Saturday 9th December 2017
Ever since the big passage there have been smells of burnt
food on the boat whenever I light the oven. I think that when we were warming
up Brian’s wonderful stuffed shells in bumpy seas during the passage we spilt
some of the contents onto the back wall of the oven. So yesterday, in
anticipation of Gloria’s arrival, I decided to clean the oven! It actually
wasn’t as bad a job as I feared, but for reasons I’ll try and explain it did
get me thinking of my childhood ….
I was lovely child. You don’t believe me? Just ask my mum!
Actually, I suspect what she might say is that when I wasn’t wrecking the
furniture, breaking windows or fighting with my sister, I wasn’t as bad as you
might expect. Damned with faint praise. When we were naughty as kids it was my
mum who maintained discipline, at least she was the one who gave out the
“smack-bottoms”. I remember wind-milling around her as she held onto me with
one hand whilst trying to smack me with the other and I vigorously tried to avoid
contact. It’s a very vivid memory, so it must have happened more than once, but
in truth, we very rarely got smacked – mostly just sent to bed, where we could
expect a stern talking to from our Dad when he got home. One occasion that I do
remember from my early childhood was being smacked for biting my sister
Ali. I have no recollection of what she had done to prompt me to bite her, but
I’m sure it was justified! I also vaguely recall an incident where I stuck the
fire poker through the glass in the front door because Ali wouldn’t stop
ringing the bell, but strangely I don’t remember any punishment! Ironically, I
think the most cross that my mum ever got with me was when I was much older,
maybe in my late teens. My Mum, Dad and brother had gone on holiday to Europe for
three weeks and I stayed at home because I had a summer job and would look
after the house. I guess I didn’t do a very good job of keeping things clean
and tidy because when they came home she was really unhappy with the state of
things. I was little old to be smacked but it didn’t save me from a good
tongue-lashing! But, perhaps this had some impact because it's clear in my mind
that when Gloria gets here the boat better be looking spiffy!
In the evening, I was delighted to see that “Numada” with Richard,
Rafaella and their two boys Sebastien and Matthew had come back into the
marina. I had a very pleasant evening with the four of them plus Richard’s parents at the Friday
night barbecue at the marina Tiki Bar. Richard and Matthew also came by our
boat this morning and I had a chance to take the portraits below.
Matthew - from "Numada". Three different expressions - within one minute - all shot with natural light in our main cabin
You forget how much energy young boys have!
One of the friendly crew from the Husky salvage team
Lizard
Terrific portraits of Matthew. That's one stylish lizard. Where did you get the pin-striped suit to fit him?
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