I returned to Cyprus after 5 week stint in the U.K. A distant friend of the family asked me if I’d be interested in project with Fibre Laser Welding machine manufactured in China.
Initially I turned him down, why I didn’t think he was offering me enough money for all my practical and technical expertise in welding. I had been at a cross roads since early last year when I came back to the U.K. to do some welding work.
Welding pipe work for nuclear submarines and on oil refinery project. Both those projects paid excellent wages. Why did I experience a cross roads? I would like to use the analogy of life being a journey I was deep inside a thick wooded forest. I came to a cross roads wasn’t sure what route to take so I choose the wrong route. After walking for day or so I thought no this isn’t taking me where I want to go. This is what happened to me a year ago. I was in the process of nearly giving up sailing. I felt a little lonely after being on my own sailing from Wales to Leros in the eastern Aegean.
My sister had a bad fall and I had an agency chasing me about work. I thought, I want to check up on my sister maybe the money would be helpful. Remember I was 71 no spring chicken. I thought if I had a job I could settle down meet someone. It never happened not for the want of trying. This year I experienced the same feeling of loneliness. It gave me a hollow feeling inside.
I thought okay let’s give this another try with this laser welding project. However it had the opposite effect on me. The company was based in the midlands. I rented a room but the landlord was difficult to say the least. He suffered from OCD obsessive compulsive disorder. Everywhere there were signs giving the occupants orders of do’s and don’ts. He was an oppressive individual. However, there was more to it than that. Driving around the midlands it was the sheer concentration and the nature of the traffic. Cars have grown huge these days and I find driving difficult.
But it was the general feeling I had that the U.K. is a rat race: a way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth or power. That’s how I felt about the owner of the business. He spoke about the price of everything . I felt the person who knows the price of everything knows the value of nothing.
I had the opportunity to go dog walking with some friends who worked for greyhound charity. At the end we went to very nice golf club and restaurant. In the carpark I was struck by the size of these huge 4×4 expensive motor cars. All rat race vehicles!
The whole experience was an epiphany to me. I thought, and have thought, we humans are on the wrong path. We don’t live in harmony with the planet earth. Capitalism is degrading the biosphere and the oceans. It’s a big paradox the more we chase after money the quicker we are heading to our own demise. I decided this is the wrong path I will carry on with my sailing odyssey. I bought Stella Polaris with world circumnavigation in mind.
I had a wobble and went down the wrong path. Now I am back on the right path. I am 73 on 26 June. I was chatting to nice young Greek cypriot guy Andrea in the local delicatessen store. He was 20 years of age. We chatted and I said to him it only seems like yesterday when I was 20. I said life goes so fast at the time you don’t always appreciate it.
Earlier I had bumped into two different people: the first guy was a fellow (Israeli) sailor. He helped me fit my rolling furling foresail. His young daughter climbed onboard as well. His name was Nimrod.( Skilful Hunter) I said I liked his name. He told me he would be sailing to the Caribbean shortly in his 52 foot sailing boat. He had already crossed the Atlantic and transited the Panama Canal to Australia. In a smaller boat. I said “Well done” Nimrod told me he would cross with his wife two young children and his dog. Later in the day I bumped into another nice guy in my local cypriot store. He was friendly with the owner of the shop who is a Palestinian. He speaks English and italian. Fabio the owner of the shop was involved in an NGO (non government organisation). His NGO is based in Jordan to help Palestinian refugees living there. His fluency in Italian is to do with his collaboration with Italian charities helping Palestinians with this ongoing crisis with Israel. The italian guy in Fabio’s shop was called Marzio. He had lived in France and once worked at the Disney world Paris. He’s on cycle ride and has cycled long distance from France/Italy. Spent time in Turkey said he’d go back on his journey to Turkey. He mentioned Marco Polo the great Venetian explorer who travelled to China.
I said in roundabout way we were Kindred spirits. Meaning travellers living an unconventional life style. My ex wife said to me recently why don’t you own a house? I said I don’t want to own a house. I have a sailing boat that can take me anywhere in the world. To be fair travelling by sea as opposed to a bike is a nicer way to travel. Once your sails are set and if you have fair winds the world is your oyster. There’s nothing like sailing it’s completely different to the automobile traffic rat race. Even in the Mediterranean Sea you don’t experience lots of. Shipping only in specific choke points where ships are channeled to avoid land obstacles.
I hope to leave Cyprus soon head back to the Aegean Sea to visit Leros again to have some work carried out on Stella Polaris at Artemis boatyard. Once completed I’ll head off out of the Mediterranean Sea.
