Shopping expedition
06 March 2013 | Syros
George. Sunny. 16 degrees.
This morning TH (the husband) rushed off early to the boat to continue building his amazing wooden bookshelf structure to be attached to the bulkhead in the saloon. Not only does it have two different sized shelves for carefully measured books, but also a special shelf to hold a pilot book, and also a magazine rack. The sides and edges have been lovingly carved into curves and rubbed down copiously. The wood was sourced from a local Greek timber yard, where TH spent quite a while salivating at different bits of wood, which all looked the same to me. This must be what it is like for him when I find myself standing in front of an arrangement of expensive shoes and handbags, or more likely at my age and living status, a display gadgets, cutlery and cookware in a luxury kitchen shop.
Eventually he chose two, four metre planks. Refusing all offers of help, including a lift in a van or the loan of a saw to cut them in half, TH hoisted them effortlessly onto his shoulder and walked through the backstreets to the boat yard. There was a comedy moment and missed photo opportunity when he had a close encounter with a tree, a forklift truck and an old Greek man on a moped .....
TH thinks he can finish the shelves today so while he does this, he has requested that I go on a mission to source some boat related items - namely 35 stainless steel cup-headed screws, 30mm long, and also a 3000 gallons per hour bilge pump. I don't think they are connected to the same project. This has put me in a state of stress as it is equivalent to me asking TH to buy a particular sort of hair conditioner, or an unidentifiable kitchen gadget. Adding to this stress is my fear of going into the little Greek chandlers, which is largely a male dominated emporium, with shifty eyed locals standing around smoking, and whispering to each other to watch the crazy-haired English woman trying to decipher the Greek labels on the shelves.
So I will take a deep breath, take my list, and take the plunge. Although I'd rather be baking a cake, I will endeavour to source these items and show TH that I can be a reliable and trustworthy carpenter's mate ....... or should it be a magician's assistant ........