A Flash In Time...
Yesterday was a very social day!
When we arrived at the Grand for 'work', we found Pandora there - she is the young woman who is second mate to Willy, her Boyfriend, the captain of a seventy foot yacht. They are moored in these waters for winter work, until the owner sets sail with them again in April.
She had set up in her 'art studio' before we arrived at our 'office'; and so we discovered that the Grand clearly offers all sorts of 'rental space'...!
Willy had needed to make a trip, his first ever, to the UK to get a 'seaman's discharge visa'...
He returned later on, back from his five day mission...
We all laughed at the title when he showed us his little black visa book...
'The wording is unfortunate' he said; 'there are enough sailors jokes as it is!'
'How did you find England?' I asked, 'was it nice weather....?'
The first question by a British person about their land!
Willy affirmed that it had been indeed nice, sunny and bright; and he had liked seeing all the trees, appreciating their colours in the 'fall...'
He had also enjoyed wandering about London...
They sat on the table next to us and ordered lunch; we chatted amiably together, discovering more about each other...
Willy is attracted to martial arts, and was very impressed to discover that Anadi is a black belt in Kung Fu, and that he trained with the Shaolin monks ten years ago...
They were sailing over to Malta the next day, to spend six weeks there... They are visiting a specialist in varnishing boat bottoms, and as their boat is a special wood, this is where they need to be....
And so we said goodbye and affirmed that somewhere on the globe, our paths may cross sometime...
And to quote Richard Bach again....
Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
In the evening we met up with Manny and Linda, our new friends who we have kept randomly bumping into since we shared a boat to the caves at Dwerja last Sunday....
We met up in Gleneagles Bar... They were a bit late because they has got lost...
'How can you get lost on Gozo? And I know the island...!' Manny had laughed
with self-deprecating humour....
We ordered our drinks and sat outside on the veranda, discovering that Manny and Linda met one another just six weeks ago....
'We're neighbours' Manny said...
It transpired that he has just moved into her neighbourhood in Long Island NY.
They bumped into one another when Linda was walking her dog, and got chatting... After a couple of dates, he asked her to come to Gozo on vacation...
So far so good...
Linda affirmed she was liking Gozo and liking the man...!
We spoke about how life is for living, for doing things that feel right... She said that it had felt right for her to come on vacation with this man she had just met...
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening with them... We all left the bar at 11.23pm, and Anadi and I walked back through an already sleeping Gozo!
Today...
I was up early, and left Anadi in bed, to run ten miles... I ran around the loop I now know and love...
Up to Qala, through Nadur, down to Ramla, up to the Calypso caves and then back through Xaghara...
Down the winding the hill, back towards Victoria, but turn left - instead of the right hand road to the centre - and head for home...
It was a hot, bright, sunny morning....
As I write, and look back on my morning running trip, it feels but a flash in time....