Average temp: 12ºC
Negotiating the salon at night is an interesting experience, the distracting noises emanating from people’s bunks apart, descending from a second tier bunk in the pitch black whilst trying to keep as quiet as possible is akin to trying to find your way home from the pub after a heavy night,.. you eventually get to where you want to go, but god knows how you managed it, and there are always a few unexplained bumps and bruises!
I have now found that if I part my curtains, push my forehead onto the ceiling, angle myself down a little and swing forward a bit my feet should hit the table,… then it is the small task of using my feet to feel my way around the benches before I drop to the ground and make my way across the room. The inevitable collision of shin with bench or box is expected, but never correctly anticipated and the muffled groan of pain always escapes despite my best efforts. When you’re feeling like I do this traverse is even more demanding!
Sleeping on board is very much like going camping in many ways, for those of you who have ever been camping in a forest the situation is very similar. You lie there awake in your sleeping bag listening to the sounds of the forest trying to link the call to the animal. In the salon the situation is very similar, you can spend hours trying to guess who is making each snort, snore, sniff and cough!
Despite fully acknowledging that I have the legendary “Man-flu” (i.e. a sniffle) I still felt crap and so was glad when this morning I was reassigned a pet project of mine: the painting of the aft port cabin, this meant I was below deck out of the rain and wind, I could have my stereo and I was managing myself. Even if I do say so myself, it turned out rather nicely and I decided to make the most of it and even took the door of its hinges to ensure nothing was missed! Maggie should be pleased (it’s going to be her cabin)!
In the afternoon, just as the weather closed in and it actually started hailing, we were ordered to practise setting the sails. Maybe it was the man-flu, but I was incredibly slow and although not the only one, I grabbed the wrong line on more than a few occasions, I have decided that any spare time must now be spent dedicated to learning more about these lines and where they are, because if it is this hard to do when moored, I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like at sea with wind and waves to contend with.
Everyone still seems to think that we’ll be stripping off due to the heat within weeks, I remain unconvinced,.. at least this way I won’t be disappointed!
God I hope I feel better tomorrow!