POLLY PORTSIDE - Polly on the high seas
Her mother had a green face. It was a strange sight. She lay inside on the couch with a bowl almost stuck to her body. It was the bowl that was usually used for serving salad. Polly and her father sat outside, but occasionally Polly waddled inside to give her mother a little kiss on the cheek. Her mum then just moaned and turned around again. Polly didn't like it. She had slept in her little cozy bunk bed for a few nights and that was pretty nice. She rolled back and forth all night because Zouterik was constantly moving on the waves, but when that happened she always felt her stuffed animals warm and soft against her. If only it wouldn’t take such a long time!
During the day she didn't see anything else than sea, sea and more blue sea. Only very occasionally she saw a little bit of land in the distance. Polly's mother didn't feel so good. Sometimes she came outside to get a breath of fresh air, which Polly found a strange saying because it wasn't cold at all. Fortunately her father was captain Portside and he steered the boat steady in the right direction. Polly loved to play with her toys in the deckhouse. There she could always see her father and she knew her mum was nearby too.
Before they left for their journey, her father and mother had organized a farewell party in their garden so that everyone could see them one last time. A lot of people visited and they all brought presents. It was a very nice and sunny day, but everyone also cried a lot. Especially when they got into the car again when they had to go to the ferry. At those moments, Polly's mother and sister Belle usually walked out to accompany the leaving visitors. Polly didn’t know what to think of it. She decided to just play in the garden all day with the toys and presents she’d received. Later that week her father and mother had put all of them in a large bag to take them to Zouterik.
Today Polly played with the window stickers a friend of her mum’s gave her. They were farm animals that she could move around over the windows. If Polly looked at her window in the deckhouse to the large water world outside, she always let the cow and the chicken dance over the waves. The farmer and his wife behind the wheelbarrow always disappeared in the deep blue sea. Polly made up little stories about the animals and the people on the farm and she laughed out loud.
When Polly had slept three nights on the boat, they arrived in a harbour. There were a lot of boats just like Zouterik. It was called France here, her mother said. They said bonjour to the people in the town. Polly could not understand a word of what her mother was saying to the people, but it didn't matter because they didn't stay long anyway. They were here only briefly for a tidal stop because the current was against them if they wanted to move on. And it was a good opportunity to take a shower. And that was so nice, Polly thought. The water was warm and her hair no longer felt sticky and salty. It was a weird feeling when they first stepped onto the pontoon. Dad said they were a little land sick. Polly did not feel sick but it seemed like the earth in France went back and forth all the time. Like she was still at sea.
After a few hours they stepped back on board. Just when the ground under Polly's feet no longer moved. But they had to continue now, her father said, because the tide was good to sail to the Channel Islands. They would have the current with them and this would make them arrive faster and safer on Alderney. Polly didn’t worry and decided that her dad knew best. Her father put her on board and together they waved au revoir to France.
Soon it became dark and Polly and polar bear went to bed. She dreamed about polar bear who said bonjour to a dog but the dog didn't understand and barked unhappily. When she woke up in the morning, Polly's mother explained that they would arrive on an island today that belonged to England, but was still very close to France. They would stay there for a few days. This time they did not arrive in a harbour like in France or at home but they had to lower an anchor from the front of the boat into the water. An anchor is a kind of very large heavy iron arrow that is stuck to a long chain so that the boat stays in place and cannot blow away.
Polly couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The island didn't resemble her home island at all. Instead of green dikes and beaches it had rocks and mountains and people said goodmorning instead of bonjour. In the dinghy - a small boat that belongs to Zouterik - they rowed over to the shore where they tied the dinghy to a tree. They went grocery shopping in the small town, ate an ice cream and went for a walk in the afternoon. It was pretty far and the climb up the mountain was very exhausting.
The days on the lovely island flew by and when the time had come to leave, her mother pulled up the anchor and her father steered Zouterik away from the island, into the endless sea again. Now they navigated to Spain where they would stay for a long time. Polly’s sister Belle would also come on board there. But first they still had to cross 'the Big Angry Gulf’. This was the name her mother used when she talked about the Gulf of Biscay. It was called like this because it was not easy to sail across this bit of water. The weather could turn bad in a split second and the waves could be very high and coming from all directions, her father said. Luckily they had checked the weather forecast before they left and her mother said she didn’t expect any bad weather the next couple of days.
After a passage of three days and nights on the Gulf of Biscay, Zouterik arrived in Spain, in a city called A Coruña. The people said hola, instead of bonjour or goodmorning and the sun was shining. Polly sat outside in the cockpit together with her father and mother and they admired the skyline of the city with its beautiful old buildings and squares. They had not had bad weather, her mother had not got sick again and they were all looking forward to arriving in the warm country. Polly felt happy but also a bit tired. It would be nice to sleep in a calm bed for a change, instead of being thrown around all night.
It was warm in Spain and Polly sweated in her life jacket. After her father and mother had docked Zouterik safe and sound, Polly had had enough. With a loud voice she announced she wanted to take a bath. The big blue choppy sea made way for her little pink bath which her mother had set up in the cockpit. She filled it with fresh water and got out Polly’s bath toys and bubbly soap. Polly had well passed her baptism of fire as Zouterik’s little sailor!
