We all have a different perspective. (mine is skewed)

Godfrey Minns, age 84, was in the grocery store Friday afternoon and it was my first time to see him.  (You cant carry your backpack through the grocery, so you wont steal green beans or ham, or something.  So i always put mine - which i always carry - behind the door in the office.)  On this Friday i see Godfrey sitting at a little desk in the office.   I said hi to Godfrey when i dropped my bag and wondered WHY he was in the office?  Wondered 'who is that guy'...

An hour or two later I was leaving a local "b.a.r." after a Super Friday Happy Hour and Godfrey was standing on the dinghy dock drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup.  I took a ‘sunset photo’ and he informed me “you cant take a picture toward the sun.”  I laughed and told him, 'I know', 'but it was pretty and it would be OK.'  We started visiting and he told me he was just there waiting for 7p when the store closed to get a ride home.  His family owns lots of land and a few businesses in town.  He lives about a mile north near the hotels.  “My house is between two hotels on the water West of here.”  He laughed about me living on a boat.  He wishes he was back in Canada.

Godfrey and his brother built the store.  Godfrey was born in George Town, then went to Canada for College.  He stayed for 40 years and still misses it, a lot.  Misses the snowskiing.  “I miss the winters with the snow and skiing.”  My brother got the idea to build this grocery store and asked me to come back and help him…   (Godfrey studied and worked in electrical engineering in Canada.)

THE Sunset photo, with Godfrey on the dock

Godfrey Minns

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Segue to a new thought.

Greg Gotcher  / circa: 12/2017

 Danielle Gotcher March 2019

  Gypsea III, the Gotcher's boat.  I was drinking coffee in the cockpit the other morning and saw a boat go by.  Turns out it was Gypsea III and the Gotchers.  I knew them from when i was in Stuart winter of 2017.  They saw me with my leg torn up and walking on crutches back then.  I ran into them here, in George Town walking down the main street.  Their first words, "Hey Skip, how's the leg?"  I visited them aboard their boat late one afternoon for Sundowners and a nice visit and they have since departed for other islands.  I'm still here trying to get my jib fixed before taking off.  

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How ' the other half ' live.

I recently sat aboard Prodigal looking over at a very large Yacht and wondered how the other half live.  What would it be like to have a crew and space for lots of storage and how massive was their fuel bill?  How much money does all that cost?  Then i was reminded of something Greg Gotcher said when he was visiting me on Prodigal.  Greg said, "Nobody else lives on here with you?  It's so big with so much space.  Wow!"  I didn't think it was so big, it was my usual space, my perspective.  I've had LANDLUBBERS visit and comment how small and confined it is below deck.  "Oh, i could never live on a boat, it's just too small."  I've had Landlubbers ask, "how do you go to the bathroom"  and "how do you eat?  Can you cook on board?"  Greg mentioned that on Gypsea III they dont have a freezer.  NO ice.  None.

Step back from where you are and look around.  Somebody nearby is looking at you and wondering how you do it, and why.  Some days i wonder too.  Today with a high of 77 and a nice cool breeze from the North, sitting down below in the shade with a good book from the local G.T. library, I have no questions about why I'm here.  I just wonder what to take out of my freezer to thaw for dinner....

- the Skipper