September 29th 1982

posted in: Innocents Abroad | 0
Note the horizon!

A dirty, dirty day.  First of all the log (that’s the mileometer to thee + me) packed up during the wee hours, + then late in the morning we were struck by an incredibly fierce snap storm, quite the worst thing we’ve encountered all the way across the Pacific.  Once again we thought we’d lost Dick, who we’d managed to stick to all night, but once it had blown thro’, Dick was able to spot us, + we moved together again.  In some ways it was lucky it came on so fast, since the seas didn’t get any chance to build up to any height.  All we had to put up with was a suddenly fierce wind + accompanying driving rain.  There was rain for most of the day actually, so I was pleased to spend as much time as possible down below.

It was my turn to cook dinner, + I turned out quite an elaborate little number of saveloys, stuffed peppers, roast potatoes, plus a salad overlooked from last night.  Bloody good, I reckon, tho’ I say so myself.  Doug revealed ( or rather repeated) one of his faults this afternoon: that of becoming angry with things.  He had begun to make a pot of tea, when with one particularly bad wave the teapot fell over, spilling its contents of dry tea leaves.  Not such a disastrous thing to happen, you wouldn’t think, but it made Doug very angry, + he started slamming utensils, cutlery etc around.  So much so that eventually the inevitable point was reached, + he smashed  the glass jar used as a tea-caddy.  Which angered him more, of course.  And it’s all so pointless.  Getting angry with things does nothing to make things better.  Quite the reverse, in fact – witness this afternoon.  Quite often it’s one’s own fault in any case.  And it’s likely to embarrass anyone else listening.  It certainly did me today.  Ho hum.

Had the usual game of Mastermind with Dick this afternoon, + managed to scrape a draw – I really thought he had me beat.

Living in close proximity to someone else with no possibility of escape certainly has its issues; in the circumstances it is remarkable that we all got on as well as we did, and that Doug was able to take his frustrations out on objects rather than us is undoubtedly a good thing. And, of course, I was keeping these observations strictly to myself!

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