Wilma, You Have to Understand. We Really Needed a Marina

2013 08 02
Marina di Brindisi
Brindisi, Puglia, Italy

All This: Saprosetta piquante, Sheep Cheese Aged in Straw, Salame Milano
Four fresh buns, two slices of double crust pizza, 500 ml beer and a litre of wine
and the bill was €24.  Admission to Heaven and the tickets were €12 a piece.

Wilma is my mother in law.  Though her heritage is Dutch she is as Canadian a person as you will find.  Like my parents she knew hardship growing up although her hardship was a fair bit harder.  War and starvation and poverty are like that.

Even though she is my mother in law there are days when I like her.  The other days she rides along with us, figuratively of course, as a financial consultant.

My wife is the product of a Wilma driven household.  You now know why she is so fondly referred to in this infrequent electronic rag as "The Budget Committee".  

So I sail with two quartermasters: my wife and the spirit of Wilma.  Imagine the battle of conscience as I wrestle with weighty issues like whether to take a night a marina.  A marina costs money.  A marina provides nothing that an anchor and a secluded bay do not.  So why would any same man force his wife to squander the family's hard earned savings on a marina.  The very idea.  It gives her nightmares.  In my mind.

However.  Wilma, this time we had to do it.  We needed to receive our new refrigerator parts somewhere and this meant going to a marina.  No one does this for free.  Also we were running low on the forward tank of water, having last filled its hundred gallon maw on July 6 (also at a marina).  No one gives water away here in Europe.  

Corso Roma, the main shopping drag in Brindisi.
The cafe's are there but hidden to prevent conniptions
in my mother in law

My poor Budget Committee almost lost her head in Novi Grad when, while we were filling our fuel tanks, she tried also to fill our water tanks from the hose lying on the ground and used by the fuel dock staff.  The Croats are a nasty thuggish bunch who like to pick on smaller weaker members of the species and my return from paying for the fuel resulted in a loud angry reversal of opinion by the brute picking on my wife, and your daughter.  

Just so you know.  Water is hard won over here.

So needing a receiving port for parts and in need of water we came to Brindisi.  Lucky us.  It has been a great stay.  In Croatia the small Lumbarda Marina charged us €58 for a single night.  Here we pay €28.  And we have much more here including friendly staff, something that does not exist in Croatia.

Installing the fridge we needed a lot of parts that we had to get from a hardware store, things like expanding polyurethane foam and new bolts and stuff.  Also food.  Running with no fridge had run down all our canned goods and dry goods.  

This could be easily dealth with from a well sited marina.  Brindisi was all of that.

And I know we could have left yesterday.  But...

We were tired.  And the wind was blowing hard and had been for two days and ... 

We were weak.  That is the truth.  We are weak.  I know.  I know.  It never would have happened if you were on board.

However we would love to have you sometime.  We will fill the tanks before you get here.