20/09/2020
As I continue to translate Yrvind’s article, I have more respect for his attitude not bowing to authority. When I recalled those rebellious boys who were humiliated and punished repeatedly by our teachers at schools, they were heroes.
In the afternoon, I continued to oil the wood in the bow cabin.
Roasted pumpkin with black bean and canned dace for dinner… quite tasty!
The whole pumpkin lasted all week! It is the best veggie to keep onboard.
19/09/2020
I got a reply from Yrvind this morning saying he’d be honored to have someone translate his work and told me to start right away!
But today was a busy day. This morning, while I was listening to Jazz on Saturday and tidying up the cabin, as a couple wanted to come over to look at the boat. They brought another couple over to look at the boat together. After they left, another couple came, and when this couple left, the previous couple came back and brought someone who seems to know more about boats then them. We have a feeling the second couple is more likely to buy our boat.
In the afternoon we went for tea at Bob’s, topics expanded to the universe, like the black holes… When we happened to talk about blind people, he cried suddenly, as if he could feel the great grief of a blind Thai girl he met in a temple in Thailand. He did not want to talk about it more, just wiped his tears and we changed the subject.
We had pumpkin soup in the evening, not as sweet as the last time.
18/09/2020
It’s Friday again, the week goes by so fast. In the morning, I applied teak oil to the sides of the bow cabin, and after it dried, I might use oil paints to touch up the faded areas, which will make the boat look newer.
In the afternoon, we took the bus to the post office to pick up the alternator, and then went to the mall to buy some chicken to make butter chicken, using Spice Tailor’s ingredients, I added pumpkin and carrots. Yummy!
I wrote an email to Yrvind this evening hoping he would respond, his website says he doesn’t like to write emails, so I hope this will be an exception. This amazing old man is in his eighties and has been working on building small seagoing boats for decades. Now he is preparing for a ocean crossing voyage. I read his memoir article and was so inspired that I hope to get his permission to translate it into Chinese with my illustrations so that I can share it with my friends and family.
He refused to wear tuxedo even when meeting the Swedish royal family, just in his normal clothes and being himself.
Sea Journal 