2150hrs 05 Nov 2005 UTC 40’13”S 040’34”E Ref 524
About 5 hours ago, I was out shaking the reefs – furious rolling, decks covered in running water, but I was sustained by the vision of the Moon and Venus close together in a clear patch of sky surrounded by a gleaming fractal halo of clouds. An image to be here for – made up for lots of frustration – stark clarity, no city grime in the air. If Turner had painted it, you wouldn’t have believed it.
AndIndian Oceansunsets and sunrises are something else again. I remember the first time I saw them, a thousand miles further north about 40 years ago – I still have the photos. The cloud formations are spectacular on their own, but the blue of the sky seems much deeper and the flaming orange, pink, red and greys in lines and mares’ tails and puffs and waves across the sky – and the cherry pink at dawn – it all has a depth and burning lustre that stay in the memory for ever.
We are going in the right direction at the right speed for a nice change – with some current under us too. Depending on how you count them, I think there are now 51 days to the start on Boxing Day. From now on the DB will simply count down instead of measuring the old Dec 11 schedule. I think that is now well and truly an ex-parrot.