Crtd 12-04-23  Lastedit 15-10-27

So: Nasty is back, I turned to Spinoza again. And little else. Spinoza's most widely discussed proposition 7 of Part 2 says that the order and connection of things in the corporeal world is the same as the order and connection of ideas in the world of thought. Nothing could belie that more than the contrast between the absolute geometrical order my mind (and web site) is acquiring, and the near absolute chaos around me: the dhow is leaking again but reassuringly not through rot but through a joint. After five weeks, I still have to unpack my Nairobi travel case, I took only the cigars out. The dhow is gradually given back to nature: ants in the butter, spitting your toothpaste in the sink from a meter distance to avoid the stench of it, 4 of my 5 slips lost under the heaps piling up on floor, table, desk bed. At sunrise I simply pick the first clothes I see lying somewhere.

But I did replace a broken bilgepump, realizing that gradually storing things higher would be more work and wet feet disturb concentration. If have mixed feelings about what others call decay and I decided to name health of Nature (Spinoza: Natura Naturata) around me, I feel a bit over-ecological. But one thing is beyond reasonable doubt: Nasty and Mlawatu LOVE it.

...my still not cleared Nairobi travel case is Nasty's favourite place after her unexpected return in our lives [picture]... she decided to make it her den and comfortably furnished it...when I put the dead rats on the cat-food tray she takes them back...cat hairs do not seem to itch...

...natural vegetation on the steering deck...

...my coffee burns are healing colourfully...

...Light from outside at 10cm above the water line...

...Rat shit in the stern. The rats find the dhow irresistably attractive and seem to have a new trick: make enough babies to feed my cats and then make some more to raise. My response: cats on smaller boss-food rations...