{"id":12727,"date":"2022-12-07T05:16:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T12:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/?page_id=12727"},"modified":"2022-12-07T05:16:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T12:16:02","slug":"life-lessons","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/biography\/life-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALONE OR, PREFERABLY, NOT\u2028<\/strong>
\n\"\"
\nALLEINE ODER LIEBER NICHT<\/strong>
\nLife works best in a pair.
\n\u2028For anything else \u2028
\nTo give real satisfaction \u2028
\nIs really decidedly rare. \u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Sailing alone can become habit for some \u2028
\nWho started out with a partner but now have none. \u2028
\nNo sooner though do they reach the next landfall \u2028
\nThan they search for another to answer the call\u2026\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Tension arises in every port, \u2028
\nWhen sailors seek company other than where they ought. \u2028
\nDisillusioned crew who find themselves stuck
\nWith a partner they have grown to find boring \u2028
\nCan only escape to retry their luck \u2028
\nwhen their once-dear skipper starts snoring. \u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

And what if the fateful decision is made
\n\u2028and the leaving home card is pulled out and played? \u2028
\nPerhaps the grass will be greener indeed \u2028
\nbut more likely, it seems, will be: different trough, same feed \u2026\u2028<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nREFLECTION AND RESILIENCE\u2028<\/strong>
\nReflection and resilience can be enormously helpful in defusing conflicts between social
\nbeings without lasting repercussions.
\n\"\"
\nHARMONY \u00c0 DEUX<\/strong>
\n\u2028Where better for two sailing lovers to be \u2028
\nThan away from the public together at sea?
\n\u2028A trusted Windpilot for direction and speed
\n\u2028Means both can relax \u2013 and go wherever their thoughts lead… <\/p>\n

\u2028\u2028And since silent self-steering is sightless to boot, \u2028
\nThey can both cruise in comfort \u2028
\nIn their birthday suit! \u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

I do beg your pardon \u2028
\nIf you find me impertinent \u2028
\nBut experience tells me \u2028
\nthese things are important!
\n\"\"
\nCAUTION: WORD GAMES AHEAD<\/strong>
\n\u2028Playing with words is my private hobby. \u2028
\nIt helps me to process my life. \u2028
\nIt’s my self-service psychotherapy, \u2028
\nMy cure for trouble and strife. \u2028
\nTyping things out, exploring ways with the wording
\n\u2028Draws out the sting, releases the burden.\u2028\u2028
\nMy mind runs over with thoughts to share. \u2028
\nTo keep my bluewater insights concealed would be unfair.
\n\u2028But simple fact upon fact upon fact can be dry, \u2028
\nSo whenever humour is an option I feel I must try. <\/p>\n

\u2028\u2028If I didn’t enjoy sharing, \u2028
\nI would never have begun. \u2028
\nBut now that writing has become habit \u2028
\nIt is my duty \u2013 and my pleasure \u2013 \u2028
\nto try to make it fun!<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nALLES KLAR AUF DER ANDREA DORIA<\/strong>
\nJedenfalls ist alles klar auf der Andrea Doria …
\nwir werden gemeinsam \u00e4lter und schlauer,
\nhaben ein wenig mehr Aua,
\nmeist nicht von Dauer,
\ndenn sonst w\u00fcrden wir sauer …
\nweil wir hoffentlich noch lange nicht am Ende sind …
\nich … jedenfalls, hoffe das f\u00fcr mich \u2026 bitte nicht!
\n\"\"
\nNO PANIC ON THE TITANIC<\/strong>
\n\u2028There’s No Panic on the Titanic at least (to borrow a phrase from Udo Lindenberg \u2013 look it up). \u2028
\nWe grow older and wiser together. \u2028
\nA few more aches and pains but nothing too bad. \u2028
\nNothing that would spoil things and make us sad. \u2028
\nHopefully we still have a long way to go. \u2028
\nAm I anywhere close to finished? Absolutely no!\u2028
\n\"\"
\nWORD OF MOUTH MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND<\/strong>
\n\u2028Sailors sharing recommendations with sailors turns out to be the key. It takes many long years of hard work before the sweet words begin to flow but when they do, it’s like being given a free pass for the VIP lane. All those lovely expensive marketing professionals become quite superfluous: there is no need to line their pockets generously in exchange for the comparatively meagre returns promised by contrived press coverage, boat show slots or advertorials when satisfied customers are apparently happy to promote my products proactively and sincerely for free.\u2028
\n\"\"
\nBEWARE RETIRED VISITORS<\/strong>
\n\u2028Retired visitors can occasionally be hard work. I mean the sort who have time on their hands and like to pass it by stretching out their visit as long as possible. Looking after guests should be a pleasure for both sides: hospitality is not an elastic band to be stretched as far as it will go. The gifts we receive from guests coming to stay can silently betray the real level of their esteem for us. Without wishing to cast aspersions, it is difficult not to notice if the pleasures we have lined up for arriving guests elicit from them a gesture of no more than, say, a no-name bottle of rum or some generic calendar on sale for a song at the local shop. The non-appearance of a return invitation also tends to point to certain conclusions that cannot always be explained away by reasonable frugality.\u2028
\nBOAT SHOW PARTIES \u2013 SOCIAL COLLISIONS<\/strong>
\n\u2028I still have grim memories of boat show parties following my Bluewater Seminars at which I was hunted relentlessly \u2013 by people I had invited into my own house \u2013 because they found the company not to their taste (not up to what they considered their social level) or because they didn’t like the choice of music or because they had stripped the buffet table bare or drained every last drop from the liquid tongue-looseners I had laid on or perhaps just because they were not receiving the dedicated attention they felt someone of their importance deserved. Once, I even had a complaint about the poor quality of the service. My wife had decided \u2013 quite rightly in the circumstances \u2013 that the gentlemen concerned needed to be escorted to the door and ejected through it without delay and, baby clutched to her waist, had taken the task upon herself. The complaint, which came in writing, targeted the “foreign kitchen staff”. That being my wife. It makes a good anecdote once enough years have passed but at the time I was just dumbfounded. <\/p>\n

People can be strange beasts. Bring too many together under one roof and there is sure to be trouble: sabre-rattling, name-calling, back-stabbing and more using all the verbal and nonverbal weapons at our disposal. Venture too far out into humanity and it is a fair bet that whatever sense of the world one has made in the comfort of one’s own head will be reduced to rubble. We find our own answers \u2013 and rightly so!<\/p>\n

07.12.2022
\nPeter Foerthmann
\n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALONE OR, PREFERABLY, NOT\u2028 ALLEINE ODER LIEBER NICHT Life works best in a pair. \u2028For anything else \u2028 To give real satisfaction \u2028 Is really decidedly rare. \u2028\u2028 Sailing alone can become habit for some \u2028 Who started out with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4472,"menu_order":19,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12727","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12728,"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12727\/revisions\/12728"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}