Minor movements

Plenty of things haven’t moved recently: I’m still marking time, still (passively) looking for passage to Timor, still helping where I can to get SV Huey back in the water asap as the best option for transit. It still looks like Huey will be ready and willing to take me to Timor around the end of Jan. But one thing has moved: me. I’ve been asked by church friends Lyndon and Gabby if I would housesit for a week(ish). I say “asked if I would”, although really I think that’s cover for a kind offer. Thank you, Gabby and Lyndon! There’s air conditioning and a pool, which is just delightful. And a bit more space than the yacht to co-opt as my own for the week. So that’s just lovely. It’s a little ironic that the temperatures have dropped significantly just as I’ve got access to the pool and air con. C’est la vie. In other important developments, last night two key components of the mast were delivered by external vendors. The front stay (steel cable) to attach the mast to the yacht’s bow needed to be shortened a little, and the process required external help which was promised for the first week of the NY. And the main sail’s roller furlings were also finished and delivered. They’re a work of art, and some mighty fine welding by Allan’s mate Peter. It was great to get those before Christmas shutdown, because it allows Allan and me to finish getting the mast ready for re-installation over this coming week. I’ll be at the yacht club again tomorrow, and see how the land lies to help with a dry run of the mast, sails and fittings. That’ll be an awful lot of fiddling and adjusting, I suspect. I haven’t posted much because there’s not been much to say. Progress has been slow. My head and heart haven’t moved much (at all?) on the big issues of life, family and work. I just don’t have anything of value to say. But I also suspect I need to nurture a rhythm of keeping this diary vital, otherwise it’ll fade into nothing. So here I am, saying nothing but building a word-count nonetheless. If you get bored, just find something more interesting to read!