Over the years of travel I’ve always made time for writing.
At school I wrote, through jobs – I wrote. Then I started writing for myself – there’s much more motivation there!
Here are some of the places where I’ve made camp and tapped away (‘thumped’ Noel says) on the keyboard.
Isla de Cocos – note the wet trousers (from the knee down) we were anchored out and dinghied in avoiding the sharks nipping at our feet and stepped out of the dinghy too early!
Magdelana, Mexico
In a TSR (Travelling Stock Reserve) while trekking with our 5 adopted horses – just Noel, me, our 5 boys and the occasional bit of writing!
One of my favourite pictures – sailing (and writing) in my slippers along the NSW coast. On board our first boat Mariah II
Renovating our 1920 Dutch barge in France. In the background was welding, grinding, hammering etc – it was bedlam and very hard to work/live in the same room as the renovations! (Love the jim-jams!)
On board Mariah II again, traversing The Great Loop – a year long adventure through the USA and Canada that I still miss today!
On board our Dutch barge again – with Lily the cat who adopted us! And we’re still renovating.
In NSW, Australia – we are dismantling an American Barn. Part-way through the process…. I tap away!
We’re almost naked… well, that’s to say the interior of the boat is almost naked! We’ve taken down nearly all the walls and are now trying to figure out how to put them back.
Cupboard about to be ‘stripped’
Cupboard gone – designing new ‘bathroom’
We have a few neat ideas that should produce enough space for an island-bed and another full double (with walk-around space on two sides – that’s plenty for guests!).
We will put in another toilet, so the master cabin will have its very own, private, loo. And we’ve even found some wardrobe space and we can leave the main part of the hallway/corridor where it is.
Our ‘cabins’ are gone!
We had great fun when a copper pipe for the central heating split this week. Remember watching those comedy skits on TV, where the comedian is sliding around the floor, trying to hold back the force of water from a broken pipe, and letting go, so a great geyser of water sprays everywhere? We’ve found that those scenes ARE NOT exaggerated. Our central heating system is under pressure, so the water and greasy/oily anti-foul produced a wonderful fountain up the wall, windows, on the ceiling, carpet…. how lovely.
Noel fixed the pipe and then continued demolishing the boat!
All is fixed now – so it’s back to demolishing the walls.
The wheelhouse – once upon a time we could sit here!
The second ‘cabin’!
The construction is magnificent and exhausting – every piece of timber has been held in with excessive nails!
Of Foreign Build is for sale for just 1.99 cents for 24 hours! At Amazon.com (your location must be USA – you can set it there temporarily – wherever you are!)
We’re tearing the inside of our boat apart. The two cabins are badly designed. Currently there is a three-quarter double bed and a three-quarter single bed.
At the very least we can rearrange the walls for a big (walk-around) double and a grand single or, I am hoping, another double.
This morning there is stuff everywhere, we have to live in half the boat now. Eighteen-and-a-half metres divided by two isn’t very much! It’s not so much the smaller space, but we’ve had to cram 18.5 metres of ‘stuff’ into the other half!
Wrecking the place!
Now we are sleeping and eating in the lounge (not at the same time), luckily the galley is a good size. The wheelhouse is the store room.
We’ve done this before on other boats and in houses, and instead of getting stressed and worrisome about moving everything around and living in a work-space, I am enjoying it.
Two cabins and lots of thinking!
We won’t always have our health and if we do, time will catch up with us eventually… we won’t always be able to do this.
So, we laugh when the mattress becomes a live animal and refuses to be folded in half to go out the hatch.
We giggle when we walk around in circles, picking up ‘stuff’ and putting it back where it came from.
We snort with mirth, when I moved one set of shelves into another room that Noel was trying to empty.
The corridor, part of which will become the main cabin (with ensuite of course!)
This is fun – these are happy days – these are days to enjoy. They make me smile.
My husband worked in a brothel in Barbados. It was just for a few weeks. He was eventually asked to leave. The threats and the rather large, naked ladies that were hosed down daily, convinced him that it really was time to leave.
The ‘body-guards’ in the brothel in Barbados
This bizarre story goes hand-in-hand with almost nine years of my life on the high seas on a ten metre boat. We had close-calls with pirates, muggers, and man-eating crocodiles, which was enough to keep the adrenaline buzzing. Boat crashes, storms, almost sinking and a whale collision filled the gaps, if ever we became complacent.
The storm – you HAD to just get on with it!
A near ‘agreed’ abduction by a beautiful French Gigolo, who lifted me up from the road after I was run-over in France, didn’t alter the incredible bond between my new husband and I – a bond that I’ve only witnessed in movies. But, I still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man, while falling head over heels with another.
But, I have learned to live my life, and I have finally figured out who I am.
Picking our way through reefs to the anchorage in Mayaguana
Van Morrison sang about it and I could relate to those words today.
“When you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit Then I must remember there’ll be days like this”
Noel and I have been quite anti-social lately, what with trying to get the outside of Rouge Corsair painted prior to winter setting in.
So, a shopping day with our friends, Kim and Lorna from MV Sunflower, was just what we needed to re-connect with civilisation again.
Aiguillon is a little over seven kilometres away. So, after a shaky start, (bike tyres….grrrr), we set off on four bikes of differing vintage, wrapped in hats and scarves, blowing fogging breaths.
On arrival, to get our bearings we sipped a delicious coffee watching the French-way unfold around us. The barman serving wine at 10 am with a cigarette in his hand. The impassioned shouting was just part of everyday conversation, and welcoming smiles.
Smart shopping
Noel and I had several items to find, which of course, meant the hardware. But, this time was different. I’ve never had so much fun in a hardware shop.
The ‘hooks’
We needed some L-shaped doohdads. Basically, metal hooks to hold up timber rods. Our curtains are going to tuck into these rods, at the bottom.
We could buy four in a packet for 5.55 (Euros) per packet. As we needed twenty-four we started to think of other solutions.
With Kim, Noel and I, scratching our heads, things started to improve. We found a packet with more hooks in them. They were a different metal, but useable, for 3.55 Euros. But then we spotted the pick ‘n’ mix.
The items were in baskets, loose, individual. I found a guy to help, as there were no visible prices, and he explained. There were three sized bags and each bag had its own price – the smallest bag was 2.55 Euros. We could put anything we liked in the bag, as long as it seals, all contents would be 2.55.
At this point we all grinned, rubbed our hands together, and said, ‘They have no idea what we are capable of!’
“As long as the bag shuts – it will cost 2.55 (Euros)”
We packed the bag with enough hooks and spares, to do several boats.
What was going to cost us around 35 Euros, ended up costing 2.55 Euros! (Plus extras!)
Rewards
With fresh baguettes, ham and cheese we lunched in the town square. The smoking cafe owner offered us a table and chairs; everyone who passed-by smiled, ‘Bon Appetite.’
Loaded up! Great fun!
With a cheap supermarket, a charity shop and a hardware, all visited (some twice!) with loaded bikes, and big grins we cycled back to our boats. The cooling afternoon and falling winter leaves accompanied us home. The sweet smell from the apple orchards and the sounds of humming tractors was carried along the breeze to round off a perfect day.
When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this
When you don’t need to worry there’ll be days like this
When no one’s in a hurry there’ll be days like this
When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there’ll be days like thisWhen you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this
When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they f it
Then I must remember there’ll be days like thisWhen everyone is up front and they’re not playing tricks
When you don’t have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it’s nobody’s business the way that you want to live
I just have to remember there’ll be days like thisWhen no one steps on my dreams there’ll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this
Jackie Parry - author 