Shaken, not stirred

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED.


mmmmm..I'd rather have a VFR


M..So we remain clamped awaiting events to unfold. It’s a good lesson in patience ...not one of my strongest features, I think most people would agree. We are now dealing with matters out of our control so have to seek some Zen in the life around us.


There’s a rhythm to the boatyard. Starting at about 8am various mopeds and cars start trundling in, salutations exchanged and the workers get busy. Radio Turkey blares out a variety of fairly wailing female voices, interspersed with hard core rap.


We are sitting in a dust bowl, so as the activity mounts, clouds of stuff billow about, reaching a peak when the refuse truck crashes around and we are in full desert storm. Of course this makes my efforts at cleaning and polishing totally useless, but does explain the teams of men constantly polishing all the mega yachts around us. It continues endlessly throughout the day until the stainless steel twinkles and the gelcoat glows by afternoon, then they return the next day and do it all over again. I was going to have a shot at our definitely grubby exterior, but it seems a bit pointless when sailing looks a far off dream, and anyway I’m too mean to pay the £100 charge to borrow the appropriate platform.


Dustbowl

However I am going with the dust bath theme and joining in with sanding and varnishing. One of the cosmetic irritations of the boat has been blistering of the otherwise lovely varnish. We were a bit daunted at having a go at it, fearing a botched job, however now that we’ve got time on our hands it seems the time to crack open that varnish pot. What can possibly go wrong ? I’ll keep you posted.


As the jobs seem to mount so does our need for an eclectic array of stuff and a quest for aluminium rivets, gelcoat hardener, shackles and blocks, sent us off for a foray into Marmaris.

Jasmine in bloom

The boatyard is a 20 minute drive from the town, but its well served by the trusty hourly Dolmus service costing a princely 70 pence. It negotiates a few hairpins and then takes us through the pine forests that surround the area, spreading into the mountainous backdrop. The yellow mimosa is in full bloom and the pines appear to have recovered from the fires that engulfed them before our last visit. All very beautiful.


Solomon seal

The dolmus rattles along, picking people up on request en route. It’s a great opportunity for people watching. The driver is friendly and kind about my pathetic language skills and fumblings for change. A group of young lads pile on, possibly waiters in nearby hotels. They appear to interact in the way young men do, comparing their haircuts, hairgels and biceps. Then a rather derelict old man climbed on, clutching bulging bags, loaves of bread, walking stick and struggling a bit. The boys jump to help him in and off we go. Some young girls get on. The boys leap to their feet, offering their seats. British youth could learn.


Yum

The town seems to divide into different zones. We head for the chandlery area where perhaps 40 or so shops vie for custom with displays of fenders, ropes and anchors, gaily adorning the entrance. Tempting shiny bits of boat entice us in to a sweety shop experience of lovely delights. All those things for a boat you didn’t know you needed until there they are fuelling desires for the perfect boat experience. Cup holders, brass bells, fender socks …..no prices, but oh so tempting. And all those products to make your boat shinier than your neighbours…….but no rivets.

Cat's cradle

So we’re instructed that for said rivets we need to head to the ‘ Auto’ zone, a 10 minute walk to the other side of the main road that bisects the town.

This is an alternate universe. Grungy fabrication works and welders, filthy workshops and noisy grindings. But the best cake shop in town ! Rivets were abundant and we set off home on yet another dolmus experience.


Best cake shop in the world

Never a dull moment … just settling down to an evening beer when the boat began to judder on its steel frame. It felt like a lorry grumbling past, but nothing to see. It took a few seconds to realise it was an earthquake. 4.2 apparently and our boat appears to be the epicentre.




Zen…….

Comments

  1. Helen R5 May 2022 at 21:49

    Blimey!! Didn’t get a lot of the techy stuff but there’s certainly never a dull moment! On the plus side it gives plenty to write about! Keeping fingers crossed that it gets sorted and you manage to float off soon. X

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6 May 2022 at 14:17

    Thanks Helen. Let's hope!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Excited

Image
This is my first foray into the world of blogging. I am not sure if anyone will actually read this other than a few friends and family. Alternatively it could go viral, make loads of cash and have me wondering why I ever worked in the first place.  The first thing I have to do is get my head round the technology side of things, which I have to say I am struggling a bit with.  I am using Blogger app on an android phone and a bluetooth keypad. All the hardware is working OK but the software is a bit tricky to get the hang of. This is about my third attempt at getting started and text seems to vanish.  I have resorted to using the PC which is a lot easier, but means you need to import photos etc. The background is that Margaret and Colin (me) have retired over the last year Margaret finished work about a year ago. She seems to have slipped into being a retired person like a foot into a silk sock. She has just returned from walking the West Highland Way with lady friends and is full
Read more

Beer, Crisps and Bananas

Image
Greetings to Family and Friends, ex colleagues and anyone else who is interested. We have set off on another sailing season and hope to keep the blog that we started five years ago going. It is becoming more difficult to be novel in what we are about, because, well, its not any more. However the need to keep a record for our own purposes is increasingly required as the number of small grey cells declines with each passing year. We set off from Swansea bus station on the red eye National Express coach. It was quiet until we got to Cardiff when the contents of the Millenium Stadium got on. It seems there was a concert of some sort. They were very well behaved youngsters of various generations, but very excited and somewhat noisy. The passenger cohorts on buses are always different from trains. You have to be significantly wealthy to travel by train these days so bus dwellers are more representative of, well, the man on the Peckam Omnibus. I am not sure I get blokes wearing purple nail va
Read more

More Gadding About

Image
 The predicted high winds materialised, if that can happen, and we spent the day well sheltered in Datca South Harbour. The usual activities were undertaken. The following day was Lindsay and Linda’s ruby wedding anniversary. Who would think such a thing could occur to those so young at heart and in appearance. They had booked in to a restaurant at Selimiye, some 20 miles down the Gulf of Doris. It was still predicted to be blowing it’s tripe out (ancient Caledonian term) the next day but Lindsay had the stars of love in his eyes and was grimly determined to express his devotion. We tried to have an early night but sleep was hard to come by the howling in the spreaders. The next morning Lindsay stopped by early and declared his revised plan to leave the trip for 24 hours. Good decision making. Livianda looking good So the following day we set off down the gulf to Selimiye. Lindsay had phoned ahead to ensure that the restaurant had reserved places for us on the pon
Read more