while there is a sense of, shall we use the word? paradise in living here? naw, too strong. But it is very nice though. too nice, which is why I can forget to be smart. yesterday I pulled the stereo out of the bus (more on this later) and forgot to lock it up. tracy and I went out two hours later, and by then some junkie had already rummaged through it. now this is a place that is wide open, large parking lot, not some alley somewhere. during the summer we had our vw cabrio on the road, and since it was a ragtop we didn’t lock it. by the end of the summer the back seat was very dirty from all the homeless that slept there.
i loathe the idea, but I think I’m going to have to install an alarm in the car, if only to dissuade these guys from rummaging, window breaking, and sleeping in my wheels. the weird thing is i’m used to being concerned about having my wheels jacked, not this stuff.

i noticed that the otters have been around again, judging by all the otter crap on our slip. what a mess.
I mentioned ripping the stereo out of the bus. the reason for this is that it has an aux input, unlike the sony auto stereo we have in the boat. so I swapped radios and now I can hook my laptop to the sound system. This boat came with some very good speakers and a decent radio, but broadcast radio is garbage, and I get tired of swapping cds while I’m working. I have cable broadband at the boat and now I put on streaming internet radio through the laptop. you can choose absolutely any genre so the only problem is with so many choices, figuring out what you want to listen to while working. some stations allow you to pick and choose artists as well, so it’s very like listen to a cd collection without having to swap cds. I often write for several hours at a time, and so not having to bugger with changing cds is nice.
I know, it’s a real bare-bones lifestyle.

the barometer is pretty low -  940mb, and it has been very windy, although there’s been a fair bit of sun. last night we went for a walk along the beach at beacon hill, and the stars were so amazingly sharp and clear; mars was very bright and very red, and orion high in the sky. I guess it’s almost winter.

I’ve been asked to publish some of the “specs” of what we are doing, so here is some info: we are guests of the victoria harbour authority, who have 4 different marinas in the harbour: fisherman’s wharf, ship’s point, wharf street, and Johnson street wharf. they usually have moorage available, although ship’s point is only transient in the summer. the last two are least popular, for although they are right downtown, there are problems with junkies and loud nightclubs. the rate is $10.00/ft. + 40./00 month hydro. you’re on your own with parking, but they do have showers and laundry.
there are also several small private wharfs you can also rent from at significantly less money, and we might go that route when our contract expires this spring. when we started this lifestyle we were just glad to find a place.
i hear a lot about shortages of mooring space out there, but that’s not the  case in this harbour. and where else can you find a selection of liveaboard slips?
and did I mention we are 5 minutes from juan defuca straight?