Wednesday March 15th, 2017
“Beware the Ides of March” from Julius Caesar by Bill Shakespeare (fishing and marine electronics), the warning from the Soothsayer about his pending death. Other stuff happened on March 15th through history but everything has to happen sometime. It was of course unlucky for Julius Caesar, but he was warned and he didn’t listen, and that bastard Brutus nailed him in the back. Also notable, Punch Imlach was born on March 15th. He was the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs back when they were in the NHL.
Here on shore the weather is choppy but not too bad as the Cold Fronts and troughs slide through making it colder and more nasty. We will do laundry (royal we) and do maintenance and wait for the highlight of the week. The St. Patrick’s Day parade. It is billed as the shortest and best parade in the world. The entire parade is less than 100 m, but you get a free beer at the liquor store, Jello shooters at Wally’s and a rum punch at Snappa’s at the end of the parade. My kind of a short walk.
We don’t have to dye the bay green as it pretty much is already. We have all the stuff out of the tickle trunk. I did find one of the rubber chickens, its been a while since I found the girls. ML does her best to keep the tickle trunk under control. I also found some of my masks and my good hair.
Yesterday we spent the morning getting the lines to pilings adjusted for the tide and the wind off the stern. It is tough to get it just right but I think we are there. I put a line from the main winches through snatch blocks back to the stern pilings to do the adjusting.
In the Abacos this time of year you don’t often get the steady trade winds. What you get is Cold Front after Cold Front with lulls in between of a day or two or three. The winds with cold fronts are blustery and gusty, not the aforementioned steady winds.
At lunchtime the women were off scamming laundry at the neighbouring marina. The laundry here is only done by the staff and you pay to have it done. Next door you have to do your own, but that’s what they want to do. John offered to teach me Backgammon. I’ve never had the opportunity (interest) in learning to play before. The board intrigued me but in 63 years I’ve escaped. John did his best and I did mine to keep him going around the board the proper direction. We tried to play in the cockpit and the board was turned at an unusual direction, “he said”. It was kind of fun and I could begin to see the strategy in the game. John won of course, he had a full understanding and knowledge of the rules which he shared when it benefited. We did not play for money.
Now I have to come up with the next new game… I’m thinking marina darts! I need to find a set of the ‘original’ lawn darts. You know the ones that maimed and disfigured picnickers in the early ’80s. What could go wrong in a marina? I need to come up with a sport that only I know the rules for. There is a second hand store that opened just up the street. Perhaps I can find lawn darts there. How difficult would it be to clean the blood and hair off? I have one of the circus bikes ashore and it is only a short ride along the parade route.
The ladies came back from laundry with their heads full of stories and bluster about a new and greatest grocery store, Abaco’s Grocery, just up the road from Maxwell’s. They said the guy from Nassau told them it was just a short walk beyond Maxwell’s. I took the liberty of looking it up on the googlizer, specifically googlizer maps and discovered the truth. It is 4.3 kilometers from the boat to the Abaco’s Grocery or a 10 minute drive by car. Likely a half hour by circus bike.