Saturday, + time to visit the shops once again. All of us walked in together, + to our horror discovered that only 1 out of the 3 shops in town was open. Most important, this meant we weren’t able to buy the loaf bread we liked, but fortunately were able to purchase an adequate supply of baguettes. One of them we demolished straight away with some pate, sitting in our regular place in front of the bank. We played a couple of games of backgammon, talked (that passes much of our time) + then strolled back.
Dave is in much the same position as we are in – he had to get off a yacht when it unexpectedly turned back + headed for home. And now he’s looking for boats to Tahiti + points west. He’s a really nice guy – about 20, with a great shock of an orange beard. And he has an infectious enthusiasm for life. Spent a good deal of time in the afternoon doing chores- washing clothes, collecting wood. While I was doing the former, Val swam out to the “Alma” – there were a couple of things we couldn’t find (notably my note-books), + they promised to bring them in in a couple of hours. This meant Val had to hang around on the dock for quite a while, since naturally they were late, while we prepared tea. When she finally made it back to camp, it was dark, we’d all finished eating, + she was in a foul mood. This time there had been what are known as strong words, since she didn’t think it was quite right to let them sail away thinking they were the bee’s knees, morally speaking. Jack had said I should have been taught a good lesson when I was 13, + Val said it was a strange way to teach people things by stealing their money – end of conversation. What Val said may or may not affect our chances of getting the diary back, but it needed saying in any case – I’m proud of her. I will also attempt to write some sort of summary of the missing month or so, while it is still relatively fresh in my mind.
While we were sitting by the fire, 2 Australian yachties happened by, + stopped to chat. They stayed, in fact, for about 2 hours, sharing stories, our fire, coffee, the night, + toasted marshmallows (the latter a treat courtesy of Dave. They were friendly people, their names were Jean + John, + they gave us their address – could prove useful.
Another pleasant, relaxed day, not even marred by the absence of our favourite bread – after all, when you’ve got baguettes…
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