Well, it is the Christmas period now and we can be said to be thoroughly re-established into “normal” life now. We moved off the boat in September and in the middle of October we moved back into our London house. By the end of November we were both in work and now we are staying with my Mother for Christmas. At one level, it has all happened with dizzying speed but it also now feels a bit of a world away when GRIB files dominated our life and we were marvelling at paying €8 for a five litre box of wine. Now, we are pleased to find a bottle of wine for £5 that is drinkable and fret about engineering works at London Bridge Station. For the record, I am working in the Information Services Division at University College London while Audrey is working at the Institute of Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths College. Both jobs are OK and we are settling down but there is a definite feeling of changed perspective. To put it simply, we want to go off again!
Almost every day is taken up with memories of “this time last year we were in blah or doing something or other” I am writing this on Boxing day and this picture shows a visit to Beira do Mar on the other side of Sao Vincente from Mindelo.
We also swap these “on this day” memories with friends also back here and on Facebook. Perhaps the best Christmas present I was given was a copy of Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes – a dreadful fueller of pipe dreams as it has detailed information on all major passages between cruising destinations in the world. That said, the journal of the Ocean Cruising Club has cured us of any residual desire to sail in high latitudes given the descriptions of escapades to Antarctica and the North West Passage. The most memorable comment I read was by a couple who had cruised up from Tierra del Fuego to Isla Chiloe in Chile. They had enjoyed the majestic scenery but were now thoroughly looking forward to sailing where the butter melted!
We shall have to see how things pan out.
