Flying Visit
Having been called back home at very short notice, the last 10 days have been a blur of activity. It is 6 months since we were last here, and having dived straight in to try and sort the immediate crisis, time for simpler matters domestic.
Once we stopped shivering at the temperature drop (despite the sunshine), it was so great to see our family and friends again. The next challenge was to open the mountain of post! I will gloss over the drama that that then followed thanks to a hospital sending invoices to the wrong insurer, but fortunately we got it sorted before we were hauled off to court! Then it was time to get my passport prematurely renewed. With 2 years unexpired, I was running out of blank pages for stamps thanks to the love of African and Caribbean countries to decorate them as much as possible. The need for this was previously postponed thanks to a soggy motorcycle trip that washed away many stamps and recycled the pages. However there was no ducking the issue this time unfortunately.
Sandwiched between visits to friends and family was a tour of the sailing suppliers around Southampton. As ever, entering the marine toyshops damages the bank balance and adds to the weight of the baggage for the return to the boat. Fortunately we have nearly everything we need already on board, but we needed to track down some hard to get bits, and then there was that nice LED masthead tricolour/anchor light……. I probably forgot to mention that on our night passage up from Bequia to Rodney Bay, having muttered about a boat approaching us with very poor lights, we noticed our own masthead lamp had failed and we were in total stealth mode, oops!
Then there are the rushed visits to the optician, doctor, dentist, chiropractor, accountants, et al. We are starting to feel like a car getting a major service. At the risk of starting to sound like Victor Meldrew, (sorry for any non-UK readers, but if you ever get to see the TV programme One Foot in the Grave, you will understand), all the costs seem to be jumping into the ruddy expensive bracket.
It has not all been tough. There was the unexpected opportunity to test ride 2 of BMW’s latest guided missiles (aka, motorbikes). Playing with the newest model, it seemed like technology has suddenly landed on 2 wheels with a vengeance. Electronically adjustable suspension, cruise control, traction control, launch control (seriously OTT), ABS, etc, there were just too many buttons to play with. Fortunately it was an out and out 170bhp big grin generator that nearly had me reaching for the credit card. Sanity prevailed thankfully, not least because I am not around enough to ever ride one……. It made me tax my neglected bike that afternoon, and there was then a great thrash gentle ride out in company with the vicar on Sunday afternoon!
Amongst all this was a visit up to the heady heights of Yorkshire, including a visit to the amazing National Railway Museum. Even Annemarie was fascinated (or was it just stupor…?)
Freebooter seems so very distant and we cannot wait to get back to her.
Freebooter 