I worked from 9 till 8 p.m. on “Fleetwood”. The entire deck is off. It took a month instead of the one week I had figured. I am done with chiseling off the remnants of the veneer(s) off the deck supports. Next I will belt sand the supports and fill in the gouges with epoxy filler. I am waiting to hear back from Arjan, a boat carpenter who came by yesterday, for a quote on making up and installing the new plywood deck. This is beyond my pay grade. This is the opportunity to refinish the interior, with the top removed I have good access and light to the fore peak, quarter berth and cockpit locker.
This morning on my way to the boat I met a young Chinese couple, students at the nearby VU University. I learned something that I like to share with you. Yesterday I found out from a message on Face Book that Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese human rights activist lawyer and Bob Fu president of China Aid are arriving today for a three day visit in Europe to plead the case of the human rights of the Chinese http://www.chinaaid.org/2013/05/chinaaid-bob-fu-blind-legal-activist.html. I happen to believe that Mr. Chen and Bob Fu and their supporters are on a mission of a historical change in world history. In my enthusiasm of their trip here I asked the young Chinese if they knew of the visit of Chen and Bob Fu. There was a short silence and then the young man went into a tirade. His lady friend tried to calm him down. Chen is paid by the Americans. American democracy, just two parties, no other parties allowed. When I mentioned that our freedom and democracy were taken from us in the 2nd WW, he had no clue. One child policy and forced abortions: that was figured out by wise men. Look at India. I thought I was listening to a Muslim fanatic trying to convert me to Islam or a 7th Day Adventist. His argument was that as long as the communist government keeps improving his standard of living he has no need to have freedom of expression, worship or democracy.
And then I realized why religion is such a threat to the Communist party leaders. Because a better job, better housing does not buy the loyalty and passion, this young man has, for followers of Christ.
Hacked address list: A second spam mail was sent to my (old) address last week. I have changed my access to my e-mail account and it will not be possible for this spammer to use my e-mail account to send any further spams.