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| Paris, the start of a new life? |
We arrived in Paris on Saturday the 23rd of January with trepidation over whether our long-term visas would be confirmed on Monday after the medical and "convocation". We didn't book an hotel before we left and after a few minutes of standing, staring and not knowing where to now, we opted for the Hotel deTurenne, where we stayed a couple of times before and that was a great decision! We can really recommend this little hotel if you want to visit Paris. My brain was still on last things at home that were not finalised, but thank heavens Riaan was still there to pick up the last few sticks for which we were very greatful. Poor guy sorting out our mess and also having to move into his new flat!! For ever greatful to our boy!
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| Bleak but beautiful skyline |
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| Renault Gallery on the Champs Elysees |
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| The Thinker |
Saturday and Sunday took us on a few trips on the Metro visiting the Rodin Museum, long walks from Eiffel Tower to the Champs Elyssees where Attie spent quite a long time at Virgin Records checking out the CD's! Can't take him anywhere! Sunday evening we visited Attie's cousin Hester and her husband Paul to make arrangements for our meeting on Monday with the French authorities to settle our long term visa. Monday found us at the offices of the OFII surrounded by all and sundry from various countries. Very helpful and friendly staff and doctors took care of our needs and voila, we at last got the precious visas. The nerves were a bit shattered by then, because of all the what ifs, but we had a reasonable lunch and that evening treated ourselves to a welcome slap up meal at a very nice Italian restaurant. Typical of us, eat, eat, eat!
Tuesday morning! Oh my word, we had to get up at 4 in the morning to catch a taxi to the airport, because we at first thought our flight was due to leave at 12.15 but discovered, fortunately just before bed time, that nooo! it was leaving at 7.15 am and thus too early to take the Metro!!! However, after a Euro 60 taxi ride and retrieving our left luggage at Charles de Gaulle for another Euro 120 we arrived safe and sound in Amsterdam. The trip to Zaandam was not easy, I must add! Four heavy, very heavy suitcases and two smaller ones and two even smaller ones, but we made it with the help of trains, taxi and wheel barrows!!
What an absolute pleasure unlocking Linqui's hatch and entering our new home for the next couple of years. Neat and tidy and everything in it's place, even a properly made bed! What an unbelievable difference to the two previous arrivals. No mess, no clutter, no filth and no illness. Home sweet home! After all the hustle and bussle back in Pretoria we decided to have a little holiday and just relax for a week. That we did with gusto. Sleeping late, naps in the afternoon, reading, walking and chatting and we did some planning as well!
5th of February we got the tiding that Sybil, Karen's mom passed away in Nelspruit. 93 years old and incredibly sharp and what a fun lady! We loved her to bits. Our sympathies with Karen, Nicole, Michelle, Mark and Andre. Karen also lost her brother to cancer in the latter part of last year. Sorry my dear friend. This event brought the reality of how far away our project is from our loved ones and acquaintances.
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| Messy job this! |
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| Greased bilges with ballast |
As far as work on the barge is concerned we were rather overwhelmed with what to do first and the enormity of the task the further we unpacked we realised more and more what had to be done. A marina friend, Derek, who popped in one afternoon for coffee warned us that one needs to take one thing at a tme and not think of everything that has to be done. He advised that we should start with the new main cabin and finish it. Good advice indeed as it provides focus and serves as a register of progress. My mom used to say "begin in 'n hoek". Attie promptly started this task by preparing the bilges in the front, cleaning everything, greasing them and installing the steel ballast blocks that our steel construction manager Willem had left for us on the boat. A very messy job indeed! Unfortunately he ran out of grease Saturday and arrived at the shop too late and had to wait till Monday, delaying the finalisation of the task. All we do on the boat is new to us and here again we were confronted by a shortage of knowledge. Could we simply put the steel ballast block down on the greased steelwork of the hull in the bilges. Advice from various "experts" on the matter ran the spectrum: grease them and place them directly on the hull; cover the greased hull with plastic before placing steel on steel, use rubber mats, don't use wood which will most likely rot over time. Those few days the wind blew hell for leather. An unbelievably strong wind that just blew and blew for 4 days non-stop. At some stage I became a little bit uncomfortable, imagining waking up somewhere in Belgium or at sea in the morning!!
We decided that next winter's mooring must be sussed out and there and then decided to visit Jon and Niki Low in Geneva, take a car from there and scout the Dijon area in France. On Tuesday evening we flew to Geneva where Niki and Jon met us at the airport and walking into their luxurious and comfy home again was just a pleasure. Their hospitability is endless. They not only decided to join us on Friday on the trip to Dijon and surroundings, but Jon chauffeured us all the way there and back! We visited seven marinas varying from good to bad with the odd really beautiful ones inbetween. Only problem was that the most enticing marinas only take boats up to 15 meters in length and Linqui is 20 meters long.
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| The River Saone |
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| Attie & Jon at a Marina in St Jean de Losne |
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| Beautiful port at Chalon sur Saone, however, max 15m moorings |
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| Port in the middle of Dijon, conventient, but sparse services |
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| Burgundy countryside near St Jean de Losne |
At the end of the pleasant and long but instructive day we had just about concluded that we would have to choose between two of the marinas we had seen, both of which were for different reasons not ideal, or look elsewhere. At our last port of call a very helpful and seemingly knowledgeable gentleman recommended a marina in the Maconnais region. We unfortunately were not able to see it in person as the sun had already set when we heard about it and after the long day we were eager to return to Geneva. Nonetheless it but looks fine on Google and a personal telephone call added spice to our growing excitement. It is at the lovely town of Pont de Vaux, just North of Macon with all the marine services and amenites we were looking for like supermarkets, builders warehouse, WiFi and a restaurant or two. It is also a town with character and a number other fellow over-wintering boaters with whom one can socialise and become part of the life in the town and at a marina. Although the two of us are getting along famously on our own and discovering anew characteristics we had not perhaps appreciated of one another over our 37 years of marriage we recognise how important the company of orthers is to us.
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| Relaxing! Jon & Ted with Coco |
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| Scruffy the dog eats balls |
We returned to Geneva that evening and spent a lovely weekend doing a bit of shopping, cooking and visiting the Divonne market on Sunday. Geneva will always have a special place in our hearts. It is just such a beautiful city and the surrounding areas, towns like Nyon and farms are gorgeous. We will live there again at the drop of a hat, that's for sure!! Thank you Jon and Niki for a very pleasant stay and for lovely meals and lots of laughter! Even a few tears! Their precious little dog Scruffy, central part of the family and aged all of 14 years is sadly going downhill rather quickly. (Just received an SMS from Niki that old Scruffs is not with us anymore). Attie met up with some of his WTO chums and a friend and previous colleague from South Africa, Gerda, who was there for a meeting. This brought back fond memories of good living and successful working in Geneva during our own posting in this beautiful city. We returned to Zaandam on Tuesday evening after a wonderfully relaxing and fun-filled week and a renewed urgency to see progress in our renovations. We now have started to look forward to the cruising, a matter that was just buried under all the other activites and stresses that has occupied the last two months.
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| Mont Blanc in the haze |
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| View over Lac Leman from Chateau de Nyon |
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| Old and new, Chateau de Nyon and modern lift to parking below vineyard-garden |
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| Nyon Promenade |
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| Chatting on the Promenade |
Wednesday morning Attie was on his bike good and early to buy the rubber to put under the ballasts, full of beans and ready to go. He had to cut the rubber mats in little blocks. I went of to Vomar Supermarket for "boodschappen" (groceries) and on my way back the neighbour Sharon was outside with Towser, their dog donning his gorgeous little life jacket. Wanted to show Attie what he looks like and I called on Attie to receive Towser through the hatch, well big mistake!! Attie was cutting the rubber, he looked up, lost his concentration for a second, the Stanley knife slipped and the poor man almost cut his thumb off!!! Needless to say I felt like a witch, he was jumping around and the language I will not repeat. Off to the doctor for stitches. Well that brought a big old halt to all work and that was the rest of the day down the drain and my self confidance took a big knock!! It's true that a woman doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut!! Frustrations galore, right hand is bandaged up and the skipper has to find something else to do, because one can't sit around all day doing nothing. Shame! He is now painting the area where the new hatch will be installed soon. At least that is finished, we hear and this time hopefully correct and according to plan! The first try was a disaster being too small and not according to the plan and agreement. We are anticipating the arrival early next week!
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| Rethink! |
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| Repaint! |
Our Scotish neighbours Alan and Sharon are leaving for Scotland today after three months working on their beautiful boat. It's a shame, we have become very good friends and we will miss them dearly, but.......there was a promise that we will visit them at their bed and breakfast home in Scotland this summer!! The other friends David, Penny, Paul and Lisa and Martin are all in England, so it will be very quiet around here for the next few weeks.
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| Attie saying sad farewell to neighbours Sharon, Alan and Towser the Schnauser |
On Friday the new steel construction for the gas bottles and the engine controls were installed which has necessitated us having to remove the temporary kitchen and the cladding and insulation for the welding and an inspection hatch to be cut into the bulkhead. What a mess! On Tuesday we expect the long-awaited installation of the new teak entry hatch and door. This was promised "een anderhalf weke" after it was ordered in early December. When they first delivered it a few weeks ago, it simply did not fit and had to be remade. Fortunately, their fault and it gave me the opportunity of reminding them the hatch needed to be curved and not flat. As we have said before, everything that needs to be done on a boat requires something else be done before it!!! Nonetheless we are really looking forward to the progress that these two large items will represent. The steel construction is absolutely perfect and adds to the overall coherence of Linqui's sleek and simple appearance.
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| Once again, a mess to prepare for the steelwork |
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| The skilled Eido preparing to weld |
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| Feels as though we are nearly ready to sail away with engine control box installed |
I am sitting snuggly inside Linqui on this very, very cold and cloudy Friday while the
Steelman, with Atties' assistance, is installing the gas bottle cupboard and the enigine control box on the aft deck. The whole kitchen inside has been removed once again to prevent fire hazard. This whole business of rebuilding a boat and making it livable is not for the faint of heart.
It is truly a huge and scary and sometimes dangerous occupation, but at the end of every single day you can stand back and with great pride look back at what you have accomplished, doesn't matter how big or how small the betterment is, even if it just 4 cheap secondhand cane chairs bought from Het Goed. We also acquired a nursery room small dresser which makes a superb grocery cupboard. From good old Het Goed of course! The dry-buddy that we brought back from S.A. is working like a trooper. So I don't have to pay R35 a bundle to dry clothes in the laundry anymore. Soon it will be our very own washing machine, now that will be very good day! Actually what I am looking forward to most is our own bathroom and a beautiful proper modern kitchen. That will be my
pièce de resistance! Oh yes, also now have a sewing machine to make our quilt for the eventual master bedroom! One day, one day all will fall into place, just check this space!
Seeing that the thumb in crisis stopped all heavy work, we decided to go shopping yesterday afternoon. Bought Attie a warm jacket. He was looking for one all over Geneva and Amsterdam and jacket found us! My own little notebook was ordered on line and that will be a special first for me. Rudi's very own computer in red with red mouse and red bag, an Asus 1015PEM Netbook. One really is never too old to learn! We will see. I'ma goin' in with blazing guns! (At least now I won't have to wait to have my turn on the PC.)
Well folks, that is all from us this week. Hope you are all well, happy and keep the good times rolling!
