A 2-day 1-page entry – I haven’t done one of those for a while, and I’m feeling tired. Also, the 2 days were very similar in many respects. However, Sunday morning started off, at least, weekend-style. We all went out to visit Laurence + Claudia, our landlords, for breakfast. All very pleasant – they have a beautiful house (tho’ somewhat marred, to my mind, by the presence of 3 bloody great Dobermanns) and the breakfast was excellent. Returned around 12.30 or so, and began work.
Can’t really remember the different particular jobs for Sunday + Monday, but most of the time I was up the mast. One general pattern has been to mark off on the wire stays their correct length, then I would unbolt them from the mast and lower them down, + Dave would take them into town to have loops spliced into them. The trouble was, virtually every time they would manage to mess things up, , making the wire too short or too long, so we’d have to rig something up. However, we got something done, even if it did take 3 times as long as it should have. We also got the spreaders put on – I’ll admit I was rather nervous trying to fit them into their brackets – they would have made a nasty mess of the deck. On Monday, we had to fashion the metal ends of the spreaders first – not easy, so I mostly left it to Val, who has more patience for such things. I’m more or less comfortable going up the mast now – once I’m up there, + tied on, I’m even pretty comfortable.
A good meal Sunday night – sort of stuffed, rolled meat. Ed Lesesne joined us, + it was interesting getting them both to talk about Vietnam. War horrifies yet fascinates me. The nuclear bomb vs Biggles, I suppose. Monday night was another pizza night, with John, Barbara, + Buddy. We’re getting rather fed up with them, but still I must admit I do enjoy the evening – plenty of beer, plenty of food. Early nights Sun + Mon – I was shattered both nights.
Am becoming increasingly comfortable with working up high, and it certainly gives me a (spurioius?) sense of moderate expertise. I remember Dave telling me that I had obtained a marketable skill… but I had serious doubts.
Ed was one of Dave’s friends, a bit younger than him, and with the usual shattered home life – a wife and children elsewhere. Interesting to hear him talking of Vietnam, and the hostile reaction he had received upon returning; not the returning, conquering heroes, but finding themselves cast as the bad guys, being spat at, accused of mass murder.
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