Autumn is finally here

 

Dear Bloggers,

Last night, the wind finally howled around the house, singing its dramatic, ghostly tunes through the open windows. It took its sweet time, but old man autumn has officially arrived. The temperature has taken an absolute dive at least during the nightly hours, and it’s finally time to zip those heavy winter coats right up to our chins. Inside, it’s all brilliantly warm and cozy as the heating is back on during the evening and cold morning hours; outside, it’s a beautifully wild, grey, and stormy mess. Honestly, what more could an old sailor ask for? Pop the kettle on, I would say! And enjoy a warm cup of coffee or tea.

A nice cup of shut the f.ck up

Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying the grand national symphony of people whining and groaning. The Dutch public can finally return to their absolute favorite pastime: aggressively complaining about the weather! I do wonder sometimes, is their worldview really that tiny? Or does a bit of a breeze genuinely ruin their day? To me, a proper downpour is just a minor inconvenience, not the end of the world. But if you listen to some of these folks on the bus or in the supermarket queue, you'd think a bit of drizzle was a fatal diagnosis! My dear lord are they that far away from nature and is their life that empty that they not even can enjoy the change of seasons.

Not a single roof tile has actually touched the pavement yet, but people are already gossiping over the fence as if we’ve just survived a category 5 hurricane. It makes me laugh. Imagine the absolute meltdown if a proper storm hits! Trees ripped out by their roots, tiles flying through the air like frisbees, and public transport gets completely paralyzed. Though, let’s be honest, we shouldn't count National Rail in that—the trains already suffer from "square wheels" and existential dread the second a single, stray autumn leaf touches the tracks! Dutch railways are something special I guess!

The Met Office will undoubtedly issue a "Severe Weather Warning" and tell everyone to stay indoors because, god forbid, a bit of weather is happening outside. Our once so down-to-earth, stiff-upper-lip nation now gets completely stressed out, plunging into blind panic the moment a dark cloud appears. "Oh no, dear, we might be twenty minutes late for tea!" Instantly, every weather app crashes under the pressure and the rail timetable website goes completely dark. On the Television the explain about “Code Red“. Oh come on It is a bit rough out there and yes at sea nature tosses you around like a bouncing ball. Just enjoy the beautiful skies and the rouge waves this is also what nature is.

Life used to be so wonderfully simple, but we've gone and made it terribly complicated. The exact second modern humans can't text, WhatsApp, or scroll through their phones, their entire world comes to a grinding halt. They are left stranded, bewildered, and utterly lonely and mostly because actual, face-to-face human contact seems to have gone completely out of fashion. Mind you, a good old-fashioned storm is the perfect excuse to ignore everyone anyway! Just pick up yourself and go on what life is giving you and yes in most cases you will survive this severe conditions.

Enjoy the stormy weather and have a nice warm beverage when you come home.

The Old Sailor,

 

Day Dreaming

Dear Bloggers,

A couple of days ago we had a bit of stormy weather and at these moments my brain is running like a ships main engine. Just running a bit faster in a tempo that can be followed. As the wind is howling around the bus and rain is bashing on the windows, I need to wait for a couple of minutes to start the next round again. 

My thoughts are drifting away again. I am memorizing my time and life at sea. A great time with some happy and some sad moments. Yes, I loved it and now I am getting too old with too many complicated extras being a diabetic and suffering from fibromyalgia a life at sea is nearly impossible. Yes, I have some odd fantasies. Wait, that sounds not right, maybe for some really bad. During stormy weather I day-dream a lot. When I day-dream I am getting carried away. Maybe it’s a normal human being thing. I cannot look inside your brain.

 

Whatever, I could day-dream for a whole day, and I have done that before. The good part is anything is possible in a day-dream. When I used to get really angry during my time just after my time at sea. I’d got to my island and cooled down under the palm trees. Yes, I have an island. I also have a ship. But it’s all in my head unfortunately. I turned on the Computer to see “The perfect storm”one of the films I really love to watch. Even though it is not all that realistic.

I day dreamed all the way through it because the film did not catch me this time. The thing I can remember was George Clooney is sailing out with his crew and I was a deck hand. I came around from my day at the day-dream merry go round and thought “what the fuck? This is even more fucked up than my normal day-dream” and went back to whatever else I was thinking about.

Today my fantasies merged with reality and I’ve been searching for small motor ships for sale on the Internet for the last hour. I should be sleeping as it is nearly midnight when I am writing this blog, but never mind. I wish I could buy my family a small motor ship like this.

It has to be the right kind of ship. It has to have the right shape, I found an awesome one with cannons, although I don’t think they are necessary on the Frisian lakes (tempting as it is to track down my wife her ex-boyfriends and enemy’s and fire at them). Burn bastards burn!!!

Problem is, I can’t afford a ship (although there are some smaller ships for sale here in the neighborhood that would cost the same as a car) and I do know how to sail a ship, I do know enough people so they could help me sail the ship, or the people who I do know who could help me to patch up the ship, plus I’d have to sail to get them. So that means no ship, no island with sand and sunshine and I’ll have to stick with driving buses because I currently have no back up plan, unless I suddenly become a famous artist or win a lottery. In which case this is an endless cycle of fantasy but maybe I’d be rich and then I could afford a boat and a new tattoo.

This is all pretty pointless but it’s better than thinking about killing yourself or other negative thoughts, You can call me sick but I am having funny and happy day dreams.

Anyway, a total pointless story, but it indulged my imagination for a bit. Now I’m thinking of my next tattoo…..

The Old Sailor,