Friday 17 Apr, CY day 34: Part two of the sunshade for bimini project.
Not sure where the morning went to. We can’t remember what we did even 18 hours later! We’ll soon be sooo naturally “spaced-out” we’ll be able to stop smoking pot! (That was a joke, by the way, we’ve never done drugs and will never do them again 🙂 )
The first event of the day that we do remember is at 2pm when we watch the government briefing live on YouTube. After all this time of listening to them on the radio it’s interesting to see the people behind the voices. We are super impressed by the team, especially the Chief Medical Officer who is very professional. Both inspiring and reassuringly on all aspects. A young guy with clearly a brilliant career ahead of him. And then there is the Commissioner of Police. He is Irish and looks to be quite a character. Clearly sent-to-pasture here before retirement. We have to laugh when he gives his daily report of curfew violators. Each time he says, in his deep Irish accent, “…. and was warned for prosecution” he actually pronounces it “prostecution”. For several days we were wondering why on earth there were so many prostitutes in Cayman, let alone out on the street during a curfew! Now we can’t keep a straight face each time he says it 🙂
The Premier is quite a character too. By accent, clearly a local but we are surprised to see he is a white guy with Latino looks. The Governor, “… his excellency” as they address him, is exactly as you imagine someone who reports to the queen would be. A Jolly-hockey-sticks, well healed, Englishman. But also very down-in-the-trenches on the whole Covid topic. And lastly the Health Secretary. Also a local and very much the image of one. He frankly bores the sock off us. Not only is he very religious and toutes his faith in every sentence but he also talks about anything and everything except heath issues. I know exactly what Allan Sugar would do to him! (Alan Sugar is the star businessman on the UK’s The Apprentice TV show).
Anyway, this has become our daily entertainment. That is, up until the health secretary has his turn, (thankfully he goes on last) then we turn back to a music radio channel.
Late afternoon we start sewing the port side sunshade for the bimini. The starboard shade was a success, so we simply copy the shape of the first one. A slightly more difficult task then you would think. Trying to layout the 4m x 1.5m shade to copy its size to the new material is not easy in the space of the saloon. Wish we had a sail loft floor for just half an hour. But once cut out, sewing the hems is pretty easy, and it’s all finished by 9pm. The first one took us 2 days to make. Just need to add the poppers tomorrow and double check the fitting on the bimini. Next project will be sunshade for the aft side of the bimini. We’ll soon have more canvas on Cloudy Bay than sails!
And that was our day. Again very hot and again several swims needed to cool down. The evenings are getting particularly unpleasant. Thankfully no mosquitos but the humidity rises as soon as the sun is down. Making our pre-bedtime showers very welcome.