I’m feeling much more like myself, which some may say isn’t such a good thing! Andrea took me in hand. Took me to Ikea where we pretended we had houses and mentally furnished them. A bit like Pinterest but in 3D. It was nice, one may say necessary, to have a break off the boat and away with lots of girl chat. Despite not having a house, naturally I bought some things. Storage boxes mainly and some pots to hang my herbs in. They did come with a rail which I’ll ask Neil to fit shortly now he has finished other work.
I have also been keeping up with my 10k a day steps, although Sundays I take “off”. If I do 10k then great but I’m not going to stress if I don’t. Andrea also helped with this as she walks her dog, Jack, 3 times a day on a route around the town walls and up and down steps around the Cathedral and Castle. I worked out that her route is about 8,000 steps and Andrea and Jack do this 2-3 times a day. I’ve joined them once a day on a couple of days. I’ve walked up to the beach at Cala Cortina and back in the hope that was 10,000 steps but turns out I had to walk back past the marina and up past the Burger King on the front to get to 10k. This 10,000 steps is further than you think. Neil and I walked up to the monastery above the town one day. It is a definite upward climb. I was slow, but steady and felt great when I got to the top. The views across the city and across to the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean beyond were spectacular. This was definately more than 10k steps up and back down. Neil has written more about the walk and the monastery in his post ‘Ascendence’ which you can read here. On Saturday I managed 20,000 steps. A trip out on my own to the furthest Carrefour supermarket in town then back via San Francisco Plaza followed by a walk with Neil to the viewing point on the way to the beach, a walk into town and back for dinner plus a walk up and down the marina at nearly midnight when I realised how close I was to 20k.
Cartagena in the background
Mar Menor in the background
20k in a Day
One of the ladies in the livaboard community offered a beading course for those interested. Myself, Chris, Cate and Ann had a go at making bracelets. It was good fun. Fiddly and I needed my reading glasses on but we had two afternoons sat around creating jewellery. Laurie who tutored us used to have a shop in Switzerland selling beads and mosaics and she sells tutorials on beading on-line.
Lesson in Beading
The beginnings of a bracelet
Completed bracelet
I have also started and finished a crochet project. A C2C (corner to corner) blanket in some yarn I had delivered to Lagos back in January 2016 and had not used. I liked this project as it’s easy and pretty mindless in a relaxing way to hook. It meant that I could easily crochet in front of Netflix. It’s pretty coloured and not too big and heavy so I have it the salon just in case it gets a bit nippy in the evening. We have also been given some saloon cushions from another boat so I’m making new cushions for the deck pod and am having some new ones made professionally for the saloon. It’s amazing how much more comfortable 8cm of firm foam is compared to our 4cm seating. I didn’t really think about our saloon seating being the equivalent of a sofa and just bought the firmest thickest foam from a small shop assuming it would be OK. In hindsight it isn’t. Neil is also going to widen the saloon bench as it is very narrow and does not support the back of the legs much. Here’s to sitting in comfort when watching movies.
Corner to Corner Crochet
Helm Seat in the Deckpod – covers not yet fitted
Back home my step-nan was 95. Mum and Bry took a big cake in to her care home for her to share with all the residents.
Nan and Bry cutting the cake
Neil had been working with Matt, husband of Laurie, on their boat all week and they kindly took us out for a meal. Out of a choice of Italian and Japanese, we chose Japanese. Although we have both tried the boxes of sushi you get from M&S, Sainsbury etc, we didn’t really know Japanese food. Laurie and Matt are familiar with Japanese food and the restaurant here and it is somewhere Neil and I were unlikely to try on our own. The food was fabulous. We both really enjoyed it. My favourite was the eel nigiri in bbq sauce. Nigiri is a piece of fish on top of a ball of rice. We also had Maki; rice and fish wrapped in seaweed, tuna sashimi (raw), uramaki (rice on the outside), tempura and Laurie, who does not eat rice or noodles, had a sashimi boat. A boat shaped dish filled with lots of different fish. This was a great way to try out proper Japanese food with great company. Only wish I had my own Japanese chopsticks which my sister-in-law brought me back from Japan in the early 90’s. Never thought I’d need them on the boat so they are back in the UK.
A sashimi boat
All in all a better week and a better outlook.