Last night we took each other to the movies and saw the new Sherlock Holmes film. Although I was a little startled at watching three American actors portraying Holmes Watson and the villain, Lord Blackwood, they did a good job of it. Too often American actors let the accent slip but neither of the three did so or at least the director wouldn't let them, and the story line was gripping and held our attention for the two hours of the film. I was more than a little tired of all the shorts by the time they were over though. It was almost as if the theatre chain wanted to show every last one of the films that they were currently showing or going to show in every one of their theatres in the relatively immediate vicinity. It was a bit much!

This morning we took Peri and the dingy across to the spoil island off the marina and had a walk at low tide looking for sharks' teeth with considerably more success than the other day. That little bit of extra beach exposure made all the difference and between us we accounted for nine teeth to go into our collection.

We have heard from Seeker. They are in Georgetown and will be heading down to Charleston today or tomorrow and are looking for a window to jump offshore to catch up or pass us. Hopefully they'll stop off here for a day or two and visit this town before the marina changes hands.

We have also heard from SV Ruth, some more Canadian cruisers who as you might see from the Al's comment on yesterday's post, have caused me to revisit the definition of Boxing Day. Here is what the Wikipedia says about it:

" Boxing Day was traditionally a day on which the servants had a day off from their duties. Because of this the gentry would eat cold cuts and have a buffet-style feast prepared by the servants in advance. In modern times many families will still follow this tradition by eating a family-style buffet lunch, with cold cuts rather than a full cooked meal. It is a time for family, parlour games and sports in the UK.

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era; metal boxes were placed outside churches used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen.

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas. However, the exact etymology of the term "Boxing" is unclear, with several competing theories, none of which is definitively true. Another possibility is that the name derives from an old English tradition: in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food). In addition, around the 1800s, churches opened their alms boxes (boxes where people place monetary donations) and distributed the contents to the poor.

The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public holiday under the legislation that created the UK's Bank Holidays started the separation of 'Boxing Day' from the 'Feast of St Stephen', and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post-Christmas sales starting."

My parents never had servants so they along with lots of other Canadians who used to try to maintain a lot of the "old country" traditions, probably looked at the postman as one to the "servants" that needed to be rewarded for services rendered. As I mentioned, this stopped when Canada Post used to put on additional staff for the Christmas rush so you couldn't be sure that you'd get the regular guy, and then once the union got taken over by that reprobate Scot, Pat Davidson, who had been run out of the UK on a rail, and the service went down the tubes they stopped, period.

And now I must make a confession....Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa. I had intended to start my list of boat projects today, but other than giving that list a good brisk look, I have procrastinated. (Sniff) Tomorrow must be the start day. I will have most of the morning before low tide and another search for sharks' teeth and then after there is the afternoon too.