I must go down to the seas again ...

 ... how cold is it in Asheville?  And other deep thoughts. Yesterday was also jolly cold so I hopped in the car to brother-in-law Bryce's house (as I had no work to do and was not going to kid anyone to the contrary).  It's quite a long boring slog to Topsail Island from here and I spent most of the drive trying to decide whether I'd feel better if I got 30 mpg out of my tank or if I got there a few minutes sooner.  The few minutes sooner and the 70 mph speed limit in NC really kicked the arse of my mileage so my final average for the day was 26.7.  Still not bad for the heap of metal I drive around.  I'm waiting for a Tesla with the cargo capacity of an Outback. Had a goodly few hours with Bryce including lunch at the Sushi Gem Asian Bistro.  Susan very kindly verified for me that they served more than raw fish (which Bryce had) and I had a brilliant Shrimp Massuman curry.  It was such an enormous serving that I planned to save half of it for lu...

 After all that walking yesterday, half my legs (i.e. one) said "Stay in bed" and the other said "Hup two three four" so I headed north for half a mile on the beach.  For an hour.  Bugger but it's a long way back and walking into the sun.  Oh well.  Time to open the Christmas jigsaw from Aunt Rosemary in the UK.  A right sod it is, too - a picture of a bayou in the twilight, I think (not allowed to look at the picture: it's a family thing.)  I've got the entire edge put together and am now staring at two huge piles of pieces - one of lily pads and the other one of not lily pads.  And a third pile of neither.  This is going to take a while. Blogger.com has stopped letting me wrap text around my pictures which sucks.  Oh well, what do you expect for free?

OK - I didn't walk there but once I got there I walked bloody miles.  It being  beautiful sunny Sunday, the old slave market was packed and, as the food and drink cost a fortune there and I have already bought a tacky gift for Sam, I stuck to the waterfront and the ships.  I didn't even fall off the seawall which must be the only 8' high wall in America without signs warning you that you'll regret falling off.  Also stopped at Georgetown to make friends with a moggie and to photograph a blindingly obvious warning sign.  I'll try to get the photos in the right order and there's even one in there for you, Bev.  Dunno why the blogging program has suddenly decided I don't want to wrap text round my pictures. For you, Bev Langley

 Okey doke - I'm supposed to be getting exercise so here goes.  Bike's already in the car so off I trot to the marshwalk, home of a flattish road and a load of boardwalk.  It's largely a pedestrian area so no Tour de France stuff.  There's also the delicate question of how certain parts of me will react to being bumped around on a bike saddle.  No problem.  It was cool, cloudy and windy which made the bike a bit tricky to control at low speed on the boardwalk.  So I used the approach of walkers or the occasional close encounter with a fence as a cue to take photos. Cormorants on mooring posts at the local dock.  Note that the posts are vertical and the horizon slopes - takes great skill for a photographer to do that! This is what a cormorant looks like right before its rear end explodes.  Glad I missed that shit shot. Nice ride along here and a pleasant surprise to find that my brakes worked at the end. Honking great crab with my dinky s...

First day of my trip is dedicated to housework kind of stuff.  That means an oil change for my car at Beach Boyz Auto Repair in Surfside - the car was 300 miles overdue but I think it survived.  While it was being done I headed for the ginormous market half a mile away.  The place has a distinct GOP feel about it - you can even buy huge "I love Trump" (only more violent) flags for $5 and a number of firearms: almost tempting.  However, I did lash out on a sloganless t-shirt and an amazingly tasteless gift for Sam. $43 later my car had 6.3 quarts of fresh oil on board.  I should have taken a walk on the beach but it was hosing down so I didn't - I watched it rain instead.  I also called the rental company as the combination lock on the apaertment's entry door is still reluctant to open and tells me at all manner of stages that I've entered the wrong number and have to start again.  Haven't had to check into the local motel yet and I'm staying calm about...

You'd think I'd know that going to the supermarket on an empty stomach is a bad idea.  But I was lacking a number of basics so I wrote a list of 8 vital items and off I trotted  $120 later I staggered out and only then realised that I am staying on the top floor of a building with no lift.   As one reason for staying here was to get more exercise after lying around feeling sorry for myself for the last couple of weeks, that counts as today's heart lung workout. We used to stay at a lovely cottage called Floyd Cottage so today's pilgrimage was to see how far south of here it is.  The answer is "about 1000 yards / meters / paces" as I zigzagged and backtracked across the beach to get there.  I enjoyed the gentle stroll back and then faced my arch-nemesis - the 10 digit code to get back into the apartment ( apparently Vacasa use 10 digits for all their apartments and I don't recommend it.)  It's easy enough to remember - the first 6 digits are two prime n...

To the seas again again.... The idea is that, as it's bleeding cold at home, heading for a drop of relative warmth at a South Carolina beach did seem like a good idea.  "So how do you keep busy?" everyone asks.  Well, somebody asked me once.  Now's your chance to find out.  For starters, there was the five or so hours of driving to get here. So I loaded up the Subaru with life's essentials which experience has shown runs to the following in no particular order:- 2 cameras and chargers One guitar and some playable and "never did get the hang of this" music. Food that only I would consider eating from the pantry. Some stamps to dispose of on ebay, mostly as a junk lot Two coats in case one gets wet (actually my black all-weather gear and my red "personal tent") Medical supplies (more on them later probably) Kitchen equipment - decent knife, coffee filters, small saucepan (vacation rentals always have gallon saucepans) [I forgot the sauce...