Donkey Mountain on the elusive undecided voter, in the seriously stupid department, and did someone say schooner...
We all take stuff for granted... It's part of the human condition. Of course, where boats are concerned it can be a little more problematic if you have high expectations...
Take parts for your boat or dinghy. You'd think in an area where people use boats on a regular basis, that the local dealer for your outboard would have common parts in stock (albeit at prices that may make a grown man weep). It would make sense in the grand scheme of things because if you need an important bit for your outboard you most likely need it NOW and so you're willing to pay those silly prices...
"We don't have it we'll have to special order it..."To add insult to injury, the guy behind the cobweb covered cash register will then tell you that they only make special orders on Thursday and, as it is Friday, it won't get ordered till next week (unless next week has a holiday in it somewhere) but you'll have to pay the exorbitant price now and, oh yeah, there will also be the Fed Ex shipping which adds another $200 to the price...
What's wrong with this picture?
Well, the fact is, that you pretty much have to expect anyone doing business in some paradisaical location to be a bit less than organized at the best and your worst nightmare more often than not. It just goes with the territory.
Since I've been doing this gig for a while I still take a lot for granted but, these days, I take for granted that the local dealer of parts won't have what I want, the local mechanic will have even less of a clue than I do about what is wrong with my gear, and that I really need to take care of important stuff myself if I want stuff to work as it should. I'll admit, that the evolutionary chain to get to that point was somewhat long and at times painful but now that I expect zip I'm pretty much a happy camper in general and in those rare occurrences when I find I'm wrong I get downright ecstatic!
Listening to Pink Turtle
So it goes...
