Liverpool, Learning & Life

I’ve been here 5 days, returning to Dauntless tomorrow.  I came to England for a lecture about cruising the Baltic, specifically Poland, this past Friday in London.  This is exactly why we are in Europe.  I get to see new things, renew old friendships and learn new ideas that are promotive of even more learning.

I love learning; it’s why I loved teaching.  You can’t have one, without the other, in spite of the many who try.

We took a tour of Wales yesterday. My childhood best friend Eve, wanted to find the grave of Jack Black, a slave who was brought to Wales in the 1700’s.  After that, the drive home was interrupted my a cattle stampede, when half a dozen cows decided to make a run for it, instead of crossing the road to the barn.  Anyone who has chased their cat or dog knows the routine: run up road, wait for man to catch up, run up road again, continue until tired.

Today,I had gone to the bookstore this afternoon to try to find a book of the geology of England and Ireland.  I got distracted.  I have not often been in a large book store in Europe in which all the books are in English. A real treat.  So first I got distracted by the book about Steve McQueen, and then on the same table was the Katherine Hepburn book, an hour later I thought I better get cracking and find my geology book. Well, science was next to math and for some reason I just had to pick up the calculus book and refresh my brain about differentials, limits and integrals.  By the time that was over, it was time to leave, so I hastily looked and found nothing having to do with geology.

The lecture about the Baltic was interesting and I met even more interesting people.  It reinforced my tentative plan and made me more open to also visiting Russia and St. Petersburg.  We’ll see.

A few weeks ago, I was worried about being bored this winter. Now, in the last days, I realize my dance card is getting rapidly filled.  How so?  Plans so far:

• During the next two weeks on Dauntless, I must:
  • Plan the installation of the Wallas heater
  • String some shore power lights, so D looks more festive and less lonely when I am not there.
  • Figure out my the washer dryer isn’t working
  • Clean and organize the fly bridge, getting the water out of the dingy, so it doesn’t look so derelict
  • Make some tasty soups that I can eat with the Hobbit bread

• I’ll be in the U.S. form about November 12^th thru December 14^th, during which time I will:
  • Attend some Univ. of Washington Alumni thing in NYC
  • Spend thanksgiving with Julie’s parents
  • Visit Roger in Ft. Walton Beach, as he was one of my prime communicators for the Passage
  • Visit old friends out west in Denver and Seattle. Like plants, friendships must be nurtured and maintained to thrive.
  • I’ve decided to drive, preferring to spend the money on gas as opposed to airline tickets. It means I will me making the grand tour, NYC to Florida to the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and finally back to NYC.  Driving gives me the opportunity to stop and visit more friends, both new and old.

• Then when I return to Ireland, I’ll only have a few days before I go to northern Italy to see my friends in Budoia, Pordenone, Friuli and Treviso. Julie will meet me there for her Christmas vacation.
• When I get back to D in mid-January, I will have to install the Wallas diesel heater and before I know it, it will be time to meet Julie in Spain the middle of February.
• By early March, I hope to be getting D ready for our spring and summer cruising. Now, all of this is very tentative, but on first blush, this is what we are thinking:
  • Leave Ireland for England and the Channel Islands in April
  • Brittany, Belgium and finally Holland by June
  • Germany, Kiel Canal and Poland in July
  • Poland, the Baltic Republics July and August
  • Finland, Sweden and the Gulf of Bothnia August
  • September??? Probably returning to Poland for winter??

So that’s the rough plan. Clearly the further out the more tentative.  Much of my cruising will depend on visitors, in the sense that I seldom cruise alone.  With Julie only having 3 weeks, I’ll have 9 of 12 summer weeks do something.  So If I have guests, then I will travel; if not, I won’t.

So, as you can see, I seem to have filled much of my time.  There are a number of projects, most revolve around photography, but now who knows how much time I will have.

I’ll publish my cruising plans as they firmer.  Should you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Author: Richard on Dauntless

I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge. Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey. I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around. My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between. I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist. After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life. Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal. Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit. But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally. View all posts by Richard on Dauntless