After collecting our latest deliveries from the Ao Po Grand marina we stopped in at Dean and Deluca in Boat Lagoon marina, as usual, for a coffee and baked delight, before heading to the Central Phuket Floresta mall, where, not only were we delighted to stumble upon a Marks and Spencer’s store, which isn’t in the mall directory and doesn’t come up on any search engines, it had all our favourite Christmas stocking fillers and Elaine found some new pyjamas which she’s desperately needed for some time now. By the time the crowds had started to arrive, though, we’d completed our shopping and made our hasty departure!
Back onboard the usual sanitation exercise ensued, before we dinghied ashore to At the Beach restaurant, where we enjoyed a cold beverage, a chat to Terence in Australia and a delicious dinner, as the sun dipped below the horizon. Being a beautiful, cool evening, we lingered a little longer than intended, ending a busy day with a nice long chat to Elaine’s sister in Ireland.
Taking advantage of the dry, breezy day yesterday, although overcast, Elaine got the first load of washing going straight after she’d prepared a bacon butty breakfast for us, while Roy spent his morning getting a few chores and odd jobs completed. It was lunchtime by the time we were ready to dinghy ashore again, this time for a late lunch of sorts; coffee and chocolate cake at My Beach Resort!
Then, while Elaine continued our Christmas preparations, including creating and posting our Christmas Cards, Roy cooked up a storm in the galley, all to keep us busy until our monthly family Zoom get-together, giving us a very late night to accommodate Keenan and the kids joining the fun and plenty of laughter. It was long past midnight before we crawled into our beds, but happy that we’d spent time with the family, albeit virtually.
With the forecast rain setting in overnight and continuing all day today, we both returned to bed after breakfast, needing a few more hours of sleep after our very late night. Elaine, however, slept a little longer than she’d expected and woke to Roy washing Paw Paw’s decks and topsides in the rain. Feeling refreshed, she then got on with her chores for the day, which included sorting out the dry laundry, cleaning the port aft bilge, stowing our additional provisions and cleaning under the floorboards of both companion ways.
We also enjoyed a chat to Richard, off Charon, who was in northern Thailand with Yim, visiting her family and meeting new grandchildren born in the two years since she was last able to visit.
We always think we’re alone “in this boat” of not being able to hug and kiss our loved ones, but everyone we speak to has had or still has the same heartache; separated from family and friends due to this damn pandemic and just when there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, we discover it’s an oncoming train! We are just sooooo over it!
