Month: November 2021

Varnish and boobs

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Health checks and varnish work. That’s been my week. Oh and early morning and evening walks in the park with Perryn, Wendy and the skateboarding boys from Due South. That bit was fun. 

And we had an ice cream hour in the park mid afternoon yesterday followed by a game of football on the sand pitch. That’s knackering. Two large tubs and 9 spoons –  mint with chocolate and mango sorbet. Flavours chosen by Luke. And appreciated by all. 

The french dentist was likeable, had good drugs and spoke excellent English. He had a snazzy camera on a stick that created a 3D image of the hole in my tooth. Never had that in the UK. The fabricated ceramic filling was millimetre perfect and slotted into the cavity rather nicely a few days later. I’d tried to get a dentist appointment in the UK when we were home. I did. The first available slot in the three months we were back according to the ruthless gatekeeper receptionist was the day before we flew back. The temporary filling didn’t last. 

I also had a check up mammogram scan. I can feel my apprehension building from a gentle to a bubbling simmer before the scan. It’s not something to look forward to….what might they find? Will it lead to re-run of 2012 again? And I don’t mean the Olympics in the UK. 

Glad to report, all is good. No naughty lumps that require vanishment. The French Polynesia healthcare system was slick and professional. I knew within 10 minutes of having piccies taken of my boobs that the scans were clear. No waiting a week for a letter in the post from chez vegas, aka Chesterfield hospital. Two years grace now before the next round of apprehension. 

And onto boaty things. I’m thinking of opening a theme park. It’s going to be called Varnish World. It’ll cost nothing to enter and I’ll supply FREE cake and tea. Attractive ‘eh. The payback is a minimum of 20 minutes of scrapping or sanding or varnishing. Instead of selfie photos of punters screaming on roller coasters, there’ll be a glossy A4 print of Grace when the work is complete and we’ve completed our campaign. “Make Grace great again.” 

Let’s be blunt. There’s a pencil museum in Keswick. (Well I’m sure the pencils aren’t blunt.)  So there had to be some mileage in Varnish World. 

We’re both pooped. Too many hours in the sun scrapping today. Dave cooked tuna. We watched an episode of Killing Eve and it’s bedtime. 8.45pm. 

Going to the dark side

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We went to the dark side on a sneaky, under the radar four day trip to Mallorca. We didn’t tell many people we were going but slipped out of the UK for a last minute unexpected trip before we were due to fly back to French Polynesia.

This is how it came about. Its a Saturday morning. A text comes in. To paraphrase, its says, do you want to come to Mallorca for a week on a boat? Its the week before we are due to fly back to FP. There’s still 101 things on a list to do. Sod that. 😀 Its not everyday a text like this arrives. We can make this work!

We did a bit of rejigging and a few days later we are on a crewed 75’ boat in Andratx harbour. The best bit was getting to spend time with our friends Ben and Julie and their two kids. Ben works in the marine industry so thats the missing link to us getting the invite. He drives and manages boats like this one. Nice work if you can get it.

We felt very indulged and had a snap shot of a life that is so far removed from living on Grace. But its was bloody FANTASTIC, FAB and a once in a lifetime holiday.

One morning Dave and I lay drinking tea in bed as the boat was driven to the breakfast anchorage. We just giggled like small children.

We are now back in French Polynesia and I’m doing my laundry in a bucket while Dave replaces a washer on a water pump on the generator.

And why the dark side? Generally sail boaters talk about motor boats being the dark side. Having spent a few days living the highlife, it most certainly not the dark side. Its light and bright and for the 4 days we experienced it, rather lovely.