We've just been down to vote in our Federal Elections - and as most pundits would say - it's really down to a choice between dumb and dumber, with each party offering nothing new except the same old platitudes and promises of a utopian paradise with a chicken in every oven. In fact, everyone here in oz seems to be of the same opinion - we are still be treated like idiots and that each party are really are only interested in winning at any cost and will say anything they believe will deliver them that end.
Stuffed the form in the ballot box and we drove down to the marina to continue our refit in preparation for a 5 week cruise to the Louisiaides. Man are we so already there! 20 days and counting and I have to tell you we are seriously contemplating not coming back.
Whilst applying the third coat of Sikens oil to the teak capping, we took a break to grab the lines of a massive cat having difficulties getting into their berth. Tied them up and then realised that we had met them almost 14 months earlier. Well not actually in person - more via our HF radio when we were tiptoeing into an anchorage after dark with no real idea where the channel was when a voice came over the radio saying, 'unidentified yacht, if I were you, I'd be doing a quick 180 and head straight back out to sea as you have missed the mark and are about to run aground'.
Not being too proud to take advice, we promptly reversed our course and after some anxious moments dropped our anchor under the protection of the headland.
So why the mention of a voice in the dark and a political free-for-all? It occurs to me that the yachting community is perhaps one of the few purest forums we have left for genuine good will. No hidden agenda, no manipulation, just the joy of a love shared and a simple, genuine desire to help those fellow voyagers we meet unexpectedly in the dead of night.
I did a quick google and discovered that none of our political leaders or their senior ministers sail - need I say more
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