Christmas Eve

I’m having a hard time believing that tomorrow’s Christmas. When I’m on the boat, I don’t see much in the line of T.V. advertising “buy this, buy that” and we don’t hear much news. But going to the grocery store in town on Christmas Eve was a definite reminder! It was wall-to-wall people, all buying their last minute items. All the people were bustling about and it was good to see most of them smiling and saying Merry Christmas! I wanted to take advantage of the free trolley on Fridays (they drop you off and pick you up at the grocery store – the bus does not) but it cost $.50 today (perhaps because of the holiday?). Oops – didn’t have my money out! Even if it were the same cost as the bus, I’d rather take the trolley. It’s just more pleasant and clean. I learned that this year they only run the trolley Fridays – Sundays. In previous years they ran all week except Thursdays. In talking to the Trolley driver I also learned that the bus system, taxis and trolley were all trying to work together. Our driver only works the trolley for the three days but works Monday to Thursday for Fed Ex (12 hours/day). Friday to Sunday (on the trolley) she works 13-hour shifts on those days. Wow. Not much time for a social life!

Wayne dropped Mary & I off at the dinghy dock and went back to the boat, and Axel had his hands full trying to figure out why they had so much water in the bilge. I guess their bilge pump isn’t working so they had quite a busy morning.

When we were done shopping, Wayne picked us up in the dinghy, in tandem, first Mary then he came back for me (us plus the food didn’t all fit). When he got back to pick me up, the dink wouldn’t start again. He ended up taking the spark plug out and cleaning it off – same problem as last year – and it worked again. The dink just has a mind of it’s own. Axel thinks it might be a carburetor adjustment. I just think it’s frustrating to have the same problem again as last year. When things get older, they don't work as well, but it’s not conducive to my taking the dink out alone somewhere.

Axel was able to find what he needed at the hardware and West Marine today so hopefully the new bilge pump will work. I decided to try ours and discovered that it was in the “off” position instead of on automatic. It was good to see that it worked though!

I got Cuban Sandwiches for dinner tonight and tomorrow I’ll cook up the turkey breast and make some stuffing to take over to Azaya’s for Christmas dinner.