Fortunately in between these spells she has been fine and able to get on with various activities that needed doing; updating medical records, processing medical insurance claims, working on her special project, pursuing various options pertaining to a Thailand visa and enjoying chats to the family in Ireland. She also paid her respects through the “virtual funeral” of Olga’s loved one, recently lost to COVID-19 in South Africa. It was a beautiful graveside service, albeit under dire circumstances and brought home the devastation of this terrible pandemic. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the family.
Roy has spent most of his days working on his latest enhancements to the Anchor Plus application, which have turned into a mammoth undertaking, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel, at last!
A few yacht projects have also been completed, including the installation of emergency cutoff switches for the fuel-polishing systems in each engine and cushioning the bases of both water tanks to avoid any further cracks developing, as well as partially filling the tank that had the crack; observations are ongoing on the latter.
On Saturday, a phone call from Keenan aroused us much earlier than we’d have preferred, but we were delighted, nonetheless, to spend most of our morning chatting to him, given that he was feeling a little better and keen to relay all the gory details of his surgery. It also helped keep him company and occupy him while convalescing. A brief chat to him again yesterday assured us he was on the mend.
For some variety in our lives, we enjoyed another delicious takeaway from the Kapitan Indian restaurant on Friday night and Elaine enjoyed an afternoon matinee in her cabin yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday, however, was a major milestone for Malaysia. It certainly felt like the cavalry had arrived when we received the news in the morning that the first shipment of the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines had arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, flown in using an Airbus 330-300 from Singapore's Changi International Airport, following its initial departure from Belgium and after transiting at Leipzig Halle Airport, Germany. Later in the day, an announcement was made by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, welcoming the arrival of vaccines in Penang, saying this was: “a significant day” and that: "we had very limited success in winning the battle against the pandemic over the past one year, and we've had to pay a heavy price as many have died or have been infected by the virus. Consequently, our socio-economic development and the people's livelihoods have also been severely affected”. It was his: “earnest hope that the mass vaccination programme will be successful in saving lives and livelihoods”.
Prior to the arrival of the vaccines, Malaysia's National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Handbook was released to the public, detailing the phases, groups and steps to be followed to immunise the population, including foreigners, the first phase of which begins on 26th February with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin getting the first jab along with Priority Group One, consisting of public and private healthcare personnel.
While Elaine cannot receive the vaccination, it was nonetheless, the first major step towards bringing the misery and suffering associated with this pandemic to an end in Malaysia and giving us our lifestyle back.
Today, Elaine was just thankful that she was able to get off Paw Paw and go for her exercise walk! It’s the little things in life that continue to make the difference in our lives; a beautiful sunrise, a text or phone call from a loved one, a video call with our smiling grandchildren, the otters coming to visit again, for the first time in ages, the aquarium of fish darting around the marina, a brief chat to our fellow cruising neighbours, a cup of coffee accompanied by a baked delight, a monitor lizard lazing in the water, giving each other a hug in the absence of all other hugs, a friendly nod to the security guards who stand on duty, day in and day out, the clear sunny skies, the afternoon breeze coming into the marina, the cooler nights, the birds chirping at dawn, discovering that our favourite restaurant in Straits Quay, Nomiya, has reopened, the relief of much needed yacht parts arriving, COVID-19 cases decreasing in parts of Malaysia, including on Penang Island, the list is endless, actually!
