Chap-ter 2. Getting Ready 02.

Tuesday, June 26th. The Good Ship Mithril is loaded to the gunwhales with everything that Captain Boxer Shorts and the Admiral might possibly need, and a lot else besides. 
(If you don't know what gunwhales are you can look it up in the dictionary!)

They chose a white one.

The day before they had been to a phone shop in Algarve Shopping.
"We need a new dongle," said the Admiral. There was a beautiful girl behind the counter. She looked at Captain Boxer Shorts. "Really?" she asked.
"It's for the internet," growled the Admiral. She showed the Admiral some prices and other information on her computer. The Admiral looked at the prices. Captain B.S. looked at the pretty girl.
"This one will work best," she said.
The Admiral and Captain B.S. took the new dongle, which was cheaper than their old one, down to the Good Ship Mithril and plugged it into their oldest computer. Surprise, surprise, it worked first time.
"You can't have too many dongles," joked Captain B.S. as he set off to drive his shiny red car back to its garage.


On board The Good Ship Mithril, the Admiral was trying to cram as much food and beer as possible into the fridge. 
"You can't have too much beer," she thought as she took out a bag of onions and pushed two more bottles in.
The Admiral took her bag and the magnetic key to the marina gate and walked all the way round the marina to the Office to pay the bill. It came to €47 euros for one night. 
"You can't have too many euros," she said.


Meanwhile Captain B.S. was walking two miles to catch a bus back to the marina. It was a hot day and he was tired.


The Admiral walked back towards the Good Ship Mithril. She waved her magnetic card at the gate. Nothing happened.
"Oh dearie me," she said, "How am I going to get back to our boat?"
She thought about climbing over the gate? No chance! She thought about walking all the way back to the Office. No chance! As she waited another person came by with a new card and opened the gate.
"Thank you," said the Admiral, gratefully.

The Bus.

Meanwhile Captain Boxer Shorts boarded the bus. The bus driver asked him, in Portuguese, where he wanted to go.

An Alien.

"Albufeira." replied the Captain in his best Portuguese.
"Eh?" replied the driver.
"Albufeira" replied Captain B.S. The driver looked at him as if he was an alien.
"Al-bu-fei-ra!" he shouted. At last the driver understood.
"Quatro euros" he said. The Captain handed over 4 euros.
"You can't have too many euros", he mumbled.


The Admiral was stuffing clothes onto an already crowded shelf. Suddenly the phone rang. It was Captain B.S.
"I'm lost," he moaned, "and I'm hot. I'm in Albufeira walking along a road called Avenido do Tenis. How do I get to the marina?"
The Admiral fired up her computer and looked up the name of the road on Google Maps. She told the Captain which way to go and he was soon back on board the Good Ship Mithril.