Well, two out of, how many(?) isn't bad.

We finally got the new generator on board and down in the engine room. Then the tool chest had to be taken out and the radiator had to come off the Lister so that it could be put in position. Which Mike, with the help of Tony and Rudi, did by floating it across the engine room on chain blocks. Mike then had to cut a hole through the deck-head of the engine room to attach the new exhaust ... no longer will we have water coming in and flooding engines, apparently.

So it's now installed and running, which is wonderful. It's not quite as quiet, or vibration free, as we would have hoped but at least it works!

We had to have Spanny the welder back for a couple of days to weld the exhaust on deck and a few other odds and sods, like welding up the passage-way door we never use and finally finishing off the overhead hatch on the bedsit door which has never worked anyway.

Unfortunately both the fridges we were trying to get fixed turned out to be NFG. Although we did find a small old one we'd had in the hold since leaving Maryport which works so at least we have something, and we've moved the beer fridge down nearer the galley so we can put food in there as well. So we are functioning on that front, even if not quite on all cylinders.

Mike did a much needed dinghy overall and stopped the leaks (it was like getting into a floating paddling pool every time we went anywhere). He also managed to get the Yamaha 8 hp outboard running so we've switched that for the gas guzzling 25 hp. It's frustratingly slow after the 25 but hopefully something that I can run once the initial teething problems have been sorted out.

There's still no news on the inverter, apparently the guy's waiting for parts, so lights out really does mean lights out (plus fan, and music, and anything else that needs power).

I've been going to the dentist at least a couple of times a week, including this morning, and am now on my fourth set of antibiotics but the infection still hasn't cleared and they can't refill my tooth until it does. With the last lot of antibiotics I developed oesophagitis which was particularly painful and worrying but which thankfully got slightly better once I started to take the Zantac ... I'm starting to feel a bit like a walking pharmacy which, after years of not having to take anything, is not a good feeling.

On another not very good note. Tony went to the hospital on Monday because he had a pain in his side and was feeling sick. It turns out he has a hernia. Being a typical Indonesian (and this really is a cultural thing) he thinks he's going to die (or at the very least never be able to have sex again). His first response was to want to go home, somewhat understandably I guess. Since then we've shown him videos and translated articles from the NHS website (thank God for the internet ... it really does have it's uses!), and we've also had Rudi talk to him about his experiences with hernias. He seems to have calmed down a little but is walking around feeling exceedingly sorry for himself. We'll go with him to the hospital after the holidays to talk to doctor about getting surgery done here, but ultimately if he wants to go we can't stop him ... well apart from the fact that he sent most of him money back to Indonesia already so doesn't have the airfare.

There was a fire on Hog Island last Monday night which was quite a blaze. It raged for well over ten hours and left a large part of the island under ash, but luckily it didn't make it down to Roger's Bar so that was ok. We also had some excitement yesterday when the customs came and impounded one of the local boats for drug-running and arrested the local drug baron.

Sorry it's not a particularly inspiring blog, oh well ... Wishing you all a Happy Easter, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Love to all ...

PS What's with all the weather ????