I have lived in the USA on and off for 23 years. I am so dismayed by the election result. It does not reflect the States that I know and love. Admittedly, all my time there has been in California. All my friends, except one, are staunch democrats. This result shows how little I understand about the country.
Anyway, misery and pain.
Boo
On a brighter note, I unload washing from the washing machine whereupon I find my iPhone. I suppose it must have been in an obscure trouser pocket. Astonishingly. it works perfectly!
Soon, soon will my jib be raised, or unrolled. I can then bend on the mainsail and off we go into the wild blue yonder. Wait a second, I also need an engine. I have, in denial, not touched the engine. When I finally press the starter button, I hear the death rattle click, click indicating jammed starter motor. It is a sound I know well!
This is my 3rd starter motor
I think what happens is this. High heat, high humidity, always a bit of bilge water at the bottom, the ,pretty much sealed, engine compartment becomes a Turkish bath. Left for six months in a Turkish bath, the starter motor absorbs the moisture and rots. No Turkish bath conditions in Norfolk but a permanent fixture here.
Who you gonna call? Kiyuna san!
” No problem Neil san, I have a spare starter motor in my pocket!”
Saturday morning, he bounces up. Five minutes later the new starter more is fitted!
Thunka, thunka
The engine starts immediately but we are a bit worried by the trickle of cooling water coming out of the exhaust. Kiyuna san demands a complete flush out of the cooling circuit. This he does in about 30 seconds with the help of a magic wand and incantations.
All Ok now
Kiyuna san – what hero!
Sunday morning, I go to the The Moon Beach Hotel for an Ikebana extravaganza. The Moon Beach is the oldest of Okinawa’s beach resorts and has an aura. https://www.moonbeach.co.jp/en/
Big Ikebana Tomomi san preparesThere are dozens of pieces. Of course, Tomomi san’s is the best!Ichiro san and Tomomi san revel in glory.Notice severe sunburn after a morning with the engine.
We have an amazing lunch.
Amazing lunchFrom the restaurant.New wave ikebanaThings ain’t wot thy used to beThere are lots of amazing displays.Okinawa in November
After that, I wander off to Onna son where the annual community concert is happening. Onna son is a relatively small town on the West coast of Okinawa. The range, diversity, inclusivity and quality of the presentations is astonishing!
Thes people live around herSo graceful. Kids do Karate demonstration. They are all grinning and having lots of fun.Sanchin and percussion. All localA lady’s only zither band. So good!Incredible choir!
Unfortunately the battery in my iPhone ran out of power thus preventing me from recording subsequent performances.
I meet lots of old friends who remarkably remember and cherish me.
The other countries in which I have lived do not have this underlying sense of community.
I drive South with an explosive Okinawa sunset to my right.
I have been waiting for my new jib to arrive for months. It had to be specially cut by a sailmaker on the mainland. Boats in Japan have white sails and it has been very difficult for them to source the tan sail material so emblematic of the Norfolk Gypsy.
You have to have tan sails for sunsets
The sail arrived yesterday! Hooray!
It’s in the bag!
I now have to attach the sail to the new furling system. I fear this will be difficult.
To make things more tricky, a typhoon is blasting its way up the Chinese coast.
Won’t hit us but it is windy.
Trying to control a loose sail in a high wind is more or less impossible It flaps around like crazy. I will have to wait until things calm down before I can bend on the jib. How frustrating!
Tim gave me a baby tree about 4 years ago. It did not do very well mainly because I abandoned it regularly to go to California.
Last yearToday!
It is doing so well! Just likes having me around I suppose.
I missed it but offered to drive Cedric to the airport as he was leaving the next day. So amazing to meet Cedric, to whom I gave a job at CERN 30 years ago, in the tiny town of Ginoza!
Just outside the apartment where I was to pick Cedric up, there is a carpet made from lots of brightly colored somethings.
Bottle tops!
The amazing Okinawan lady explains that there is a island-wide initiative to collect all the screw on tops from plastic bottles so they can be recycled. She washes hers!
Cedric, me, wonderful Okinawan lady. She is so funny!
The road South to the airport passes the rice/taro fields of Kin. We birdwatch.
Whiskered Tern flies.Whiskered Tern has a little paddle.Greenshank, a light year away, guzzles a caterpillar.I think these are Pacific Golden Plovers but I am not sure.Such fun to meet Cedric again: https://www.cedricbregnard.ch. Such a challenge to speak French again!
The next day, Arisa and I go for a traditional Okinawan breakfast.
SheMe
Can you spot the American influence on Okinawan cuisine?
We Japanese still use cash a lot. Not as much as pre covid but significantly more than the States or Europe. In July new designs for the 10,000, 5,000, 1000 yen notes were released. Great excitement!
Old 10,000yen note.New one.
It has taken a long time for the new bills to filter down into the system. It is only now that they are appearing regularly.
New one on topOld one below!
I find them a bit disappointing. Japan has wonderful graphic art but these notes are super traditional. A more Manga approach would have been better.
I go the dentist for final fitting of the implant that replaces the molar that was untimely ripped in London earlier this year.
Big gap bottom left.Freshly pluggedSpot the implant!
The dentist is of course just an excuse to go to nearby fish market.
Lots of Chinese gobbling shell fish and crabBaby squidOctopus in plastic bag
Black backed StiltIntermediate Egret in flight. I learned so much about photographing birds in flight when I was in Canada.Same bird having a restWhiskered Tern [rare}. This is a great shot as they move very fast and twist and turn.
Anyway on to the main course. Old friends coming to eat and drink. The menu will be Sashimi, Octopus coctel, Leg of lamb and Japanese fruit.
Best sashimi on the island presented on white scallop shells and wonderful oysters!
JoyOkinawan family breakfasting on the best seafood.I breakfast on one huge oysterI prepare the lambI start to cook the octopus. It is huge, I can barely get in in my biggest pan!
The action starts; Arisa san, Tomomi san, Ichiro san are local but Mary and Tim are on a brief visit from London. We all worked together at OIST.
World’s best sashimi and oysters! (photo Hunt)
After the sashimi, we get stuck into the octopus coctels. We were all so engrossed that no-one took a picture. However like sailors dying of thirst we slurped down an enormous amount.
Next came the leg of lamb. The first time I have done a leg of lamb in the air fryer and I blew it. I left it in too long and the lamb was too dry. What a pity.
OvercookedTim and Mary look on in horror (photo Okubo)
Tim and Mary bring Fortnum and Mason choccies from London.
ClassyWe eat them with Shine Muscat grapes from Nagano, thanks Tomomi san, and Japanese pears from Imari, thanks Arisa san.. Quality!
In the amazing canteen of cutlery there is a pair of scissors.
Grape scissors top right
I have only recently understood that they are grape scissors. Apparently it was not done to pluck individual grapes from a bunch. Small bunchlets were snipped off using grape scissors, transferred to a plate and then eaten one by one. I have never seen the grape scissors used in my 72 years.
Tomomi san makes history! First use of grape scissors for at least 70 years.Self explanatoryIdem
Next week I have invited old friends who are passing through and old friends who live here to dinner. We used to eat together frequently and I aim looking forward to another great bash.
A couple of years ago, actually nearly 4!
I want to serve octopus coctel, a Mexican cold dish of tomatoes, peppers, onion, cucumber, avocado, chopped up very small mixed with lots of tender octopus. You put the mix in a glass and fill it with Clamato. Delicious!
Buying octopus is a stressful business as sometimes there are none on offer at the fish market for weeks on end. I visit frequently but there are none to be had. There are only two fish stalls that sell them and they have been octopus free. I am getting nervous. I ask one of the fishmongers if he could phone me if he gets any. After 10 days there is no news. I fear that I will have to abandon my octopus dish.
However on Thursday, today is Saturday, post more dental fun that I will not bore you with, I rush through the fish market.
Sapristi! There is a beautiful very big octopus!
What beauty! Probably too big.
This afternoon I get a phone call. It is the other fish seller. “Neil san I have a beautiful octopus for you.”
I could not possibly tell him that I probably had more octopus than I needed and head down to Tomari harbor.
In the bag is an octopus that is bigger than the one I had already bought. Incidentally this guy is another Okinawan hero.
I walk back through the fish market and pass the other octopus seller. He has 3 wonderful octopi! I had to use enormous self control to not buy them all.
Never rains but it poursNo busses then 5 come at the same time.
More food stuff. There was an American food writer Antony Bourdain whom I find very pretentious but he got one thing right. Lawson’s is the best shop of all and in particular their sandwiches are addictive.
Typhoons always inject excitement into life in Okinawa. Typhoon prediction is not an exact science. Sometimes typhoons announced as mega awful turn out to be gentle. Typhoons predicted to be minor storms are sometimes howling craziness.
Typhoon Pulasan was expected over the weekend. At the marina, everyone gets busy setting up extra mooring lines and tying everything down. I spend hours preparing the boat.
Making sure the boat is super dry.
The cover used to be attached with elastic cord and hooks. Now I use rope, which is a pain to tie but will hopefully be stronger.
Lashed down
They don’t like tattoos at the marina.
I move all my plants inside.
Mushrooms. How did they get there?Pacific Golden Plover has heard that a typhoon is on its way.Bath tub , which I never use, filled with water in case the power goes off.
Usually the power goes off during the storm. The worst result is that, as water is pumped to the top of building and then flows down into each apartment, no power means no pump and thus no water. No water means no loo flushing. Things can get very unpleasant! A full bath and a bucket is essential.
Anyway, the typhoons heads north and misses the island completely. A bit of a let-down.
My hearing is impaired. I recognize the symptoms. Ear wax! I go to a nearby Ear Nose and Throat clinic hoping to get it removed.
” So sorry Neil san, reservations full. You will have to wait.”
” How long?”
“About one hour, I am so sorry.”
This seems pretty reasonable seeing that I have just walked in from the street.
“If you can come back at 09:00 tomorrow then the doctor will see you immediately.”
I should point out that this conversation was done on an iPad with a very good translation app. This technology has completely changed the experience of being abroad. You no longer need to speak a foreign language. Sad really.
I go back the next morning and sure enough I am seen straight away.
The doctor inserts a hollow probe that is connected to a suction pump in each ear and gently sucks out wax. There are six nurses who engage me with iPad conversation.
” Are you happy Neil san?
“Do you feel any pain?”
I am then taken to a side chamber where drops are , er, dropped into each ear. I have to wait 5 minutes on each side and then back to the doctor. He fiddles around with probes until he extracts a huge lump of wax from each ear. I can hear again! They charge me 800 yen.
Black Faced Spoonbill So rare!Only a few hundred in the WorldGreat White Egret, miles away.Another SpoonbillGrey Heron, again miles away. What a great lens!Great White Egret in trees.Moorhen
After my period of illness earlier this year year I am very feeble. I lost 20 kilos, principally muscle.
I used to go to a municipal gym that was just down the road.
Unfortunately the building closed to undergo total refurbishment. However, I find that the city has opened a much smaller gym in an adjacent building. Here I go to do very gentle exercise to try and regain strength. Mainly leg stuff.
View from cycling machine.
Apparently a new gym will open at the end of the month.
The door bell rings and outside there is a smiling man. He shows me a lot of accreditation stuff and a sheet in English stating that he is from the Okinawan Electrical Safety Organization and is here to check my fuse box.
Everything is OK apparently.
They look after you so well in Okinawa. He also give me a booklet on electrical safety.
Typical playful approach to public information
Arisa gives me a beautiful bunch of of Shine Muscat grapes from her home town – Imari.
Thanks to Arisa’s Mum who sent the grapes from Imari to Okinawa.. They are too pretty to eat!
Just a year ago, the roller reefing system, or furler, for the jib, the sail at the front of the boat, was smashed up in a typhoon. Much investigation revealed that the original system could no longer be bought and that I would have to install a completely different set up. I had to track down a Japanese boat chandler that stock the necessary stuff. This I did; https://www.yuukoumarine.jp/pages/furlex50s. The nice shop on the mainland also sent a pdf of instructions on how to install the new furler. https://support.seldenmast.com/files/597-133-E.pdf. This sent me into a panic as it clearly way beyond my capabilities. “Don’t worry Neil san I will ask Jigen san to help you.” He has; he is a fantastic guy and speaks excellent English.
Yesterday we finally installed the new furler. Hooray! It has taken a year but it is true that I was in California for 6 months.
This should do the job.We had to raise and lower the mast a couple of timesLast adjustments
It is beastly hot and humid and by the time we finished I’m drenched in sweat and dizzy.
However in recompense the water in the Marina is as clear as vodka. and teeming with fish.
Marinas are usually pretty dirty places – not Ginowan!
Amazing sight
I now have to wait for the sailmaker to cut a new jib. I feel this will probably take months as they have to source tan colored sailcloth. Japanese boats all have white sails.
Anyway, great progress. Big thank you to Jigen san without whom none of this would have been possible.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 