The kettle goes on a lot on Polly. That relaxing moment, a short reflection whilst the kettle quickly boils, then sit and enjoy 😊

At least, that’s how it should be. The kettle is shaped like a ship’s decanter with a very wide bottom. Stable, but takes an age to boil on the gimballed hob. You may have poured from a ship’s decanter- the first bit is fine, but then you have to tip the decanter almost upside-down to get more out. Being down below plays trick on you senses. When you put something, you expect it to go straight down, vertically. It does go straight down, but that could be at a 45 degree angle, either towards or away from you. So you hold the cup, find the right angle of down and pour hot water into it. Fine, but then you have to put the cup down. Anything over half full comes out again . . .

Usually you are making 8-10 cups of tea or coffee (generally freshly-brewed coffee 😄 though some heathens on board drink instant), so we have a plastic container to corral the cups and catch spillages – lots of those. It’s possibly 30 minutes since the kettle was put on. The next step is to get the hot drinks to their destination up top. Two feet to the companion way, and 6 steps up the ladder; simple you might say. Well, this is where the fun really starts. Holding on to handles or straps with one hand, applying elbows, bum, knees, hips, ribs, or whatever to any other protrusion, you tentatively move towards the steps, like approaching an ambush. In between the non-slip floor strips, the floor is lethal and one miss-step can cover 8 feet at speed down hill, ending ignominiously in a wet locker. Don’t want that, as it means restarting from scratch and another hour.inch by careful inch you make your way to the ladder. Step by careful step you pull yourself up to the top knowing this is the first of 2 or 3 trips to supply the guys on deck. These half-full cups of cooling tea/chocolate/coffee are collected for the next stage of their perilous journey, either to the high side, only a few feet away, or 20 feet to the helming station. Bear in mind that you are sitting on a bucking bronco whilst doing this.ps arrive now one third, or a quarter full of tepid, but welcome drink. The anticipation. . . the lift it will bring . . . then the skipper, full cup of tea in hand, pops up in the companion way: “ready to tack . . .”