horta, azores
1154 UTC
05.18.08
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enjoying a double espresso in the little cafe by the laundrette. it will be grand to have clean clothing again. part of becoming lighter at every stage of movement has meant that i have now about half the amount of shwag i'd left canada carrying. sold my guitar. gave away most of my warm clothes. donated my sleeping bag to the carriacou sloop 'good expectation.' acquired and sold a spinnaker, a lovely chrome ladder (which i gave away), a bicycle, another bicycle, a few piles of money (the most recent of which was $40 US i stowed in a pocket for to spend frivolously at the buju banton show. it went for a swim and as the vessel was then doing about 10.5 knots i watched it fly away in a rather detached fashion. there's no jumping to get pictures even of andrew jackson when the boat is on the move.), most of the books i brought (tough call, but i still have 'everything is illuminated,' and parted with malory's 'morte d'arthur').
the next phase is standard issue stop in port stuff. clean the engine room. do laundry. two of us are sorting flights. jenny comes back right away so i'll be back to being a deckhand. different only in title. first mate sounds better than it actually is. it's the same. slept in the stack pack last night. this is in the boom. there's a zip-up thing that stores and protects the mainsail from UV. it's also very comfortable and wins the 'most like a hammock without actually being a hammock' prize. we're going to exit the boat at some point for a 10 day shore leave and at that point i shall endeavour to complete my banjo project. the tone ring is looking way more like a tone ring. i have yet to see a goat here, so i might have to wait until terciera to get my goat skin banjo head. still crossing fingers about that one. the sketchy rasta that slept on the picnic table at the end of my street in antigua claimed he'd get me a goat skin but never delivered. alas.
yep. i think i want one of these at some point
my new favourite toy is the 'eeepc,' a linux-based itty bitty flaptop. it's killer and reportedly only $400. brian has generously allowed me to use it to get my journal out of the ink on the page and into zeroes and ones so that folks can read about our trip. thanks brian.
and tom and midori, and matthew; all them radio evangelist dudes, urban hustle, rico anthony, martin from 'good expectation,' liza kirwan, melinda and the lazy turtle, tim etc. at tyrell bay, gord z and ximena, naomi, bill from the nook, georgina, norm and the pups, valery huffman, david westdal, the ether city ensemble, those monks who made the DT beer with the pink elephants on the label, c.r. avery, all them folks in the evil triangle, our parents, itchy feet, addison for giving Norman a good home, clifford, cassey, bansai and frankie, carl and trudy mclaren, sled dog music, the asshole who robbed me in antigua, antigua sailing week and cavalier rum for helping make that possible, tony at HQ, bob williamson, ray, kayla for bringing us all espresso after espresso, tod, diana fred, julian for owning such a marvellous boat, elvis the gecko, courtney and tara, rachel, donniel, leonard rhodes, david the leatherman, joanna finch, the antigua public library, mister james who illegally seized my passport in antigua, carramia, damien styles (i wonder if i will ever escape having played the rod stewart cover band gig. as i write this 'young turks' is playing. actually, i have /always/ liked that song, but not so much a minor third down), kf - maybe i'll see you in sweden, my new relation who is just born to my cousin and his partner and doesn't have a name yet, diem, the toy camera, flying cloud alumni, leighana and everyone at camp s, and hey jason bowers thank you for hiring matt debicki, by the way.
