And no better today. Once again, no wind, tho’ we had a bit of sunshine for a change. Val more or less finished the trousers for me, bar the fancy bits anyway. And seeing as there’s nothing better to do, I managed to help Doug with a few beers at lunchtime, + then some hefty rums before dinner. I must cut down a little – getting bombed every night is not as good as going on an occasional bender. We were able to tune in to the Cook Islands radio station today, + it was pretty good, even tho’ it did turn over the whole afternoon to a live broadcast from parliament. They played a nice selection of records in the morning, + in the evening relayed an hilarious concert by a NZ maori – a musician who spiced up his act with a lot of jokes which ranged from risqué to filthy. Doug was delighted, quite convinced that this wouldn’t be allowed on any other radio station. I’m not sure he’s exactly right any more – even the BBC not being a plum in the mouth, dinner-jacketed announcer station – but the show was still excellent.
My turn to cook – a shepherd’s pie, which dried out a bit but was still exceedingly tasty, + some cabbage. Come evening, as we weren’t moving anywhere very fast, we all went to bed, the watchkeeper just getting up to look around every hour or so. Dougism of the day – “here’s a rum for your tum.”
Once again the contrast with life on Alma is marked – plenty of booze, liberal use of the radio, a relaxed watch. Of course it could all blow up in our faces, but for the time being it seems like a massive improvement.
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