BACK

Comfortably Fun

November 20 2008

Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home? I’ll need some information first, just the basic facts. Can your tell me where it hurts? You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can’t hear what they say. A distant ship on the horizon. I can’t explain, you would not understand. This is not how I am….. I have become, comfortably numb.

The Lyrics of Pink Floyds “Comfortably Numb” seam to perfectly say where I have just been for the last week. I think I’ve become comfortably numb. Yes, we have been through a wave or two at speeds in excess of 30 knots trying to be the first V70 to fly. Yes, I’ve had my share of electrical problems enough to tax R2D2 who in Star Wars once re-soldered, in mid space flight the crucial wire on the gun that then blew up the mighty Death Star. I can feel the force too brother. And yes we may have tried to re-enact an aquatic version of Lionel Ritchie’s Dancing On The Ceiling when we Chinese gybed and rolled over to wash the spreader cameras. (Lads, next time just ask, I have a special cloth). But after all that, the crew is still pushing on, comfortably as one. Watch on, watch off, no complaining, no questioning, they leave that to the media man.

It has been such a sharp shock leaving Cape Town, like a teenager confident and cocky on the way to a new University we finished our first leg at high school, full of confidence and looking forward to the next term with a brash, bring it on, I have big plans attitude. With only one week into this ocean leg, battered by our Freshers Week, fresh winds and no sleep, no heating and not even a pot noodle to get exited about, we are running out of money and no folks to call home to for a loan. It’s all been a bit of a growing up experience.

Sitting in my student media digs, feet on the desk, listening to Pink Floyd and writing this blog has reminded me how bullet proof and resilient you are when your young. Like University, it’s a test on many levels. We don’t know much about the other boats but we understand that they are all being tested in many different ways. We have now got to get up tomorrow, not sleep in and miss our first lecture. Find that assignment that Prof. Jack Lloyd gave us at the beginning of term and get to that scoring gate in good shape. Find a clean pair of blue jeans and a new Chay Gavara T-shirt, turn left and head north to the sun, and try to end this leg on a high, comfortably done.