New crew aboard and reds onward ho. — Reims, France
We are off, again. Slowly. This morning after taking on some fresh water in the lock we have spent the last few days at, we were joined by a stink boat with the skipper on top looking like the old man of the sea. . Beard and all. But apparently he would be better sailing a square rigger as he was pretty lousy at driving the stink boat. That slowed us up a lot as we had to share the locks. So at each lock we waited for them to catch up, then craig helped them tie up while I got thelock started. We passed through a few locks and into another canal ( i hope we are going the right way). The stink boat kept going the other way towards Paris. Then we got stuck behind some commercial traffic. they travel at about half what we do bit getting past them is pretty hard. Just randomly we went through another tunnel. 2.5 km long. two locks were out of order so we had to wait while the vnf sent a car to get it working. All this while Rae was flying in to meet us in Reims. No chance. So we stopped in sillery and waited for her there. The marina is closed of course. been closed since the 1st of october. Tonight after tea. We are in the cockpit with craig on the didge and Rae on the Uke and the harmonica and singing away. I Know I am vicariously enjoying the sounds of home made music as I am not playing. But I love it. red is alive with music. as he should be. rae the new deckie is aboard having managed to find us. She is 21. She has traveled a lot for her years. Backpacked in the usa. She has just signed on to doing something completely different. On a boat in europe. She has only met dee and I only once. a whole new experience of life. very brave. We should all be doing something like that. I cant help but think back to what I was doing at 21. Wow. Feels like a million years ago. At 21 i had hair, really. and i had a six pack stomach....well ok maybe a four pack . had lived in 4 states of Australia and Malaysia. Surfed in sydney. Lived and worked in the bush. traveld oz by motorbike, spent a long time in hospital after a bike crash,( yes they are related). I had buried my mother a year before and was traveling from south Australia to queensland with my oldest mate umph. i had a landcruiser and a guitar then. i had time to play it too. i miss having the time. What do you remember from 21? I have a few regrets from the first 21 years. lets be honest, we all do.But for me, all of my regrets are things I didnt do, not things I did. Which has set the tone for the next 21. Then I think of what I have done since. Bloody hell. The last 21 years have been an absolute blast. I will tell you about it sometime if you like, over a large glass of whiskey.
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