Ok, I've been scarce with blogging, but my mind was completely elsewhere. In July my sister came down for two weeks with my niece and nephew, so I went a week off with them to show them a bit around South Africa. They loved it, despite the rain and cold.
Since July I've been working hard, trying to sell some boats, so we can finish our boat quicker.
Ataraxia moved from Strand to Paardeneiland, where mainly Peter works on her regularly. The hull is painted and they will start with the decks soon, which is now finished with sanding and smoothing. Peter is organising the inside; we have a carpenter working for us to make lockers, drawers etc. Peter did most of the painting inside, that stuff is just vicious and I don't know how he can do that.
Am feeling guilty, mainly my weekends are spent hiking or running in the mountains, while Peter is doing most of the work, but I really need my weekends to get some rest. At the moment since October I've been working regularly the weekends too, but as it looks like, things are coming together.
In December we will slow down, since we're going away together for a week and after that, have a big party in the Eastern Cape. The son of my friend Tabisa has been in the bush, so we're going there to celebrate his safe return and his crossing into manhood! There will be lots of meat and alcohol, so we'll probably need Christmas to recover. Oh wait, then a friend from The Netherlands is here, who will take us out for more food and wine....
At the moment I'm on a strict diet, since I'm suffering from Candida. This means no wheat, yeast, sugar, alcohol, mushrooms etc... Have already lost 4 kg's and am losing more at the moment. I combine this with a Bi-com resonance therapy, so I only felt sick the first week.
The major change is getting out of the rythm of having a glass of wine in the evening, have my ups and downs, but will get there.
Hopefully I will write something before our holiday again, Cheers.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
sorry friends, we do listen
Peter and I are truly blessed with very good friends who care about us. They are always willing to listen and come with good advice too. In the case of building the boat, we haven't listened to you guys, sorry. Even now, with the boat over budget and late delivery, we still don't follow your advice... Is it stupid? Perhaps.
At the moment, or even a few months ago, people asked why can't you place the project on hold, so you have a chance to save some money before you allow them to continue working. Alas, the problem is that even if the builder wouldn't work on it, we would still need to pay money for rent etc to them. Furthermore, the builder already accepted a new project after us, so wants us out of there rather sooner than later.
Both Peter and I know a number of boatbuilders, but as well a number of amateur builders. We learned that as soon as the project loses momentum, it is very difficult to re-start it. We had sort of this experience when we had problems with the delivery of wood. Only after much blaming and arguing, the project started to get going again and is making good progress now.
We got offered a place on the hard, to finish the yacht off while still comfy living on land. We refused this, since we know ourselves. I know that as soon as we're not confronted daily with a problem, like get running water, we will be lazy and work will progress slowly. As well one thing that is bothering us a lot at the moment is the fact that we don't have an overview, or control of the expenses. A supplier faxes you his invoice and we have to assume it is delivered and will be used for our boat. The moment the yacht is out of our influence, we run the change of having this experience again. We want to be able to be more in control of our budget and want and need to do it in our time and pace.
We knew when we started, that it would take years before the yacht will be finished. It is not great, but something we can live with. She will be comfortable enough without all the nice finishes and we will have running water, a toilet, a matrass to sleep on, places to chill or lounge, lights and bought a whole lot of plastic containers for our stuff. We will have our crying moments, especially when trying to remember where you left what, but hey, it still beats living in a house.
Cheers, N
At the moment, or even a few months ago, people asked why can't you place the project on hold, so you have a chance to save some money before you allow them to continue working. Alas, the problem is that even if the builder wouldn't work on it, we would still need to pay money for rent etc to them. Furthermore, the builder already accepted a new project after us, so wants us out of there rather sooner than later.
Both Peter and I know a number of boatbuilders, but as well a number of amateur builders. We learned that as soon as the project loses momentum, it is very difficult to re-start it. We had sort of this experience when we had problems with the delivery of wood. Only after much blaming and arguing, the project started to get going again and is making good progress now.
We got offered a place on the hard, to finish the yacht off while still comfy living on land. We refused this, since we know ourselves. I know that as soon as we're not confronted daily with a problem, like get running water, we will be lazy and work will progress slowly. As well one thing that is bothering us a lot at the moment is the fact that we don't have an overview, or control of the expenses. A supplier faxes you his invoice and we have to assume it is delivered and will be used for our boat. The moment the yacht is out of our influence, we run the change of having this experience again. We want to be able to be more in control of our budget and want and need to do it in our time and pace.
We knew when we started, that it would take years before the yacht will be finished. It is not great, but something we can live with. She will be comfortable enough without all the nice finishes and we will have running water, a toilet, a matrass to sleep on, places to chill or lounge, lights and bought a whole lot of plastic containers for our stuff. We will have our crying moments, especially when trying to remember where you left what, but hey, it still beats living in a house.
Cheers, N
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