Day 130, Year 5: 64 Will Have To Be Better
Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Weather: Not As Hot, but Still Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
Today was my 63rd birthday and somehow everything seemed to go the wrong way. So I am thinking a year ahead and am hoping that 64 will be better than 63. Mark turned 64 during our first year of cruising and I am still needing and feeding him. Hopefully a year from now he will still be doing the same for me. So here’s a salute to the Beetles and their song, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”
I got up early to check e-mail and to call Justin, Jo, and Ziggy during their early evening. I got on the computer, turned on the modem, but no internet. I tried all the tricks, but still nothing. So then Mark tried. Still nothing. So we assumed our month was up and we were out of time. That meant I would have to go to town after 10 am to have the modem checked. We then turned the engine on to charge, and it wasn’t charging. Thank goodness it was just a loose fan belt, but it was just another one of those things that seem to be going wrong these days. Mark hesitated to leave the boat until the refrigeration team arrived, so at 10:30, instead of the promised 9:30, they did arrive. Well, at least one man arrived. It was Nazar, the original man sent about a month ago. Once Mark brought him up to date on what happened the day before yesterday, Mark took Ed and I to shore and then returned to Windbird. Ed and I first went to our favorite electronics shop that keeps us topped up on our cell phones and rented us the modem. The modem was fine, so I have no idea why it wouldn’t work this morning. It was just a nice little trick to play on me for my birthday. Maybe we have Gremlins aboard! While Ed and I were at the market, we got a call from Mark. He needed to know where something was and he reported that after an hour, nothing had happened with the refrigeration. Nazar was just thinking. Not a good sign. Ed and I finished our shopping jobs, had lunch, and headed back to the jetty. Just when we arrived, we saw Mark getting into our dinghy with two other men. We waved to try and get their attention and finally did. Mark was taking Nazar and another man named Rafik to shore with our cold plate. Something had finally happened. Nazar and Rafik got out of the dinghy on the rickiest remains of a pier that I have ever ventured out on. But Nazar and Rafik got off the dinghy safely and Ed and I got in. The cold plate needed to go back to the shop to have a crack in a connector brazed. This crack might have been our problem all along, but it was difficult to find. We waited all afternoon on the boat, but no one returned. We called at 3:30 pm and were told they would be coming. We called again at 5 pm and were once again told they would be coming. They arrived at 6 pm and just left at 7 pm. As the sun was setting we are waiting while the system is being vacuumed. After that we watched the gauges to see if there is still a leak. And unfortunately, there is. So this goes on tomorrow.
My artichoke pizza dinner had to be put on hold until tomorrow, but I’m determined to have artichokes on my birthday. So Mark has promised to fix an artichoke omelet for dinner. I didn’t get a working freezer for my birthday, but one thing I did get was beautiful silver starfish earrings from Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah, and a great photo of Ziggy from Justin and Jo. I’m still hoping to talk to Heather later this evening, her morning, but will have to wait until late tomorrow morning to try and catch Justin, Jo, and Ziggy again. I did get a wonderful email from my sister-in-law Conda this morning. She has received cards from so many people, memorial contributions to the church, flowers, emails, and an unbelievable number of phone calls. She has just been overwhelmed. Both my brother and Conda touched the lives of many and those many have certainly sent their love and affection. Conda is keeping busy and is doing well, and her email was a very special birthday present.
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| 100305 Day 130 India–Happy Birthday, Oma |
