So I was thinking about flour …
Yesterday, six and a half hours into our long trip from Sao Martinho do Porto to an anchorage in Caiscais I said to Neil “so I was thinking about flour”. He vaguely turned his head so I continued. “I was thinking about the way that we store flour, coffee, sugar etc in jars and tins. We are always tipping fresh product on top of staler stuff or having to wait until the canister is completely empty then refill.” I asked Neil if he remembers the tea leaf dispensers from the 1970’s that used to fix to the wall. He said not but I continued anyway. “You put the fresh tea in the top of the canister and then push a button to dispense from the bottom. A much better way to store and dispense flour”. Nothing. He carries on driving the boat as though I haven’t spoken. Doesn’t even bother with his usual “where did that random thought come from”. I think it is a perfectly valid point and I may investigate if you can still get these type of dispensers, we can fix them to the hull sides in the galley.
Don’t know why Neil was so disinterested, only 6 hours before he was asking me to speak to him as we were plunging into the North Atlantic swells and I was gripping on to the sides of the pod as Neil “whee-hees” with the up and down of the swell. He asked me to speak to him, “tell me you’re OK”. I managed “I’m fine, I am talking to you in my head”. Of course, I was thinking absolutely nothing nice and remembering my manners, ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’ I kept stumm.
Possibly his disinterest was that he was feeling sea-sick so keeping his mouth shut was a necessity rather than an option. I find it ironic that Neil gets sea sick whereas I don’t. I’m not mocking him in any way. I hate being sick and will do almost anything to avoid it myself. The thought of feeling queasy for hours is just horrible. If I did get seasick not sure I could be doing this.