The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

Essentially the boat is finished. I do a few final jobs.

There are only two small jobs, make lid for sea water hole thing and weld nut onto center plate winch so I can use a ratchet to raise and lower it quickly. These are Kiyuna san jobs but I cannot find him. No worries, the weather has been grim, er by Okinawan standards. Launch is imminent.

I drive up to Ogimi to wallow in Irises. There are acres of them.

Regular readers will remember that my much beloved bird lens, a manual focus Tokina AT-X 300, broke when I was in New Mexico. I tried to get it fixed in San Francisco but everyone said the lens was too old and it would be impossible to get parts and stuff.

When I get back, I send the lens to Tokina in Tokyo. They send me an email saying the lens is old and normally they would not repair it but because the lens is beautiful they would see what they could do. A couple of days later I get another mail explaining they can fix the focusing problem, what is more, they would like to remove mold and generally refurbish. It would be like a new lens. This was all written in exquisitely polite and baroque English. I so appreciated the effort they made.

It arrived at my house, personal delivery at the time I specified of course, last week. It is a new lens. Thank you Tokina! Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Next. At the university we had some kind of private health scheme. Apparently the coverage was exactly the same as the national health scheme but we benefited from reduced rates at hotels or something. Having retired, I have to leave the scheme and join the Onna son health insurance set up.

It is cold, 20 C, and blusterly with showers. I have no car and am obliged to walk the mile or so to the Onna Village Office to see if I can get a new health insurance card. To my surprise, I find I enjoy walking in wildish weather.

The people at the Village Office are adorable and make every effort to understand my request, despite minus 90% language crossover. After filling one form and waiting 5 minutes the ladies come back with my new Japanese National Health Card!

This gives me full health care, medical, dentist, hairdresser etc. So easy, such fun, no cost! Happy, happy, joy, joy.

I have spoken frequently of the outrageously good luck that has characterized my life. There was another example today.

The boat is now ready to launch and Kiyuna san and I go off to pick up my beautiful new cabin cushions. They have been stored at the place where they were, er stuffed. https://thequietripple.com/2018/06/18/stuffing/

On the way back to the marina, steam starts pouring out from under the bonnet of the mighty Xtrail. Now here is the lucky bit, I am only a couple of hundred meters from the marina and sitting beside me is the best mechanic I have ever met. If the car had overheated on the expressway that I drive up and down most days, the consequences are too awful to think about. Phoning emergency services, getting the truck towed, finding a mechanic shop, etc etc all in Japanese. Instead I just park the truck, Kiyuna san takes over. The radiator has burst.

Why the radiator burst we do not yet understand. No worries reassures Kiyuna san. He will take it out tomorrow and take it to a buddy who repairs radiators. I have to do nothing. Amazing.

Kiyuna san then says he will drive me home. We jump into his beaten up 600cc truck and scamper up to Onna. As we near my apartment, I ask if we can quickly pop in at my favorite woodworking shop as they are re-modeling the trim for the cabin hatch. https://thequietripple.com/2019/03/18/grating/

As we pull in Kiyuna san begins to screech as it turns out that the old guy who runs the place is one of his best friends! Much hilarity and fun. I like living in Okinawa.

The boat is effectively finished and I will launch her next week for sea trials.

So, the Norfolk Gypsy is a sailing boat and thus needs sails to work properly. An important part of the refurbishment is a set of new sails.

Today the mainsail is bent.

Sails are difficult to manage as, even in the mildest wind they fill, billow, flap around and behave badly.

Harry and Eri come down to help me bend on the mainsail. Why bend on, rather than tie on, lash on, attach, tie on, install etc, I do not know.

I have no idea really of how to do this. I have an ancient owners manual that is confusing. The terminology is also challenging, throat, peak, luff, spar, leech, etc.

Through trial and error, we stumble closer to raising the mainsail.

The sail is on, but badly. I will spend the next days in trying to improve the way the sail is set. Yay, Harry and Eri!

So, Kyuna san, my Sensei in all things boat mechanics, went AWOL. This is disastrous as, although I can, sand, treat wood , mess around with gratings etc, without him I cannot connect up the engine to the electrics, which have as you know, been underwater for at least 5 years. He knows how to do these things. I do not not. No one has seen him.

Out of the blue he answers my phone call and 5 minutes later we are back in business.

I am anxious. Will we have to rewire the boat, install new fuse box, install new engine starting panel? Kiyuna san is typically nonchalant.

Before filling the gas tank with diesel, I have a look at the dipstick. It comes out dripping with water. Water has got into the tank. I rush down early this morning and lift the top of the tank and sure enough there is a quantity of water in it. Phew, good thing I spotted it before we filled it up with diesel and tried to fire up the mighty Yanmar.

I clean everything out and reseal the tank. Lots of agonizing scraping off the sealant that I put on about a year ago. Sealant is tenacious stuff.

Kiyuna san breezes in and in no time has filled the tank, set up a water cooling circuit and bled the fuel system. I turn on the main electric switch, turn the key on the starter panel and amazingly lights flash and signals sound. I press the starter button and thunka, thunka she starts!

So, everything seems to work. A miracle! My luck holds strong. Hats off to the builders back in 1992 for producing such a robust system.

A grating is that to which you tie recalcitrant sailors before giving them a dose of the lash with the cat. A good grating is essential on any boat.

I drenched the grating that came with the boat with wood treater stuff.

It was no good, the original grating was sun blasted and rotten, and it was clear that, if there was to be any lashing, then a new grating was needed. I go to my local woodworking shop, which is one of my favorite places, with my grating and ask if if they can make me a new one.

They make me the best grating ever from Okinawan hardwood.

I rush down to the boat to place my new grating, repeating to myself tropes of old school craftsmanship that is so difficult to find these days. How lucky I am etc.

Er, it is too long. I do not know why, but my friends at the woodworking shop built it 30 cms too long. I take it back and there is the awful atmosphere of proud Japanese confronting the fact that they have failed. I feel so sorry for them.

Not to worry, they will fix it.

On the positive tack, a perfect picnic at the Marina.

Back in Okinawa!

I go straight from the airport to the Marina. The boat is fine! Thanks Kiyuna san who has been keeping his eagle eyes on her.

One of my main anxieties has been will I be able to get a sea berth in the marina for the boat? These are hot tickets and very difficult to come by. I go see Kobashigawa san, the harbormaster. “No problem, Neil san I have 3 that you can choose from.” My luck holds strong. Kobashigawa san was in the Japanese merchant navy for 30 years delivering cars all around the world. He has a great affection for Scotland. ” Bad weather, very strong wind!”

My next anxiety has been Japanese Income Tax. I am on my own, no wonderful OIST help to deal with this kind of stuff. I go to the Onna village office and explain that I earn no money and am very poor. They remember me and are so kind. They have the amazing ability of turning a tax form submission into a party! Anyway I put 0 into two boxes on the form, sign it and that is my taxes done!

Regular readers will remember that my wonderful bird lens, a Tokina AT-X 300, busted in New Mexico. I send an email to Tokina Japan. They reply in 20 minutes saying send it over to Tokyo and we will do our best to fix it.

In the Onna Post Office they find me a box, pack the lens with exquisite care and send it off

Japan is wonderful. Everything works so well.

I have been in the United States of America and Mexico for the last 4 months. I now head back to Japan. Farewell San Francisco.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apOFrP3XbFM

It has been a wonderful time and here are just a very few reasons why I like living in San Francisco, or more accurately, in this part of the city.

Walking up Haight at any time of day is always entertainment.

Thank you University of San Francisco for allowing local residents to use your sports facilities. I take boxing classes until my right hand stops working and then a ‘Core and More’ class, which is hard. Koret Health and Recreation Center at USF is truly remarkable – indoor olympic pools, loads of courses, and of course, general Californian good feel; also amazing high pressure showers.https://www.usfca.edu/koret I stop showering at home. I lose 9 kilos.

Lyft! Cabs/taxis were always dirty, sleazy, the drivers belligerent, disgruntled. I always felt overcharged, you could never find one. Lyft is a life changer.

The cars are immaculate and I have never waited more than 2 minutes. I do not know why but I get a 50% discount, making nearly all rides in the $4 range. The drivers are so much fun. All my drivers have been recent immigrants from, Iran, Nicaragua, Algeria, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. They have 3 jobs and are full of optimism and drive. The Algerian guy was from Oran, where I spent 1975-76. Together we chanted. “Sidi El Houari attene nous ballon!” This is the supporters chant of the MC Oran football club. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Oran     

Sidi El Houari is the patron Mufti of Oran and the chant, a typical mixture of French and Arabic means, “Sidi El Houari give us the ball!”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidi_El_Houari

Anyway, Lahouari, name of driver, and I wept on each others shoulders on the wet streets of San Francisco. I hear that in some places Uber and Lyft are not welcomed. These people must be Luddites and mad.

Thanks so much to Central Coffee, just around the corner, http://centralcoffeesf.com. Every morning, Maia and Chalmer make me my start of the day coffee and make me feel good.

A 5 minute bike ride from the house is the de Young Museum. https://deyoung.famsf.org

I love standing in rooms full of billions of dollars worth of er art and then walking/biking home through the Panhandle.

Above all, thanks to son James who has put up with me during this time and given me so much good advice.

So, I return to Japan on Thursday somewhat broken. My eye problem that burst upon the scene in Mexico is much better but my eyesight has changed significantly and I look forward to visiting an eye doctor to work out what is going on.

More irritating is that my thumb on the right hand no longer functions. There is big pain along the top of my wrist if I try to do anything with the thumb. This includes, lifting weights at the gym, doing press ups, er these are my main activities of course, doing up my fly, cutting things, adjusting turnbuckles, playing the flute, holding onto the handlebars of my bike, boxing, securely grasping big glasses of beer, lifting anything. In fact nearly everything is influenced by having an incompetent right thumb.

Why, you may ask, have you not had these problems looked at in San Francisco? Simple answer; no health insurance.

Soon, I will once again be nestling in the bosom of Japan’s excellent health service.

I am struggling to find a good analogy for what has happened to my flute. If you use something a lot, you do not notice that it is not performing as well as it could. Decay is slow and goes unremarked.

I have just picked up my flute from the amazing Daniel Deitch. https://thequietripple.com/2012/08/27/nice-suit/

He has given her a whole body makeover and although she is ~198 years old, she now performs as if she were new. Hats off to the makers, Willis and Goodlad back in the 1820s, such quality, and to Daniel, such craft.

I have only to breathe gently over the sound hole and she jumps into life. Each note is now in tune and even the dreaded low E roll booms out.

A car after a service, a replacement knee, new glasses, shirts with the right collar size, reading Chapman’s Homer?

I struggle. What I am trying to express is something that slowly descends into bad performance, but the descent being unnoticed because of familiarity, suddenly performing at its maximum potential. Such joy! Take up thy bed and walk.