Easter egging

I think we now know what we'll be doing over Easter & beyond. We fly out to Faro on 31 March and have two weeks to get the boat to Gibraltar. Fingers somewhat crossed, as it's possible we'll come up against two solid weeks of strong easterly winds... but unlikely (I hope). Sam has been in extensive correspondence with the marinas at Ceuta and Marina Smir, both on the Morocco side of the straits, and we hope to leave Sam and Kalessin in one of them when Ben, Guy and I fly home from Malaga on the 16th.

Another thing to worry about: the easiest way to get from Ceuta to Malaga is by helicopter. What a fabulous idea, and my beloved aunt has just sent the boys a joint birthday cheque which would cover the cost. However, you have to book in advance, but at present we don't know for sure that we'll be able to get there....aaargh! and the helicopter company website doesn't seem to be working, which is rather worrying. Otherwise it means staying overnight, probably in Torremolinos, which I discover to my horror is the nearest town to Malaga airport.

Sam will stay with Kalessin for a few days, checking the bottom & anti-fouling etc before flying home and heading to Guernsey for a court hearing (family thing) on 1 May. Then he's back here until my parents' 160th birthday party on 19 May, and then he has a month to take the boat to the Balearics with Paul and Val from Intemperance...

End of the contract

My contract with InterContinental Hotels Group is finished - and today is my first day back home. The contract has been a really interesting one but I'm quite glad not to be doing the travelling any more. Two hours each way every day from Hampstead to Windsor and back, plus the slow journey into London on a Sunday evening (usually with a bus for part of the way) and the crowded journey back to Diss on a Friday evening, all added up to too much time on public transport - not to mention an obsession with trains.

On my last afternoon IHG gave me an enormous bunch of flowers, and then thank goodness arranged for a taxi to the station, which was a great treat especially as it was p***ing with rain. I managed traipsing across London OK - the worst bit was the Central line from Bank to Liverpool Street. I missed the first tube, walked right up to the end of the second one and just looked pathetic. The flowers made it back to Hoxne remarkably un-squashed in the end.

What now? I'm hoping for a few weeks of work with Aviva to take me through to the summer, but we'll see what materialises. I'm trying to work out if I should wait for my beloved ex-boss to get together the money to take me on, or if I should be pushy elsewhere.... probably the latter.

It's been very interesting to realise how our trip last year enabled me to do the contract I've just finished. Skills acquired include:
  • Living out of a suitcase
  • Keeping clothes, toiletries etc. in multiple locations
  • Relaxed capability to use public transport
  • Living in cities
  • Sleeping in noisy, hot, light locations (Hoxne is always quiet and dark at night)
  • General flexibility and being ready for the unexpected
On Saturday we had our friends Vanessa and Sebastian over for dinner. They ended the evening by talking half-seriously about buying a boat and sailing away...

Merry Christmas from just me

Video of photos made for Sam's funeral    Dear friends and family As I hope you all know, this year has been a difficult one for me. On ...