Fort Lauderdale – 8 kilometres walked, 8 kilometres by bus
I decided today that I was going to celebrate Christmas Day by doing nothing productive, which meant I had to get my arse moving to finish up some tasks in the next two days. Being without a car is great, as it forces you to exercise a lot more and be more strategic with your movements, but it does mean that things take a lot longer. For example, it took me a full six hours today to get supplies at Walmart and do laundry, which required a lot of walking, waiting for bus transfers, and lugging gear. I overdid my shopping, resulting in a packed and heavy roller carrier, a full backpack, plus a big bag of laundry. I forget there are usually two of us for carrying things….
As I waited In the laundromat, a local fellow came over and sat across from me with some ragged scratch tickets. He told me he had found them in the street and was carefully scratching off the validation number with a tarnished nickel as he explained that it wasn’t necessary to play the game on the card.
“One of those might be a big winner,” I said to him.
“If I win, I’m going to get a hotel room, have a long hot shower, and go for a meal at a restaurant. That’s what I’ll do,” he said as his eyes shifted between me and the card on the table. “That would make for a real merry Christmas.”
“Well I sure hope you win,” I said as I looked at his torn shirt, dirty pants, scraggly hair, and kind eyes.
“It would be a true blessing. Have a merry Christmas my friend, God’s blessings,” he said then pulled himself up and disappeared out the door before our conversation could go any further. I was happy I’d had the chance to meet this man, albeit briefly. I hope he won. I was rolling our encounter around my head as I finished folding clothes then began my return walk to the anchorage. After a block, a rustling sound snapped me out of my trance and I looked over to see a huge green and beady-eyed iguana rapidly and effortlessly scaling a tree. I stood watching him for a while, wondering what it would feel like if he used those needle-sharp claws to climb up my back.
A new boat had arrived at the anchorage, a Catalina 27, and I stopped by in the dinghy to say hello. They were a couple from St. Thomas, Ontario and were cruising with their young daughter. I had a feeling we’d be getting to know each other.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon writing our annual Christmas letter, then Stillman, Ester and the girls arrived around 6pm with four boxes of pizza. The evening was deliciously warm, like the pizza, and we enjoyed a meal together and a good few drinks as we lounged in the cockpit. I got the girls busy doing some colouring down in the cabin, which they seemed to enjoy, and it gave us a chance to talk. It’s been nice spending time with them, especially getting to know Ester better. We talked a lot about her home country of Switzerland and I learned a few new things.
I dinghy’d the gang back to the dock, we wished each other a Merry Christmas, then I stopped by the new boat and properly met Corey, Marie and their daughter. I liked Corey right away when he handed me a cold Yuengling seconds after hooking up with their boat. We chatted for half an hour, traded a few stories, then I headed back to the boat. There will be more to come.
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