march, 2004

back to the boat
----------------

somehow november to march seemed like a nice long time to be home,
to do all the things i had been putting off for years and years,
to ski a lot, and just generally tidy up my life.  but as the last
week arrived it was clear i needed another 4 months to get all i 
had planned done. with my list more than a page long and all things
that sort of matter, like income tax and paying bills and picking up
lawnmowers at repair shops that arent willing to store them for a
year or two, the last days were no sleep, and leaning on others to
do my errands.  thanks guys (mikii, worty, linda).

my nephew weston took me to the airport and hung around till i
got on the plane.  good thing, cause of course i had way too much
baggage, both in size and in weight. i also had bought new auto-
inflating life vests for my two nieces who are my crew for the
mediterranean.  they have little gas (co2) bottles that do the
inflation if you pull a string or fall overboard. just exactly
like the life vest on airplanes (like mine) that fly over water.
but do you think you can take them in your checked baggage.  no.
i asked why, since they were identical to those on the plane.
they said, well you could use the cartridges in other things.
i said "from the baggage compartment".  they said, well those
are the rules.  so they took the cartridges.  funny thing was i
actually had those two that i really needed and a spare for my
life vest that has its orginal.  of course they didnt find the
spare one, only the ones for the new life vests.

murphys law was still in effect as i spent the day looking at
all the marine stores in lisbon for replacement cartridges. the
company that makes them is american and so that you would have
to buy replacements from them, they use a fitting that no one
else in the world has.  but in searching all the marine stores
i found out about the lisbon boat show and went to it.  no one
there had my cartriges either, but the boats and gear were nice
to see and i did get a nice haul up the mast radar reflector.

i did finally get to the boat.  but not without getting ripped
off by the portugese taxi drivers till i was about ready to write
off portugal and promote spain to favorite country so far.
the first rip off what a taxi from the airport in lisbon to the
pension i was going to stay in.  the meter said 7.10, i had heavy
bags so thought 10. was fair and a nice tip in a country where 
people usually dont tip.  but the cabbie said i had to pay 7.10
+1.50 for the bags, ok, but then he said i had to pay double because
he had to go back to the airport.  and he even doubled the cost of the
bags. i spent a half hour going over in my mind how i should have
refused and stood my ground on the offer of 10 euros.

next ripoff was the cab to the ferry to get the train down to the boat.
he wanted very badly to take me across the river to the train station
on the other side because my bags were so big.  i asked what it would
cost because it would be more convenient.  but not 45 euros more convenient.
the boat is only 1.30 euros and the walk from where the taxi could drop
me off to the boat only a block and i had managed to get all my 2 heavy
bags (one carryon wheely and one huge duffle) and my laptop bag and my
washing machine (small plastic hand crank one that was a xmas present)
hooked onto the wheely bag and drive it over the cobblestones to the
station.  the cabbie was mad that i was not going to fall for the trip
across the bridge so instead of the 2.60 that the meter said he added
on charges for the bags and for the fact that the pension had called
on the phone for the taxi.  no tip for him either.

last and biggest rip off was a guy who insisted on helping me with my
bags between the boat dock and the train station.  its about a block 
and i had everything loaded on my wheely and was doing just fine.  but
he insisted and grabbed the bags from me and dragged them fast thru
the station, yelling at people to get out of the way.  definitely not
my kind of guy.  i figured ok, i'll give him a couple of euros tip.
but then he wouldnt leave, wanted to wait with me and load them bags
onto the train.  ok, maybe 5 euros tip.  train finally comes and he
starts unloading the bags from my wheely.  i say no, lets wait to see
where it stops.  there is a pushing fight between us till i win and
he sees the train door is far away and the wheely is the right way
to go.  he seems not too smart.  anyway he gets the bags on the train
and i get out my 5 euros and he writes on a paper that i owe 10, so i
grumble and get out 10 and then he says 11 and i get one more, and then
he says 12 and i finally wise up and tell him its enough, i didnt ask
for his help and to get out and start to chase him off the train.  so
he gets 11 euros out of me for 15 minutes work, of which i only needed
help getting the bags on the train.  who's not too smart.  i definitely
need to learn to say no more forcefully.  or maybe let folks help but
not pay what they ask.

my final cab ride was at the other end of the train ride.  the cheap
way to go (without monster bags) is to walk to the ferry, take it to
spain and get the bus to the boat.  but at 8pm with probably 150 lbs
of combined baggage, i braced myself for another cabbie rip off. a
guy, who didnt speak any english sort of figured out where i wanted
to go and apparently said its on my way, lets share a cab, but i
didnt understand a word of it.  he called a taxi, who came, loaded
my bags in and we both set off in it.  he got out near the bridge
on the portugese side, i continued on. had a bit of trouble finding
the marina, but finally did.  got my bags out to the sidewalk and asked
how much.  he said 20 euros.  we had paid 30 euros to a spanish cabbie
for the same ride on the way home in november so this was a real bargain.
i gave him a 5 euro tip and he smiled from ear to ear.  so maybe the
portugese rip off'ers are concentrated in lisbon and the rest of the
country is fine.

sure makes a difference if you speak the language.  being a big burly
guy probably helps too.

the boat was in fine shape.  mildew i expected being closed up for 4
months and it was not as bad as 2 months worth in south florida.  it
also ended up full of dust and dirt.  we cleaned (or i thought we did)
before we left so i'm not sure where the dirt came from.

now i start on my long list of boat chores.  nieces arrive in about a
week, we should be sailing in 10 days. yeah.  weather so far is ideal
for sailing, 10-15 knot breeze, not too rainy or cold.

hugs.

-evi