Swift

M. Mind the Gap

A-Z: Our 30 day mission: to bring you a tasty boat life tidbit of the day, washed down with a shot of snarky slang. Boat.Life.Larks.

 Mind the gap signs remind travelers embarking on the London underground to mind the space between the platform and the train. It is one of the many phrases that I take the mickey on! We have a gap on Independence, and all who fall are subject to Neptune's judgement.

Hastings admiring a very large gap!
Many times a day, we need to lift the dog over the gap to the dock. Every day, he's too busy mucking about and I have to tell him to make it snappy; enough with this malarkey, we have to get to work! Every day there is a moment in which I think "This is it, Hastings. This is the time you will feel the cold embrace of the dirty marina water, and lose your trust in me forever". And every day we conquer! Although I worry about my wallet, my cell phone, my keys; I have yet to loose anything to the gap. (Now, we have lost many things to stray gusts of wind: hats, Hastings' bed, cockpit throw cushions, more hats, etc)

The gap between the dinghy and the swim step is even bigger and less reliable; Hastings is always mad keen to leap into the dinghy and go muck about on the sandbar; the way he just goes for it is completely mental!

Have you ever lost any items to a gap? to the ocean? to a mountainside?

Daily Dictionary

  • mad alec: crazy person. Why are you acting like a mad alec? It's only an infestation of rats!
  • mad as a box of frogs: a box of frogs seems pretty mad, right?
  • mad keen: very enthusiastic
  • make it snappy: go quickly!
  • malarkey: nonsense, silliness
  • manky: feel or look poorly, sick
  • mental: crazy
  • take the Mickey: making fun of, teasing
  • mince pies: eyes (rhyming slang) 
  • mingey: dirty, sad way. Hastings looks mingey after a good roll in dead fish.
  • mod cons: modern conveniences. We love our mod cons onboard! 
  • moneybags: lots of money, person who shows off about their money
  • Montezuma's revenge: a rather unpleasant occurrence, aka traveller's tummy: upset stomach when traveling, often caused by unfamiliar food, un-treated water, etc
  • muck about: wasting time
  • mucked it up: messed it up
  • murder: quickly finish off food/drink. I intend to murder that shepherd's pie! 
  • my left foot: You lie! "I've never run aground" "My left foot!"

This is the story of Matt, Lucy and Hastings, the crew of the sailing catamaran “Independence”. “Inde”, as her friends call her, is a 2005 Lagoon 380 S2, a 38 foot long French-built beauty.

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7 comments

  1. Great post! I always hated that gap - you never knew or could predict if something or someone would fall in. The most annoying time we had to conquer the gap, was in the last marina Irie stayed in, in Moorea. A rickety, broken plank between our middle back step and the dock needed to be braved every time we stepped ashore. Each time that cracked plank shifted or slightly tipped, which happened often, my heart skipped a beat. So happy to not have to deal with the gap anymore!!! I'll add it to my list of advantages about not living on a boat anymore, in case I get seasick (as sick of not being at sea, like homesick). :-)

    Liesbet @ Roaming About – A Life Less Ordinary

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  2. Hate the plank! I've been spoiled by floating docks.... tidal changes on fixed docks with planks are a whole additional challenge!

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  3. Another great post which takes me right back to my UK days. I worry every day when I get off my boat about what might drop into the gap. I suspect if my phone ever fell in, there would be a lot of tears.

    Cheers - Ellen | http://thecynicalsailor.blogspot.com/2016/04/n-is-for-nautical-miles-nancy-drew.html

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    1. Sometimes I have my phone in my pocket, it's sticking out, and the dog is squirming. This isn't good, I think. One of these days I'm going to be self medicating with brownies and wine! - Lucy

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  4. I'm not sure how I missed 'mind the gap' yesterday -- it's one of our favourites! What's really weird, though, is the guy who recorded the message died on Thursday.

    Cheers, Stephanie

    http://www.svcambria.com/2016/04/n-is-for-nights-at-anchor.html

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    1. I posted L and M quite late, and was running behind on N too! Thank goodness we I have Sunday to catch up. I wonder if it's comforting or off-putting for the announcers family to have his voice live on. - Lucy

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  5. Odd that we never lost anything to the gap when we were around fixed wooden docks. Now that we have a floating concrete dock, perhaps we got complacent: http://lifeafloatarchives.blogspot.com/2015/10/mind-gap.html

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