I was planning to blog on the huge amount of work required to get the boat up to Category 1 standard so we can leave the country. I was going to write about my insecurities about getting everything organised and my worries about the time that is so rapidly ticking by. But yesterday threw all that sharply into perspective. I…
Being about as practical as a rollerskate on a walrus, it will come as no surprise to many of you that mastering Paddy’s industrial sewing machine has proved a bit of a challenge for me. That machine has an amazing ability to turn me into a swearing, sobbing, fabric munching, bobbin snagging monster. I don’t like it when i can’t…
Over the past lord only knows how many nights, Paddy has been lurking in his shed pasting fibreglass into moulds and inhaling all manner of chemicals. This has all been in the name of plastic surgery for Wildflower – eyebrows to be precise. Like eyebrows for people – which are designed to keep sweat out of our eyes – eyebrows…
“And in my mind In the far-away here-and-now I’ve become in-control somehow And I never lose my wallet Because I Will be the picture of discipline Never fucking-up anything And I’ll be a good defensive driver…” In my mind – Amanda Palmer Yes I have just bought Amanda Palmer’s latest album – and you are probably (quite rightly) wondering what…
It’s 2011 and it’s official – we are running away to sea in a matter of months. I am excited, exhilarated and scared out of my mind. Sorry Mother but this is not a window to try to talk me out of this! 😉 It’s a stock-take of my own capabilities – where I am now and where I need to…
It’s official, they are wearing woolly jumpers in hell. After years of refusing to do something as girlie as learning how to sew, I am now in the process of producing cockpit cushions. There is a lot of work on the boat that, not being an engineer or mechanic, I can’t really help with. So in a bid to do…
Hi all, Just a quick update (since Dad let the cat out of the bag on my blog about cats on maps) I PASSED MY BOATMASTERS!!! I’ve been meaning to let you all know for the past week, but life the universe and everything kept getting in the way. The written exam went reasonably well (though I made a couple…
You know what it’s like when you try to read a newspaper when there’s a cat around? Well you can probably picture the look of glee on Ollie’s face when I rolled out a large chart on livingroom floor. No sooner had I pulled my chart protractor out than I was faced with this: Unfortunately “my cat’s big hairy butt…
Paddy once told me about a dentist in Tonga who wouldn’t let being in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease prevent him from doing his job. While I respect the man’s determination, it did make me a little nervous, and was one of the reasons behind me deciding to get my wisdom teeth out before we go to the islands….
For those of you who don’t know – my Dad was a navigator in the Air Force. For those of you who know me well, this fact is hilarious – because I couldn’t navigate my way out of a paper bag with the aid of a GPS.