I am in hiding – from the sun. This might sound a bit pathetic for an intrepid adventurer – but there again I’ve never made any particular pretence at being intrepid, and when it becomes simply too painful to have the sun shining on me, I’m not too proud to hide out in my cabin until sunset. Like a vampire.

I got caught out this morning. There had been a lot of rain overnight (with steady drips from a small leak in my cabin, the source of which I cannot locate) and this morning was still heavily overcast and grey.

Silly me – I know it’s still possible to get sunburned through cloud. But it seemed such substantial cloud. Anyway, by the time I realised what was happening it was too late. I hadn’t put on my lovely organic Green People sunscreen and now I am paying the price. At times like this I curse having had a ginger-haired father. I have many things to thank him for, but my tendency to turn lobster-red in the tropics is not one of them.

Even though it is now nearly 5.30pm and the sun sets in just over an hour, there is still enough strength in it to make my skin feel like red-hot needles are being poked into it. So it seemed a good time to take cover and write a blog.

I’ve thought about going totally nocturnal. Now I have a fan in my cabin, this could in theory work quite well. During the day I have plenty enough solar power to keep the fan going nonstop, so the cabin is comparatively tolerable. And the nights are cooler – with no risk of sunburn.

Trouble is, I am whatever the opposite of a night owl might be. Come the darkness, comes the doziness. My body just wants to shut down and go to sleep. I can stay up all night when sufficiently stimulated by good company and good wine – but neither are available out here.

Any tips from nightshift workers on how to turn my body clock upside down?

Other Stuff:

Today’s audiobook – not so good. Called Blackout. By Connie Wills. I can’t wait for it to end, in fact. Seems like forever the 3 time travellers have been running around trying to figure out how to get back from World War II to 2060. The book could have been a third of the length. And should have been. As one book critic once wrote of another book, “The main problem with this book is that its covers are too far apart.”

And the narrator isn’t much better. She has the most peculiarly affected English accent, so that passengers is pronounced “parsengers”, passages as “parsages”, and she generally sounds like a cross between Sybil Fawlty and a particularly priggish schoolmarm.

But as perseverance is the name of the game, I will grit my teeth and see it through.

Its one redeeming feature is that I am learning a bit more about London during the Blitz – the sustained aerial bombing campaign waged by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Solidarity in the face of adversity became the “spirit of the Blitz” – when Londoners of all social strata united in their determination not to let the ongoing bombardment dent their morale.

Makes me think that environmental issues would be a lot more easily tackled if we had an identifiable enemy to unite against. If my enemy’s enemy is my friend, humanity needs a shared enemy so we can stop pointing fingers at each other and get on with tackling the REAL problem.

Oh but hang on, the problem is us.

Enjoyed this morning’s podcast with Dr Kiki Sanford, with special guest Marcus Eriksen. We enjoyed uninterrupted satphone connection, and a really interesting conversation about plastic pollution. Check it out. Oh, and Marcus, I forgot to ask you to pass along my thanks to Anna’s mum for the cookies. They were yummy!

Amongst other things, we discussed what can be done to clean up the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Probably not much. But we can avoid making it worse. If you’re still using bottled drinking water and accepting plastic bags at the grocery store, please rethink. Add up how many bottles or how many bags you use in a year. Or a lifetime. And then think how much plastic you could save if you invest in a few reusable bags, a water bottle, and a water filter system you keep in your refrigerator. Just because plastic bags don’t cost you anything, doesn’t mean they don’t cost anything at all.

And while you’re at it, sign up for Eco Heroes at ecoheroes.me, and join our merry band of heroes all doing their bit for a greener, cleaner future. Thank you!

And finally – see that button in the top right of my website? Check it out for our fun contest to bet on when I make landfall. Don’t wait – we are only running the contest for a few more weeks. After that it will get too easy so we’ll end it long before the end of my voyage. Carpe diem!

17 Comments

  • Morning Roz,
    Could that leak be from the solar panel fasteners? Can you do a quick video of the drip leak area?If not. Here is a method to keep the bolt from turning from below, while protecting the delicate threads. Wrap the screw or bolt threads (fill the thread valleys with first wraps) with some spare thread, dental floss, etc..Over wrap the thread surface completely.Gentllly squeeze the channel locks tight. Turn the above nut till snug. Sometimes a shop rag can work to protect the threads in stead of thread, speed? Rinse and repeat method on the other fasteners.Record which ones you tighten in your log book.

    Looks like 10 days of rains to continue.Drats!

    How are the hands feeling?

    Your thought for the day:
    Avoid approaching horses and restaurants from the rear. 🙂

    An old saying I personally learned at a young age.

    Love is not put in the heart to stay,
    Love is not love till you give it away.

    You Roz Savage are loving the planet everyday. Thank you for living it so.

    Word for the day:
    gimcrackery- (jim-crack-ur-ee): An object or objects that has no real value except for the purpose of show.

    A quote from – Helen Keller:
    Until the great masses of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each others welfare, social justice can never be attained.

    Happy to read you had visitors! Yeah!

    You are making great progress Roz.

    Humor ( I hope):from William Cole:

    The chief difference between American humor and English humour is they way they spell it.

    to your journey,
    bill

  • Oy. I stopped listening to “Blackout” when the narrator was doing an annoying child voice so effectively that I was completely annoyed and put it back on the digital “shelf.” Now I know that I can give the whole thing a miss. Thanks for the review!

  • Roz wrote her latest blog before reading the list of messages that I sent her which included the joke from John Kay. Roz has asked me to say how surprised she was at this coming from John, but so amused that she laughed out loud after reading it. Talking about buttons on her website, I see that there are some exciting new items in the Roz Store – do check them out. Grateful thanks to those who have clicked on the Chip In button to make contributions to the Foundation that Roz is hoping will support other adventurers to fulfil their dreams in the future.
    Greetings to all Rozlings! Rita (for newcomers to the site – I am her long-suffering mother.)

  • A hello to Rita. Thank you for such a gift as Roz.Where ever did she get her spunk from ? I wonder. hmmm 🙂

  • Plumbers Teflon tape for the screws would have been nice, but Scotch tape might also help on the leak if the thread or rag do not work. Nothing like getting into a wet bunk to make life miserable.

    Hey Roz, we are here, in spirit at least, so you do not have to feel so lonely! But there are a lot of us lonely people out there. I fly 800 miles to work and back every week, not so good for the eco system, but my job location keeps changing: a nuclear power plant today, but in two weeks it will be New Orleans to help. Even though I am often among people, there is no one close, so it is lonely too!

    Nocturnal is best for the sun, I have heard that a light on the back of your legs helps keep you awake, but have not tried it – I have worked the 6PM to 6AM shift, but sleeping in the day is tough!

    Best of luck!

  • Hi Roz,

    As there are a few jokes knocking around around I thought I would add on. Believe it or not, this joke was told my Silvio Berlusconi at a press conference (consider the irony):

    A Mafia gangster and his son are together and his son says to him: “Daddy is Einstein dead?”. The father replies “Yeah son, he’s dead.” The little boy says “But Daddy why did Einstein die?”. The gangster replies “He knew too much”.

    xW

  • Usually, changing your body clock involves “medication” (i.e gin, bourbon, beer, etc…). If this is not available, forced exhaustion will work. Just lying down and being quiet is as good as sleep. Must get some sun for vitamine D and K production. Takes about three days to convert. BTW, no more garlic. 😉

  • Hey Roz! Hope you are not too uncomfortable and got a mid-day siesta today, safely out of the sun. Glad to hear you have a fan in your cabin. If only I knew you were taking a couple of fans this trip, I would have volunteered ;-D

    By the way, I have been to your GO Roz GO! Contest https://www.rozsavage.com/contents/bet-on-roz/ a few times and bet that you will arrive somewhere, sometime. Kinda like playing roulette, some red, some black, some odd, some even, all lucky numbers, scientifically calculated using the utmost of gut consideration of the current charts.

    That reminds me: Did you hear the latest knock knock joke?
    You start it …

  • Hey Roz, speaking of aerial endeavors,you appear to be in the same vicinity that Amelia Earhart disappeared. This somehow seems significant since Amelia was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and you are nearly completing your solo Pacific attempt. You’re both extraordinary women,with moxie I can only imagine. We look forward to your safe arrival, it will be a wonderful tribute to those who dare to dream big,outside the box. So either am/pm, sleep well in the meantime!

  • OK, Rita. Thanks for jumping in … I love this joke … I once did it with every person sitting around the entire table in a pub. Other Rozlings are welcome to follow Rita ;-D

    Who’s there?

  • Rita, sorry I did not see your reply to the knock knock joke until just now … very good!

    Usually people are at a total loss for words … get speechless … dumbfounded …

    You did good! And I thank you for that reply! You are the only person I know who recovered ;-D

    I won’t bother with the rest of the joke (“Your friend who?”) because I know you know the rest.

    Your friend,
    UncaDoug

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *