A long time since my last post because there is nothing to write about  And not many photographs.  Because there is nothing to photograph!

Well, as expected, lockdown continues.  We feel quite lucky here because, at present, there are no infections on the island, in fact none in the state of Kedah.  My starter motor finally arrives after 35 days from a distance of about 125 miles.  Some things have slowed up in lockdown!

And was I lucky to miss the West Sumatera rally.  Chaos! Boats harassed by police, navy, army and locals alike.  The Sumaterans assume that all Westerners carry the virus. The fleet is now stuck in Jakarta with nowhere to go.

We are still self isolating here in the marina; no parties on boats.  I only go to the supermarket once a week; everybody masked up and hand sanitised.  The queue to get in with the restricted numbers is overseen by both police and army. Thankfully the shelves are well stocked but they have stopped selling booze.  Apparently officialdom thinks it is not a necessary item. And unnecessary work cannot be done.  So no electrician to diagnose my starter motor problem for now.

The weather is changing slowly and so it looks like we are in for an earlier than usual South West Monsoon.  Which mostly just means more rain.  So I get on with varnishing and polishing keeping inside jobs for wet days. 

One of my deck hatches is leaking beyond repair.  DHL are the only well known courier on the island and they confirm that while deliveries are slower than usual they are coming through.  DHL in England tell the same story to the hatch supplier so at least I will have tracking all the way through.  After a few false starts due to incompetence in England the order is finally placed.  And off the hatch goes.  They give it to Parcel Force instead of DHL!  It is now well and truly missing. Morons!

The full moon of the fourth lunar month is the anniversary of the berth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, Weka Day.  Very important.  It is also my birthday and as a special treat my electrician turns up as there has now been some easing of the rules.  It takes him 2 hours and 55 minutes to diagnose the problem and five more minutes to fix it.  The old starter motor goes off to the starter motor hospital.  I await the test results and they come back very quickly.  The starter motor is toast!  Literally.

And I await the government decision about opening the border.  The danger here is that that Malaysia opens their border before Thailand does.  So, we can leave but have nowhere to go.  And if our visas have expired we cannot stay…