{"id":2842,"date":"2024-07-10T19:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/?p=2842"},"modified":"2024-07-10T19:01:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:01:08","slug":"heat-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/heat-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s raining in North Wales.<\/p>\n

I know this because I just spoke to Dave Jones about my battery installation (I\u2019m biting the bullet and getting Lithium). Dave was happy to talk. It meant he could stay in his van in the dry. Also, It was 14\u00b0C outside (feels like 12 says the BBC).<\/p>\n

I mention all this because I\u2019ve been moaning about it being 39\u00b0C in the cabin here in Trinidad \u2013 and coupled with 68% humidity, it\u2019s been pretty unpleasant.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Of course, this wouldn\u2019t matter if I was anchored out in the bay with a breeze blowing down the hatch \u2013 or even on my way back to Grenada with 15kts on the beam. But, as you may be aware, I hit a rock last week and I\u2019ve been on the hard while \u201cCow\u201d (that\u2019s his name) fixes the damage.<\/p>\n

Also, they\u2019ve parked me right next to the pilot boats\u2019 shed where somebody leaves the lights on all night and as soon as it gets dark, every mosquito in Trinidad & Tobago comes to party on my doorstep.<\/p>\n

I arrived on Tuesday. By Thursday I had learned that shutting both the companionway and the forehatch and fitting my one fly-screen to the skylight was not the answer. With sleep impossible, I took to getting up at 3.00 a.m. and making tea \u2013 until I discovered that that just made it hotter still. Since it would cost \u00a3102 to buy a special plug to fit the boatyard\u2019s 220V socket, the batteries were precariously low and I\u2019d turned off both fridges \u2013 so the beer was in the high twenties too.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s always rum\u2026<\/p>\n

I do realise that drinking rum at 3.00 a.m. while watching old romcoms on Netflix is not really \u201cliving the dream\u201d.<\/p>\n

So, it was a significant moment on Saturday afternoon when Rob came by. I didn\u2019t know Rob but I had met Anne in the laundry when I was depositing the last copy of Trident* and they have a Rival 38.<\/p>\n

Rob climbed up the ladder for a cup of tea in the cockpit \u2013 the rest of the family were at the water park. He was astonished to discover I didn\u2019t have air conditioning.<\/p>\n

Air conditioning in a Rival 32\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cNot built-in air-conditioning. You can rent a mobile unit for $5 a day: A guy comes round and plumbs it into your hatch and bingo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Just my luck to discover this on a Saturday night.<\/p>\n

I endured the Saturday night (John Thaw in \u201cBomber Harris\u201d with Antigua Gold \u2013 a refined and mellow rum). Then on Sunday night, I moved into the West Palm Hotel. This was an extravagance I know, but it was only for one night and the air conditioner over the door was set to 17\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m back aboard and the cabin temperature is a pleasant 27\u00b0C (it\u2019s 41\u00b0C in the shade outside). Another benefit of air conditioning is that the pressure of the cold air being pumped into the boat gets forced out of the cracks around the companion, so the bugs just get blown back where they came from.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s any justice, it will have stopped raining in North Wales too\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

*Trident in the laundry: This is the novel I wrote in 1983 and finally published on Amazon when its theme of Russia meddling in other countries\u2019 elections, an \u201cAmerica First\u201d President in the White House and a Corbyn-like figure installed in Downing Street suddenly seemed more credible.<\/p>\n

I formatted it myself and very amateurish it looked. I\u2019ve since had this done professionally and the book sells steadily to people who want to test Tamsin\u2019s theory that I can\u2019t write fiction because I\u2019m not interested in other people (but you\u2019re good when you\u2019re writing about yourself).<\/p>\n

Then, a few months ago, I found five copies of the original edition mouldering under one of the forward berths and decided on this idea of leaving them in marina laundries. I write a message on the fly-leaf asking people to leave the book in another laundry when they\u2019d finished with it – and would they like to contact me and tell me where it\u2019s got to? It\u2019s like sending out messages in bottles.<\/p>\n

By Sunday, Anne\u2019s bookworm son, Sampson, had snaffled it and read it cover to cover \u2013 and, moreover, declared that he liked it.<\/p>\n

Since I never waste an opportunity to plug a book, here it is: https:\/\/a.co\/d\/079DQuMq<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s raining in North Wales. I know this because I just spoke to Dave Jones about my battery installation (I\u2019m biting the bullet and getting Lithium). Dave was happy to talk. It meant he could stay in his van in the dry. Also, It was 14\u00b0C outside (feels like 12 says the BBC). I mention … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2845,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2842\/revisions\/2845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}