Aug. 11
Hi from Tapestry,
Tapestry is on the hard at last. Her topsides are waxed, her winches
greased, oil changed, watermaker prepared for winter, sails cleaned and stored
and a million and one other little odd jobs taken care of. We, somehow, got
flight reservations to Tampa for Friday, the 12th. It is a good thing, too.
The Fiumicino Canal bridge is currently stuck. The lift bridge between here
and
the Med was destroyed at the end of W.W.II. The "new" bridge is now
60 years old and this last week it stripped a gear. They figure it will take
at
least a month to get it fixed, maybe much longer. They have to recast a
"huge" gear, then machine it and then reinstall it. There are boats
outside with flight and marina reservations, who can't get in, and there are
boats in here that would like to leave, but can't. Our friend Kent on Jack Iron
from St. Petersburg, is one of the stuck ones. His crew, an architect from
England, just arrived, hoping for a month's sailing holiday. Today, she made
other arrangements and will be leaving for Greece this weekend. Kent and the
boat, however are "stuck" right here. Every day there is speculation.
The latest rumor is that the city will hire two cranes to raise the bridge for
a single day, to allow everyone to get to whichever side he wants to be on.
Skeptics insist that is impossible and might well result in the bridge being
even more stuck than it already is. Meanwhile helicopters hover over the broken
bridge and make it front page news and the lead story at six. Fortunately for
us, we will be flying to Tampa tomorrow, and we will be happy if the bridge
is
fixed by April.
So, it has been a fabulous summer in Europe.
Julie will have her three month checkup when we get back to Florida, and then
we will head North, stopping in Wilmington to see her Mom, who will have just
turned 94. From there it is on to Henderson Harbor and then back to our
Ashville home, hopefully, around Labor Day.
Thanks for all your kind words and encouragement. It is always great to hear
from you.
All the best to you. Hank and Julie