Aspects of narrowboat life and other inspired observations gained from my personal travels made into a quirky blog to from a Lancastrian Recalcitrant.
recalcitrant
rɪˈkalsɪtr(ə)nt/
adjective
1.
having an obstinately uncooperative attitude towards authority or discipline.
noun
1.
a person with a recalcitrant attitude.
"a stiff-necked recalcitrant and troublemaker"
☯️
Start with what is right
rather than what is acceptable.
Franz Kafka.
Today feels different, the atmosphere feels charged with devotion, spirituality and divine energy…
It’s probably because it is Maha Shivratri, a big party day on the Hindu calendar and is celebrated every year with a lot of pomp and grandeur as it is of great spiritual significance.
The festival falls on the 14th day of the dark (waning) half of the lunar month, a day before the new moon and Lord Shiva, one of the cosmic gods and father to old elephant nose, Ganesha, who was also the founder of this occasion.
Lord Shiva has 3 eyes, four hands and wears a serpent around his neck as a scarf and often carries a trident so he can be easily recognised.
I sincerely hope it’s not a religious scam, but today Iv decided to take up the offer of following the path of inner peace, to overcome ignorance and attain self realisation, absolve negative karma and give myself a new direction in life…what do I have to lose?
Iv started the day by forcing myself to lie on a hard, wooden slatted surface, half naked, to endure the blazing Malaysian sun while reciting my mantra, chanting “Mojito ,Mojito Mojito” at various times throughout the day in order to summon up the gods of thirst and retribution.
Upon my return from dunking myself in the salty waters of the South China Sea, from the next door bar, I could hear “Never Gonna give you up” by Rick Astley…so enduring this self flagellation, it brought me on a trance like stupor journey into the afternoon.
Later that day…
It just so happens that the polite management of the establishment, that we have fortunately graced with our presence, has formally granted Mr Gary +1, an invite to tonight’s VIP function, to celebrate the grand occasion and to dine on the obscene amount of food prepared by the staff and served in the grounds of the hotel. Approximately 200 guests arrived and were ushered in past the security and the photographers. We followed dutifully as instructed….
…At that point, we enquired again what the occasion was as it was no longer what we had originally thought and it turned out that a large part of it (all of it) had been lost in translation when we had arrived a few days earlier…
Anyhow, we enjoyed the event for ‘International Women’s Day’ (a day early) and the gargantuan showpiece of an Indian buffet to promote the hotels catering facilities that guests can book from next week to celebrate evenings with their families during Ramadan…
Today, the path was misleading, tomorrow we are back on the road to nowhere…
Enjoy a live version of this song from one of my favourite bands, The War on Drugs.
After a hearty 5* breakfast and a repack of Stratos & Altus, it’s time to leave the skyscrapers behind and slither out of town like a couple of snails. Taking the now familiar KL Rapid monorail from PWTC was easy and ten stops later we were at Bandar Tasik Selatan, a transit stop for the bus station. Here we bought 2 tickets for 22 ringgits (£4 each) for seats 4&5 on the next big pink bus to Kuantan, about 4 hrs away, on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula.
Onboard, the coach journey took us up out of KL, past the struggling wagons, on the steep climb up over the Genting Highlands. The main E8 was busy today so time to just sit back and take in the scenery.
I spy with my wonky eye, something beginning with P…?
“PALM OIL”….correct, in obscene amounts! Miles and miles of the damn stuff! Malaysia grows about half the world’s supply of Palm oil in its monoculture plantations which has had a major impact on the eco system in these parts and imports are rightly banned in most other countries outside Asia…Fools gold.?…u decide…rant over!
Arriving at Kuantan we got off and then caught the local bus from the main terminal into the city but by then we had decided to head out to the coast so directly hopped on the awaiting 600 local bus to Beserah beach. During an air-con coffee stop we hailed a ‘Grab’ to our destination of choice at Oedema Beach Resort https://adenaresort.com Here we got a swell reception by the management who let us book online using their wifi so we got a cheaper rate…Booking Geniuses!
For what it’s worth, I’m just wondering about having a bit of a blogfest again as preparations are being made for a nice month long trip into Asia…So, I’m currently trying to convince myself that I still have the time and creative inclination to string a few musings together and litter them with some colourful pics as we trot round Malaysia, mainly as a vibrant diary to capture a few memories digitally.
Ok, so decision made…il give it a go…
The blog has had a bit of a re-vamp and is now good to go too.
Looking back, the previous blogs covered last years bike trip with the boys and before that my time living and working in Italy and trips around Europe so we were due some coverage of this ‘long-haul’ respite for the next month.
respite
/ˈrɛspʌɪt,ˈrɛspɪt/
noun
a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant
ie.Work…
As the last big Asian adventure was to Thailand in 2016 , I’m going to make the effort and keep a log of proceedings of this one in 2024 which will be starting next weekend.
It will mean, I suppose, a whole shedload of new song titles to find from my favourite songsters and I will be diving into my playlists to find an appropriate music song title for each of the whiney, recalcitrant posts for which i will probably continue to make grumpy observations and false allegations, while lying in a hammock. I will be using this platform for capturing proceedings as we trot around the globe, musing and quizzing locals on topics dear to my heart from street food to probably more street food.
So, meet Atmos & Stratos, our companion luggage carriers of choice, for this adventure…and watch this space from now on for future updates!
“There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear”
Buffalo 🦬 Springfield
Enjoy two old codgers having fun with an old, old tune to kick us off.
Well...after thousands of emails demanding “Why don’t you write them witty and informative blogs anymore”.?...and littered with worthy praise like “as I found your literary skills littered with bad grammar and your misguided observational musings so amusing and informative, not to mention enlightening.....and the world is such a grim place without them”
Really...?...so I have relented and bowed down to peer pressure!
View from the bow
Really...? Well...not really....I was just talking the other day and remembered that I used to enjoy to write occasionally and thought I should maybe give it another bash and do an update. I then made a New years resolution, there and then on the 26th Jan that I could at least try to produce at least one blog for each month of the year for 2022,,,can’t I?...we’ll see, can’t promise but I will try.
So here goes...I have revamped it and rebranded the product to freshen things up but it will be the same old me moaning about stuff, littered with inspirational pics and misinformed musings with a song based theme of my choice....
why change a winning formula?
I had better start with an update from where I left off.
After living and working in Italy I returned to blighty as I did each winter following the olive harvest. This time it was to serve a 2 year jail sentence thanks to Covid19...well it certainly felt that way!
As the problem with the dreaded lurgy got worse, returning was not a viable option so I found re employment here and finally, after all the lockdowns, I was tagged and released and arrived back on Nb Andromeda as my weekday residence once again.
I had a few bike trips to blog about but not much else inspired me so I thought I’d feature the boat life a bit more...for now.
She started up on only the second time of asking and was dry as a bone inside when I returned. She had suffered over 4 years in solitude on the mooring but had ‘wintered’ well’ so I was pleased with her general condition following my neglect of the trusty craft.
I had a few sails up and down as restrictions allowed in to 2021 but things weren’t going very well in the engine department. The old BMC 1500 was becoming to get a little too warm and a little too smoky for my liking 🧐something menopausal was up with the owd lass...
Today, she sits in navy blue livery, still unnamed, still off-grid on the same private mooring but with half the engine block missing. She had a few ‘temperature’ problems that were diagnosed as ‘the cylinder heads gone, mate”...so now, the cylinder head HAS gone...to the head doctor!
He came, he diagnosed and then promptly left with it, last seen pushing it up the field in an old wheelbarrow....
Like a reverse Father Christmas!
Life goes on....slowly.
It’s never my favourite time of year but it’s a mild, wintery scene that I’m painting for you here with the hedges cut short, the muddy towpath, the odd quack from a lonely mallard and the occasional red nosed rambler lurching past the window clutching a bag of warm dog pooh....followed by a happy, relieved fat labradoodle!
The Azzurri skies are a distant memory...
All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey
The rain patters on the steel roof
The solar panel is hopelessly inactive
Candles flicker
The mooring is slippy
Empty fields
Frosty mornings
This is the time when Pikey’s patrol the towpath with their stiff rods, wrapped up like mummies in camouflage pants and six coats trying to catch a wiley pike.
Did I mention the overbearing grey skies?
Nothing is “unprecedented’ anymore.
The parties are over...
And then an odd splash in the night...I wonder what that could be...Boris, is that you?
On the water, not many boats pass by, only a lonely young swan patrolling the cut these days looking for a mute mate that keeps stopping here to polish off most of my weekly edible groceries, snatched through the kitchen window.
I will probably contract Avian Influenza from the big greedy sod!
As the Ecofan spins furiously on the hot stove the log store continues to deplete....
Oh Madonna!, I’m depressed now...Iv turned into one of my heroes, Jon Richardson.
As my sad log store succumbs to the winter months, the cheery media now warn of rising fuel costs so, the good news is that the strong winds brought an old Ash tree down opposite so I reckon that’s me heading for carbon neutralisation. With the Ying and the Yang perfectly re-balanced, Putin can turn off the tap for all I care....I just need a hand to get the big heavy bugger over this side of the cut before the thieving boater’s in the area get wind of it and try to steal what i class as...all mine!
Storm ‘Alwyn’ also kindly ripped the felt off the shed roof so that was another job to do, so thanks to the windy Welsh wizard I spent a happy afternoon mopping up rain and then slopping bitumen about and nailing on a new membrane.
So, shall I conclude for January?
It’s a start, isn’t it?...not too political, not too topical, or rude and even kept on the ‘boating’ theme for most of it...for now!
Ok, See you in then February shipmates!
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)…
I chose this song to open with as its subjective meaning is simply, “dreaming of California.” The first verse mentions warm Los Angeles, and contrasts it with the local cold and wintery weather. And dreaming is not literally REM stage sleep, but rather, thinking of being in L.A. (Or some other warm place) rather than the bleak place they are experiencing at present....I know how they felt...but what a bloody haircut!
