"Annoyed" of Yelvertoft

I've just edited my last post because I forgot to tell you that my friend's book, "Beggars' Dust", is available for Kindle Readers, and mobile phones, tablet computers and PCs/Macs using the free Kindle app. And the book only costs £3.99! It's not available in paperback.  Have you looked at it yet? Read a sample first, then treat yourself to a really good read!

As for us, we've just spent a few days on Kantara. It was with some anxiety that we checked the diesel again, and we were chuffed to find it looking very clean, and smelling as it should, so we think we can safely say that there's no sticky diesel in the tank. We bought a bottle of Marine 16 to condition the diesel anyway, and wiped the sweat from our foreheads. Phew! All that we have to do now is actually cruise for a few weeks, and put it to the test. We had planned to do a short jolly this time, but a very strong wind, joined a little later by torrential rain, stopped us. Getting out of the marina would have been quite a challenge, believe me, and a very wet one, too. Another day, then. How annoying. Back to the calendar...

Oh, the paintwork wasn't green this time. We washed all that off the last time we visited. No, it's black now, as if dirty rain has deposited soot on it, which has then been glued down with the sap of nearby trees. I was most annoyed. That's on the "to do" list for next time.

To add to that grottiness, myriad spiders had spun their thickest, stickiest webs in every nook and cranny, inside and out, and deposited egg sacs in similar fashion. On the outside, the webs are covered with leaves, dead flies, struggling live flies and the floating seeds of trees and grasses. Not easy to remove. Very annoying!

I think the way forward is to pretend it's simply not there. The result of washing just doesn't last long enough. Boats are built for... well, boating!

Another annoyance is that I tore a ligament in a finger on my left hand last week - pulling a sock off! (a habit my dad used to have). I heard it rip but - unusually, I have discovered - there's no pain, numbness or swelling. After a read on the NHS website and a chat with the local pharmacist, I strapped the drooping finger between two pieces of lolly stick, and now wait for six to eight weeks for it to heal. I'm so glad I'm not left-handed! I'm only mildly annoyed about that.

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