The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

When I press the start button nothing happens apart from a click from the vicinity of the starter motor. I originally thought that the battery was flat but, once recharged, all that happened was the same click. This depresses me. I have had so many problems with the starter motor. I cannot use the boat without an engine that starts reliably. I cannot leave from, nor return onto, the pontoon under sail.

The phone rings. It is Kiyuna san! He has the new oil line and is coming over.

I demonstrate the starter click.

He says, “Dai jou bu, I fix.” He takes off the starter motor and water pours out of it! How can this be? I can not think of any way that water could have got into the motor over the last few days but it is clear that it had been submerged. It remains a mystery.

He dismantles the motor and we find that it is filled with red sludge. Where did that come from?

99 people out of 100 would have chucked it away and bought a replacement – not Kiyuna san.

It is a very complicated device with many moving parts, springs, circlips, which he negligently chucks into a container. How he could ever remember which piece goes where and in what order is difficult to process.

We fill a bucket with diesel and start meticulously cleaning each part. Here I can be useful.

We have a great afternoon, sitting in the sun, cracking jokes and cleaning the starter motor. We do not have much common language but still have the best time.

The re-assembly is very complicated. “Next time you do it, Neil san.” Er, no.

Kiyuna san says, “There are many mechanics. I am not a mechanic, I am a magician.”

Once the starter motor is re-installed, the engine starts instantly. It is a miracle! The starter motor was full of sludge.

I have to leave but Kiyuna san goes to the Yanmar depot to pick up the new oil line. I can’t wait to see if he has installed it. Then the boat will be back in action

Kiyuna san will be 70 tomorrow! Wish him a happy birthday.

The weather is perfect. My engine does not work. I can not go sailing. Boo.

I can, nevertheless, sit on the side of the pontoon with my feet dangling in the water and apply more teak oil to all the wooden trim. My, it is thirsty wood! It soaks up coat after coat. As I sit there, lots of fish amble by. The water is clear like gin or maybe vodka or more locally, awamori.

A puffer fish comes by several times and swims around my feet. It is fascinated.

I take off my shirt and soak up the Sun’s healing rays. Now I have sunburn. It is early March.

I pay the annual bill for my berth at the marina. They send you a bill that you take to the bank. There you take 250,000 yen cash from the ATM. This you give to one of the bank tellers who does something and gives you a receipt. This you give to the folks at the marina.

I think this is a great deal. The marina is the best place! It has mechanics, paint specialists, rigging specialists, lots of nice people, hoists to lift your boat out to enable bottom cleaning, and is very sheltered in stormy, er, typhoon, weather. Lots of exotic fish.

On a different tack, you will remember me mentioning a Farmer’s Market near my place that regrettably closed. https://thequietripple.com/2020/10/22/nothing-endures-but-change/

Well, hooray, it has reopened.

It is different, more hip, more young, less agricultural but still fantastic. It is now called, “Happy More Okinawa Farmer’s Market.”

The place gives the opportunity for local growers, hippies, to sell their stuff. There are so many strange sauces, teas, smoothies.

Each thing you buy has a label that explains exactly where it comes from, when it was untimely ripped from the soil. Unfortunately. I can’t read these labels but my friends hold them in very high regard.

Such quality, so close to my place.

It is 10 years today since the Great Earthquake. God bless all who suffered.

The title has nothing to do with what I am going to recount other than some bits were awful and other bits were wonderful.

The engine will not start. It is clear that the battery is flat. Why? God knows. I charged it with the wonderful Dr Charger just a few days ago. She started immediately.

No real worries.

I run an extension cable from the electrical power column on the pontoon to repeat the operation. Oh no, Dr Charger shows no signs of life. I plug into all the power outlets but no juice. I conclude that Dr Charger has given up the ghost. I am saddened, I liked Dr Charger.

I explain my problem, in mime, to a friend who lives on his boat and draws current from the same power column. He kindly dismantles it, er the column, and checks all the breakers and concludes that every thing is OK.

Thus the conclusion that Dr Charger has turned his toes up, is reinforced. What to do? Buy a new charger, I suppose.

With great excitement I set up the new charger. No sign of life. Is this because Google translate has not explained the instruction manual correctly? I do not think so. I think there is no power coming from the power column.

So I go to the marina office. They are charming and send a technician.He checks all kind of stuff but nothing solves the problem. He finally pushes in all the big plugs and suddenly every thing works!

Meanwhile, a big, exotic, fish wanders by to feed on the coral on the pontoon.

I sit on the pontoon with my legs dangling down into the water and paint Teak Oil onto the wooden trim. Very restful.

I worry about the boat. The engine is clearly sick and I fear her stern gland is loose..

Now recovered from tooth trauma I travel to visit the famous Nago Pension Office. Apparently I am to get more money due to some Covid help for oldies. I stupidly threw away the correspondence not realizing its importance and, in a very Japanese way, I have had two reminders to claim this money. Therefore I go to Nago to try to sort things out. I don’t but I make progress. It is a beautiful day and I go for a ramble in the forest on the slopes of Mount Nago.

The forest is beautiful.

I wander along a path for an hour then I turn around and wander back.

I enjoyed it very much; fresh air, birdsong, forest smells, sunshine, not hot, exercise.

I then visit the paddy fields of Kin. A farmer is churning up his field in preparation for planting rice of maybe Taro, which here is called Satoimo I think. Dozens of Egrets surround his tractor. It is a great sight,

Good day initiated by bureaucracy. Out of the dull came forth sweetness.

The last few days have been less than ideal. As I mentioned in the last post one of my molars suddenly came loose and wobbled all over the place. Much misery and pain. I have lived on a diet of painkillers, antibiotics, soft boiled eggs, bananas and miso soup, as anything more dense always seemed to strike against the sore tooth.

This morning I go to have it untimely ripped. This is always fun, tooth extraction is my hobby.

My old partner in crime, Mori sensei, explains that for some reason the bone around the tooth had rotted.

Ours not to reason why. I had a full check up only 3 weeks previously and nothing was wrong. I can only guess it is a punishment for some evil deed.

Lots of anaesthetic dispensed from a device that plays calming music at the same time. Mori sensei attacks with the pliers and wiggles the tooth from side to side before easing it out. I take many photos but they are too gruesome to post. So much blood. He then removes lots of diseased bone tissue and whacks in some stitches. Such fun.

I am the given lots of medication and go home.

On these occasions I always think of Samuel Pepys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys , who had a bladder stone, “the size of a tennis ball” removed as he was doubled over on his kitchen floor. An incision was made through his perineum and the stone removed with horrible tongs. No anaesthesia nor hygiene. “Pepys’ wound did not heal particularly well, but he was enormously grateful to be free from pain.”

I feel the same. Not a great morning but so glad to be free from pain.

I have lots of pills to take and go back tomorrow to check that all is well. Thank you Japanese health service.

That time of year again. Tax returns in two countries.

I get a typically jolly letter from the Ginowan Town Hall letting me know that the time has come.

Off I go the Town Hall and locate the place where you do tax stuff to try and find someone who can help me. The place is a large tent or marquee erected for the purpose. A smiling chap welcomes me and gives me a number. Five minutes later it is called. I show the lady my tiny Japanese government pension payments.

“Only income?”

“Hai!”

“No tax on pension, you pay no tax.”

That was it. Hooray, thanks Ginowan Town Hall folks!

Now to the USA. Some of you will remember that the person I love most is Elena who has helped me with filing my tax declaration for the last couple of years.

https://thequietripple.com/2020/02/19/this-is-too-difficult-for-a-mathematician-it-takes-a-philosopher/

In previous years the process was done face to face but the idea of flying back to San Francisco just to do my taxes was terrifying. No worries says Elena, I can do it all remotely. She does. After a couple of days I get this email.

In fact life is not wonderful. On Thursday I noticed that one of my top right molars was loose. By Friday morning it was very loose, super painful and the right side of my face is now grotesquely swollen. Off to the dentist where they examine, Xray and declare that my jaw bone is diseased. Extract! They give me antibiotics and painkillers and set an appointment for the extraction on Tuesday. This gives them time to practice. The whole deal with medication cost me 560 yen.

Anyway, things are bad. The tooth is now very mobile and I would not be surprised if it came out on its own before Tuesday. Despite medication, it is very tender and it is difficult to eat anything solid. I am surprised how quickly all this happened. On Wednesday there were no symptoms and nothing happened to the tooth or jaw to provoke this condition. Maybe the rest of my teeth will spontaneously drop out. Scurvy?

I decide to make my Mother’s clootie dumpling.

https://thequietripple.com/2021/01/20/yiv-a-bit-o-jeelie-on-yir-semmit/

I need a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda for the recipe. I go to Amazon Japan and buy a bag. I did not look carefully at the size of the bag I ordered. A couple of days later a huge 4.7 kilo bag arrived. Does anyone want some?

So, after a good day on the boat things gets better when Tomomi san comes over to make an ikebana piece for me. She is a master. That does not sound right but she is a mistress sounds worse. Let’s say she is astoundingly good.

She only has one big leaf and some ferns. She rustles around my plates and things and comes up with an idea. She builds a structure in one of my Yachimun plates and starts bending leaves and ferns with great certainty and rapidity.

It is a privilege to watch her work. She moves fast with great dexterity. If you or I did it, it would all fall apart, leaving a pile of leaves and ferns. She has an understanding of structure.

The whole process took 15 minutes. Thank you Tomomi san. You are amazing. Check her work at https://www.instagram.com/imomofolio/

Then we ate lamb chops and cauliflower.

Life has been slow on Okinawa. However it appears that things are changing. The first thing I noticed was a group of city workers digging up the road just outside my apartment. I came back a few hours later to find tat they had installed what I take to be a new fire hydrant.

The new fire hydrant, together with outstanding weather, has motivated me to get on with boat jobs.

Things chez boat are bad. I mentioned that the engine was reluctant to start. The last time I tried she did not start at all and I ran the battery flat. This is disturbing as the mighty Yanmar used to start after a couple of turns. I also told you that Kiyuna san replaced an oil line before I left for San Francisco. There are 2 such lines and we hoped that only one was leaking. Not so, the bilges are again oily so the second one must be leaking. Oh well.

There are little balls that prevent the gaff throat from swinging away from the mast and also make it easier for the throat to slide up the mast when raising the mainsail. Anyway, I replaced the scruffy old ones with pretty colored ones.

I bought a tiller extension in Sausalito and carried it back with me. Too long to go in my case and ANA made up a cardboard box for it. It went in the hold and I picked it up in Haneda.

Japanese Customs, “What is in that box?”

Me, “A tiller extension.”

Japanese Customs, “What?”

This conversation was in mime. The subsequent explanation, also in mime, was one of my greatest achievements in a career in communications.

I flatten the top of the tiller with a rasp such that the attachment fitting will lie flat and snug.

There are several days of sanding and oiling in front of me. This will be a joy if the weather stays good.

Let’s hope the recharged battery bullies the engine back into life. I doubt it. Who are you gonna call?

The only thing I have done really is to move my eel byobu from one room to another.

They looked great where they were before but they blocked light from the window behind them, making my dining room/kitchen gloomy.

I moved them to the tatami room where they look fantastic too.

I spend nearly all my time in the tatami room so I get to soak up eel spirit more than before. Something about the tatami mats and the byobus make sense.

I went to the doctor for check up. I have lost 9 kilos since I left Okinawa in December last year. I have been on a ferocious no carbs diet and strangely I always lose weight when I go to the USA.

I drive North to have lunch with a dear friend. Very windy and cold for Okinawa but blue, blue.

That is about it.

Oh yes, I filled out all the forms to reserve my berth in the marina for next year.

Oh yes, I went to a great dinner where we all danced for about 2 hours. First time I have danced, excepting Strip the Willow, for a decade.

Oh yes, I got a new microwave.

Oh yes, went to dinner and drinks with former colleagues. We left at 8:00. All restaurants and izakayas have to close at 8:00.

Not much adventure.

Okinawa in a state of emergency. This means stay at home as much as possible and this is what I do. I go to the boat on the bike but I do not really get stuck into anything. I fiddle around but have not started any of the big jobs, re-treating all the woodwork, cleaning out the engine compartment, scraping weed from her bottom and that sort of thing. I lack energy, drive.

I think this is a result of spending a month without talking to anyone. I have just sat around. I would by no means classify this as depression but there is certainly a cumulative lethargy. Melancholia.

Once my quarantine period is completed, I finally go for lunch with another human being! We go to a fantastic sushi place walking distance from the apartment.It is a mixture of super hi-tech and quality food. Fish is flown in from Tokyo and Hokkaido every morning. I have the best time, I talk to someone.

The weather has been perfect, bright, cool, sunny, blue skied.

Cherry blossom, sakura, as you know, has great importance here. Now is the time and now is the hour. There is blossom everywhere.

So I hope to regain vigour with the arrival of spring. I see the first signs. I learn that it will rain massively tomorrow so rush down to put the cover on the boat.

I notice a new sign at the marina.