of months.  Erik took the project on Tuesday, and by Saturday night we were in Australia.  I don’t think we’ve had to move that fast since we left Canada.  But here we are, in a sunny apartment in a lovely town, and I’m getting used to the ground staying still beneath my feet.  Erik starts work on Tuesday.  The girls start school a day or two later.  And poor Amy will be left at home, all alone, wondering what to do with her time.

Hee hee hee!

But in all seriousness, I have mixed feelings.  This is the first time we have been off the boat for any length of time since we moved aboard in October 2010.  I fear I have lost all of my land skills.  Can I readapt?  Do I want to readapt?  As much as I love having a fridge with a door in the front, is this really what I want long term?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be examining the land life from a cruiser’s perspective.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Then we’ll be back on our beloved Papillon, and we’ll see how that feels after a break on land.  I hope you’ll stick with me, and wish me luck during my time on an alien planet.