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The problem I allude to in the brackets above made me think that perhaps my brain was overheating under my dense mop of hair. Grace concurred, and cut it. It was getting rather too Johnsonesque, anyway. I'm much cooler now - in both senses of the word!
Lots of boats have been coming and going over the past few days. NB Cantrememberthename next to Bob and Jenny on Infinity has gone, though possibly only to a berth at the other end of the marina. NB Achernar arrived back in the marina and went out again within a few days. Several others on the same jetty have gone, too. NB Emma Jane went out for another weekend day-trip, and more than a few other moorers who don't live on their boats have chugged off, possibly for their annual holiday. The marina's looking quite empty now.
The swans are still here, though, making their twice-daily tour, and stopping off at selected boats for the feeds they've come to expect. The cygnets are almost the size of their parents, but they still make the peeping sounds they were using when they were just a few weeks old.
It's good to have neighbours again. John and Sue are back on NB Lindsey Ann, their home, having been locked down with family for months. On the other side of them, Trevor arrived recently to spend several hours digging NB At Last out of the cobwebs, and generally preparing her for their cruising season.
Underneath the layers of spider-web that cover Kantara lurks a substantial coating of grime. It's quite alarming to consider that it has all come down with the wind or the rain. Where does the countryside air get all of its dirt from? I need to give the boat a very good wash - when there's not a gale blowing! Meanwhile, we're gathering together all the tools, paints, varnishes and brushes that we need to do the paint-repair work we're planning to do.
It'll happen before the end of the month. We've just arranged with "the kids" that we're going back to the house to form a family "support bubble" with them for just a few nights. It's Grace's birthday on August 3rd, and a meal is planned. We're really looking forward to it.
Here's a question for those of you who love language. "Now then". What does it mean? How can anything be Now and Then at the same time? The OED tells me how the expression's used, but I already knew that. It doesn't tell me what it means. And words are supposed to mean something, innit?
(Answers on a postcard, please.)
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ReplyDeleteGood to see you have neighbours, both feathered and human. I've often wondered about where all the dirt in the air comes from too. I seem to be constantly washing boats. as for 'now then,' I think there are things that can't be explained by actual meaning. It's all to do with semantics, innit? I mean even 'innit' is up for debate. Why on earth do we use these negative question tags for positive questions? As a language teacher, I'm often obliged to tell students that a lot of what we say is 'just how it is' and can't be explained rationally.
ReplyDeleteI've been a language teacher too, Val, and I guess it's that in me that notices the oddities in them. And, being the inquisitive type, I just have to try to find out why, what, when. It can be very annoying to others, though. Poor Grace!
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ReplyDeleteAh no, Carol. 'Sometimes' is 'Now AND then'. I just mean the phrase 'Now then!', as in 'Now then, what do we have here?"
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