Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Just for drinks…

While I am waiting for pictures of this year’s Literary Festival, let me take you back to my very early days in the islands.  In 1974, a small fleet of boats sailed from England to the Caribbean.   These were not luxury yachts but small craft that we had all scraped and saved to clobber together.  From anchorage to anchorage, we struggled against the elements. 

We learnt, in the words of Ann Davidson* that, “the glitter of romance as seen from afar often turns out to be pretty shoddy at close quarters, and what appears to be a romantic life is invariably an uncomfortable one; but I know too, that the values of such living are usually sound.  They have to be, or you don’t survive”.

After a five week Atlantic crossing we made our Caribbean landfall, impoverished but elated.  Today’s painting dates from those days.  It shows two fellow sailors making ends meet by playing in a bar Just For Drinks.



* From “My Ship Is So Small” by Ann Davidson

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