Snug In Knysna for Christmas

It may not have seemed like Christmas as a Canadian would know it, but by golly, we had Christmas lights up so it must be Christmas. No snow, no Christmas tree, no eggnog even, but Irena, at long last, had Christmas boat lights. Yes, two strings of classy white lights ran up the backstay, over the top and down the forstay to decorate Conversations where she lay alongside the town’s quayside village. She looked pretty nifty that night untill the rain started. Tragically, the lights only lasted a couple of hours before they all failed So much for outdoor lights! We took them back for a refund next day. The hunt continues for real outdoor lights…..

Since coming to Knysna, it’s been a whirlwind. The day of our arrival, Irena and I left the boat in the capable hands of Eitan and Mark to drive 1000 km round trip to Cape Town to pick up Breanna at the airport. Now we have five aboard.  Two days later, all of us piled in a rental car for a two day road trip up the coast to Addo Elephant Park, where we drove around the reserve dodging, you guessed it, great mounds of steaming elephant pooh. 486 elephants churn out a heck of a lot of it, which they seem to prefer to drop on the road. This however, only adds to the viewing experience: Armies of dung beetles carve out great balls of the stuff, and race it off into the undergrowth where they lay their eggs and bed down in comfort. And, oh yes, and we also saw lots of elephants too!

Next day we stopped at a research centre to pet a Cheeta and pair of lion cubs. Real cool, but tame. So off we went to the world’s tallest bridge bungey jump where Breanna, Mark and Eitan put down a $100 each, and jumped! Very courageous. I must say they made it look like a walk in the park. Irena and I caught the action on closed circuit TV in the bar and bought the beers for our returning heroes. Also fun.

Back in Knysna, we moved Conversations  in from the hook and tied her up in the only vacant place in town - smack dab in the middle of the town quay.  We are sort of on display here, right under the nose of the waterfront restaurants, shops and charter operators. Lots of curious vacationers stumble up to the dock with questions, people from all over world. This too is fun. Yesterday, a gentleman of 87 came up told me of his 6 year ordeal as a German prisoner-of-war in a Russian concentration camp. On a lighter note, within 10 feet of the boat is the Gelato stand, much to Breanna’s delight.

Christmas eve, we had a great Polish dinner of Borscht, Pierogi and Nalesniki prepared up by Irena, with Mark and Breanna's learned assistance. Christmas day was, of course, turkey day. Mark took over with Gertrude (what else would you name a turkey?) to see she was properly dressed for the occasion and stuffed into our pint sized oven. Yesterday, boxing day, we had a “left over party” aboard s.v, Papillion with Jim and Julia and Mike and Cathleen from s.v. Content.

A very nice weather window is shaping up tomorrow for our departure for the Cape Town suburb of Simon’s Town. Thanks to Irena we have a long term berth booked in the False Bay Yacht Club. It’s a 250 NM passage, the last passage on our voyage to Cape Town from Singapore and Indonesia. It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone by: We left Singapore early June with Dennis and Rita, and we left Jakarta, Indonesia in early August with Eitan. By New Year’s we will have arrived and it will be over. We are glad to be here and glad to be moving into the next phase - working in South Africa!

Reflections:

At this time of year, many of  us reflect on our good fortune, a time for review if you like. Here in Africa, where most have so little, I think of my own life and I wonder more generally, where does good fortune come from? Is it purely about the circumstances of our birth, does it show up one day in a lottery draw, or is it something we work for. Is it chance or design or both?

Suppose good fortune does live at the intersection of circumstance and luck, design and choice. If that is so, then there is some chance to our fortunes about which we can do nothing. So be it. But where can we influence our good fortune beyond our good luck and bad? How do we 'get in the game' and do things to help along our good fortune?

Do the 7Cs apply here? I think so. Together they can  be a framework for pro-activity. 

There is another big question in our experience of people in Asia and now Africa - what is the link between good fortune and happiness? When I see how happy so many are who have so much less, I wonder, is happiness not much about good fortune, but more about something else, and if that is so, what?

I think a partial answer to happiness is opportunity to be pro-actively engaged in creating good fortune! To be self responsible (Captaincy), to have a Course, to have Companions, live a life of Curiosity, be building Courage and overall Capacity, and to be doing so in self Compassion is to be in the game, which itself contributes to both happiness and good fortune.

Enough! Irena and I both reflect on what  enormous good fortune we have had to live the lifestyle we wish these last 7 years since leaving Canada and look forward to whatever fortunes appear as we seek to find work in South Africa.