For the days dwindle down to a precious few

January 6th

The days are flying by and our departure date approaches. Yesterday Carol, our monthly cleaning lady, made our now-fairly-tidy-(for us)-apartment sparkle and look welcoming for Jody who arrives to live here for 4 months on Friday. It takes so little doesn't it for that 'lived in' look to re-emerge?

I had sprayed our oven with Oven-Off but had not got round to cleaning it, which George has magnanimously offered to do. (!!!) However, he forgot that I had sprayed it tonight and heated some pita bread in it! I cannot imagine what the Oven-Off fumes do to pita bread ...he looks alright so far...fingers crossed!

I have extracted promises from friends Tammy and Julie today that they will email me while we are sailing round the world. Last time I didn't hear from many except Dia, who was my constant correspondent and oh how I appreciated it. So this is a heart-felt plea to you all to keep in touch and let me know what's happening in your neck of the woods...be it Kirkwall, Sudbury, Dundas, Hamilton, Toronto, Victoria, Nelson, Scotland or England, Naivasha or Cape Town , Arusha or Zanzibar, Brisbane or Perth!

This time two friends will be sailing with us: Liz and Audrey. I look forward so much to showing them round the Explorer...our home from home. We used to catch sight of the MV Explorer sitting proudly in dock after we had been away for a few days on shore and I think all of us without exception would think "There she is! Our beautiful floating home from home!" It was said and felt with great joy and relief. I look forward so much to seeing her again.

Perhaps more tomorrow....when I have squeezed into my already full suitcase the pile of small and not-so-small things waiting to be fitted in somewhere. I fear the US security regulations because my Canadian passport states my place of birth as "Karachi, Pakistan" when in fact it was still 'India' when I was born. And Pakistan is on Barak Obama's 'list'! My UK passport wisely says 'India'. Ah well keep fingers crossed again.