Just a quick note for the day before I head on down to Nelleke to try to tighten up the compression collar on the shaft take off pulley.

We are making great progress on two major projects for the Town: an electrical project for the town dock that will see 200A of power down to the town dock so if anyone ties up there we can provide them up to 100A power plugs. Most people will only need 30A with the occasional 50 but with clever use of plugs we can give them the whole enchilada. The only thing is that one 100A user, since the 200A is split between two user groups, means nothing for anyone else on that particular spot. As we are trying to entice the mega yachts to stay with us here I don’t expect that there would be much room for anyone else on the dock so that may be a moot point. The other project is repaving of one of the main streets in town and re-designing an intersection to make it safer. The only fly in the ointment is the former town employee that I mentioned in a previous post who is wandering around the streets complaining about minutiae such as a small patch of grass not having been mowed regardless of all the work being undertaken in major projects. I suspect that part of his problem is that people in town are talking about how much more stuff is being done in the last six months than had been done in the previous six years under the former administration. Personally I would rather not be compared but clearly this fellow is finding it to be bothersome so he is walking about with a knot in his face. The fact that I am writing a weekly article in the local newspaper keeping everyone informed on what is going on and what we have planned where the previous administration used to do nothing or if they did keep it a secret probably isn’t helping matters much. I do have some concerns that if the former mayor gets re-elected in October he is being quoted as having said that he is going to return everything to the former way of doing things which will include getting rid of me and the new CAO. If that is what happens I guess I will have more time to help Barb through her second knee operation and to do more work on the boat and house. I won’t be too much out of pocket other than the fact that I will not have built up the cruising kitty as much as I would have liked. Unless of course this guy is totally stupid and gives me the opportunity to sue him for wrongful dismissal in which case I should have a significant boost to the cruising kitty.

But that is being really pessimistic. Sorry for inflicting that on you all. On a positive note maybe someone sensible will be re-elected or elected and I will be able to stay on. Fingers crossed! The fact is that I don’t really have to have this job. I could go back to being retired and be more on hand to help Barb out and work on my job list and only really be out of pocket about $700/month as everything else was going into the cruising kitty which by then should be back up to where we started three years ago. I had hoped to have it higher but what they hey? If it ain’t, it ain’t. Part of me would like to have all my time back.

On another positive note, some good friends of ours has given me a long term lend on a piano accordion and today I was able to source some beginner instruction manuals. So in a year or so when we get back to the cruising lifestyle if you are sitting in an anchorage somewhere on the eastern seaboard and you hear some sea shanties being played, it might just be me practicing getting ready for a concert on a dock somewhere with a hat at my feet busking for tips.