Back Into the Swing of Things

Being back aboard Nine of Cups is wonderful, but it always takes awhile to get back into the swing of things. I've grown accustomed to throwing a load of dirty laundry in Mary's washer whenever I want, then tossing it in the dryer at my convenience. As I looked at the dirty laundry awaiting me on my return plus what clothes we've already managed to get dirty, I had to think about the laundering process a bit. First, amass the $1 coins necessary for the washer (4-8/load). Tote everything down the dock, put it in the washer, return to the boat. After 30 minutes, if it's a sunny day, return to pick up the wet clothes, tote them back to the boat and hang them on the line to dry. If the day's not sunny, put the clothes in the dryer, walk back to the boat, then check on them in a half hour and pump in some coins if they're not dry. This is not all that difficult, but it's certainly more time-consuming and labor-intensive than throwing a load into Mary's washer and dryer.  

Grocery shopping is a similar challenge. I'm doing the major provisioning by shopping on-line. We're provisioning for 90 days and since I've been away from Cups for a couple of months, I kind of forgot what was aboard, so I started from scratch taking an inventory and placed a large order with Cole's for delivery this week. In the meantime, however, we were running low on essentials like bread and eggs. While David was busy changing the oil and working on the rig, I headed down to the closest supermarket, Woolworths, along the Mandurah foreshore, a couple of miles away. Again, not too difficult, but a 2-1/2 hour roundtrip which cut into my day significantly.

Instead of jumping into the shower in our en suite bedroom at Mary's, we're walking an 1/8 mile up the dock toting all of our shower stuff to take a hot shower in an unheated public shower room. It's clean and neat, but not very private and certainly not warm when you step out all wet. Lord forbid, you forget your towel and have to walk all the way back to the boat … or worse, remember it as you're stepping out of the shower. I've done both. #$@#!!

On the other hand, I've been getting much more exercise and I'm back home, you silly galah. Quit complaining!