No rainbow without rain

Ok, I don’t want to complain, but I do miss a lot of things. Things from The Netherlands. Holidays, birthdays, births and festivals; things I would like to experience in person. But I’m here. And it is nice and beautiful and special here and very ‘once in a lifetime’ and so on, but it is also just like normal life, with all the daily hassle of normal life. And exchanging daily stuff with family, friends and colleagues, is what I actually miss the most. Talking about things that seem trivial, but that make life funny, stupid, fine, worthwhile and sometimes so unlikely normal. Things about which you are not supposed to gripe, but of which it is so nice to do it, because it makes stupid things funny – and everything else so beautiful.

So, I thought, if I share my daily stuff, would you share yours in a comment at the bottom of my message? Then we can grumble together and I can imagine myself being a bit closer to you.

A random selection of my daily stuff:

• getting annoyed by the toilet pump that’s starting to need more stregth to handle, and that in combination with a sore left arm – the bed’s just a bit too small – means that you now have to pump the handle with two hands, and therefore you must open the door to get some room to maneuver and that, as a result, the poop smell can get even farther into the boat.
• that you gripe that it is raining because that means that all deck hatches must be closed and that some odors then remain in the boat.
• that the sun is beating down and you haven’t enough shadow spots on your boat. And you don’t feel like doing anything about it.
• that the starry sky is very beautiful and that the only thing that provides shade during the day, is now blocking your view of the stars. And you don’t feel like doing anything about it.
• that you’re on anchor and that you have to release the latch on the stove because the boat is rolling so badly.
• hiding from local touts in boats trying to sell me unripe mangos for too much money.
• that you don’t buy eggs because you think € 4.20 for 10 eggs is just ridiculous. And that you still buy them the next day because you just need to make pancakes.
• being in doubt whether you should just buy a 3-liter carton (like the wine) of rum, because it is just soooo cheap. And then don’t buy it because you don’t want to turn into an alcoholic.
• jump off your boat to join a school of squid and then get stung by a jellyfish.
• falling over – while you’re sitting – because some hooligan is racing way too fast through the anchorage in his dinghy.
• Racing way too fast through the anchorage, because you‘re just so happy with your fast dinghy.
• that your sheets come back pale yellow with brown spots from the laundry, and you‘re pretty sure they went there white.
• that it is so nice when the boat smells of freshly washed sheets.
• that you listen to the rush hour traffic update from the Netherlands with a fellow sailor and drink a beer to that.
• that your American neighbor invites you – while you’ve barely dropped your anchor – for a drink and you give him the benefit of the doubt.
• that you’ve altered your judgment again after the American neighbor and his wife never shut up,  and the only question they ask you is – looking at our Dutch flag – where you actually come from (“The Netherlands” is, like, an actual countr , like, you know, it’s not just a tax haven).
• that you intend to approach Americans unprejudiced again the next time.
• that you secretly hope that there won’t be next time.
• that you‘re happy that you can take a shower on the shore, but that on the way back in your dinghy you‘re splashed by a salty wave.
• that you’re happy you can shower on the shore.

So, people! Reactions please! I want to hear funny, stupid, juicy details, about your boss’s whining, about the neighbour’s dog barking too loud, your child’s snot nose, about a chance meeting on the train, about your favorite T-shirt being ruined in the laundry. Every kind of reaction is welcome in the comment section at the bottom of this page!