A bike ride and rain stops play

It seems stupid that I live on a gazzilion dollar boat and we are now in Ft Lauderdale Florida after a busy season darting about the Mediterranean and there is nothing to write home about.

Work is familiar and busy the world no less crazy than before only it it is familiar now and less surprising. We travelled 5000 miles from San Remo in Italy and now sat alongside the dock here In Lauderdale busy preparing the boat for the owners visit.

Last weekend I enjoyed a weekend with friends in Savannah and this one was mostly working but I sneaked off on my blue bike to try and show you a little journey about the place. For me Lauderdale is easy, I know the streets and where I need to go. I know where the tool shops are and the home depot, I know the suppliers by name and the agents and the dock master and the boats and the captains and a lot of crew. So it is just like a day at the office, only the underlying fact that I am not coming home from work just yet and it is probably about time that I did.

So I'm in paradise with a boat full of cocky Yarpie, Saffers (South Africans). For those that don't understand, have a look at world cup rugby on Google. We all walked up to Waxy O'Connors, the only bar showing the rugby world cup final, in this whole city! Amazing because this city has a sports bar on every corner.
So, about 300 of us paid $20 and stood packed inside and outside to watch the game. I think the score was 9-6 to S Africa when the storm began. The heavy rain and the wind huddled the crowd tight under the lean too roof like a bunch emperor penguins, the outside ones getting lashed by the storm. Then with a crash of thunder and a crack of lightning the satellite TV screens blinked and then went blank, showing only a bold "No Signal" in green, across the middle. There was not even a hope of getting a top up of beer as the place was so packed and once you were at the edge of the crowd you were doomed to be soaked as well as un-entertained.

There was nothing that could be done about the break in play and I think it added something to the spirit of the day, South Africans and English and their friends in an Irish pub, thousands of miles from home all working on boats in Ft Lauderdale, all with the common goal of wanting the rain to stop and for the tele to come back on! Finally it blinked back into action and the cocky Safers cheered to see that their team had gained a few more points against the English.. It seems to me that the only winners on this day were the Irish blokes who run the pub. Oh and the Yarpies I guess. Cocky bastards!