Something fishy

We drove up to Longwood this morning. It’s not too far from Jamestown, probably a drive I could manage on my own. We found a little playground with some swings, roundabout, seesaw, slide etc, so the boys played there for a while. Not good weather for it though, very cold and windy. It gets colder as you go more inland, and there was a bit of a drizzle (or we were in cloud, not sure). Found another shop at Longwood and also a petrol station (which consisted of a pump, nothing more). Came back home for lunch, sandwiches, and then the boys slept. Did some more painting in my room. Still have half the room’s skirtings to do, as I can only do one half at a time because I have to lift the carpet out the way. I will try to get one coat of the second half done tomorrow and the remainder on Monday, then on Tuesday I can start moving furniture back in and paint the window frames.

We were given fresh produce today! It started with a packet of bananas today, which we are always pleased about as we keep eating them. We can easily go through ten bananas in a day. Then on our way home from Longwood, we saw one of our members, who has been super since we arrived. She had onions for us, as they are in short supply until the next ship comes, tomatoes and a large piece of pumpkin (uh oh). Then we had a phone call from some other people who said they had extra fish and eggs, so they came around a little later to drop those off. The fish were nothing less than two freshly caught bullseyes and a great big hunk of tuna. We’ve never seen the bullseyes before, they are little (about 20cm) reddish fish, and apparently very good for children because there are no small bones and the flesh easily comes off the main bones. Their 10-year-old son had been fishing with a friend this morning and caught them, so these were of his own pickings (or catchings). He also caught the tuna himself. The bullseyes were completely whole except for the tail which had been removed, and they had been gutted. But eeeuw, the eyes were still on and everything. I took a photo of them. I was totally grossed out cutting off the head and breaking its spine, and cutting off fins and wings. Really not my thing, a city girl like me. Also had to cut the main bone out of the tuna which wasn’t as bad because at least it couldn’t see me. I handled them so gingerly – if you’ve not grown up handling fish, it can be a disgusting experience. I mean, you buy chicken from the shops and you know it was a live chicken running around, but knowing that these fish had just been plucked from the ocean a few hours before was just horrible, not from the point of view of the poor things, how cruel, but I prefer my food to be a little more processed! Anyway, got through it all and put one bullseye in the freezer and all the tuna in the freezer. Will try cook the fish tomorrow. I was told I can just cook it in a pan with some salt and pepper. The funny thing as well is that the fish were room temperature – if you buy it from the shops it has been refrigerated, but these had never seen a fridge! Well, quite a novelty at any rate.

Nick has done his sermon prep, so Saturdays are not too much of a stress. I just have to type a sermon outline tonight, and then perhaps start typing Nick’s next Bible Study notes for handing out on Tuesday. So the work keeps coming, but it’s good to keep busy. Am starting to grow fond of our little town in the valley and the sea view.