April 10, 2021- Life in lockdown

 We have been in Coronavirus lockdown for 13 months, and we are now both double-vaccinated, so with the easing of restrictions on April 12, we are getting ready not only to receive visitors in the garden, but also to set off on the first overnight boat jaunt for 18 months.

Lockdown has proved to be a stress-free, even enjoyable, experience, almost what I originally thought retirement would be. Of course we miss physical contact with family and friends, but the new practice of video-calls goes a long way towards compensating.

We have a daily routine: wake up at seven for one or more cups of tea in bed while we check out calendars, daily news, emails, and social media; then the morning hot-tub ( which is now installed in the “spa shed”. This is followed by the daily 20-30 minute walk on a circuit taking in the sea front, then morning coffee, and an hour or so of miscellaneous tasks before breakfast-lunch at noon. 

For the past 6 months,  I have been doing weekday speech therapy at 1pm for 30 minutes with my young brother Terry (69) who suffered a massive stroke a year ago. This has badly affected movement and control on his right hand side, and has also destroyed his ability to speak, apart from the very odd unpredictable moment. The speech improvement is happening, but very gradually and very slowly, and the overall process will be detailed elsewhere.

In the afternoons, we have “free time” for more jobs and hobbies. I am now into 18 months of learning to play the ukelele, another very slow process for me - but it is the journey, not the destination that counts! Usually, in the late afternoon, I take some time ( 45 minutes) for “music therapy”, when I drift off into a very pleasant meditative semi-consciousness in a darkened room. Then it’s time for a “cocktail hour” before dinner-tea, followed by an evening in front of the television watching films or short series. Bed again at eleven pm to catch up on internet stuff, with final lights out before midnight.

A Day out in Cowes

All the visitors are gone, and it's time to think about putting a lick of varnish on the boat's mahogany uppers. The varnish used till now is a specialist "Epiphanes" gloss, available at a shop in Cowes, so a trip was planned there. First, the car needed fuel, then it also needed a wash, and then it was lunch time. A
long the way we had to pass both Lidl and Aldi - well, we didn't pass them, we went in!
By the time all these activities had taken place, it was well into the afternoon, when we discovered that the paint shop had closed for business a month ago.

So, back to the boat, stopping off to see a friend in hospital on the way, and also calling in on some friends who have just taken over their new house.

The harbour is still lively, and we watched a crab race down the nearby slipway. We know how to live!

Crab racing on the slipway

Monday April 14 More fun in the sun

Today the Sun seems brighter and warmer, and the wind has all but died. The harbour is emptier than it was over the weekend, but there are still yachts full of Easter Holiday kids, and little dinghys are scudding about in between the pontoons.

Christina has returned to finish off the job, and has left "Middle Watch" bright and shiny. Jason, not content with his 62 mile cycle ride of yesterday has just returned from a mammoth 5-hour walk along the ridges of the Western Wight, and we are just about to sit down to a farewell curry before he sets off on his journey home.

It's a great life!

Gill chats with Christina, our glamorous boat cleaner

A Managem - "The Dinosaur's Tail" and a sunny Sunday

The Sun has been shining since early morning, and we have arrived at the boat for lunch. "La Ina", the yacht which bumped us yesterday has departed (without any further damage), and the harbour is looking great. Jason has set off to complete his "Round the Island" cycle route, an amazing 62 miles, and all is well.

Yarmouth is a lovely port, and especially welcoming for a stroll around the Square, with its shops, bars, clubs and ice-cream parlours. Today's chosen flavours were Vanilla and Rum'n'raisin, contentedly licked away whilst basking on a bench facing the large flotilla of visiting yachts in for the weekend.



Today's "Managem" contains a little parable concerning organisational change. The full text will be published in the book, but the theme is that all organisations grow and change through a series of "evolution-revolution" phases.

During these revolutionary periods, there are often some very intense power struggles between "The New Blood" and "The Old Guard", with occasional casualties on both sides.....

Beware The Final Swing of the Dying Dinosaur’s Tail

“The Dinosaurs are dead”, he said

“Their days on Earth are done”

“Look here”, he said,

I’ve done the deed”

“I’ve shot the final one”

And as he grinned triumphantly,

His foot upon its head,

Its tail swung round

In Death’s last throe

And killed him-

Killed him dead.

APRIL 12 A visit from Jason and an interrupted nap

The promised sun did not turn up today, but happily, the promised son did.

Jason arrived in the morning, just after we had laid out the sunbeds on the patio. We had a very pleasant morning before Jason set off to explore the Island by bike, while we went down to inspect the boat following its spring clean yesterday by Christina, an attractive young blonde, who must surely be the most glamorous boat cleaner ever.
The weather was not in the slightest conducive to sitting out, so we retired to separate music stations for an afternoon nap, which was proceeding dreamily until the rather clumsy, noisy and disruptive arrival of a 38 foot yacht to the neighbouring berth. The noise of the collision had me tumbling off the wheelhouse couch to inspect the damage, which, thankfully was light. The offending skipper  was most apologetic, and more than a little embarrassed.
As my Mum would have said, "Worse things can happen at sea"

And then, just when it was too late in the afternoon to be of any real difference, the Sun made a very brief  appearance so as not to make a liar of the weather forecaster. Ho hum.

"The Journey of a Thousand Miles" - introducing the "Managem"

Hello, and welcome to the 2014 "Middle Watch" Summer blog!

This year, for the first Summer in about seven years, "Middle Watch" will not be heading off on a long Summer Adventure, but will remain tied up on home berth in Yarmouth harbour here on The Isle of Wight. This is because its skipper is waiting to be called for some surgery in the next couple of months, and this will be followed by another couple of months recuperation.

However, a stay in the lovely harbour of Yarmouth with all its bustle and nearby attractions is a delight in itself, and with all the comforts of home just a mile away, it will be a fabulous way to spend a Summer enjoying also the company of friends, family and visitors.

Although there will be no foreign ports or new sights to blog about, the skipper has embarked on a "literary" project - another book, which will follow up on "Rhymes, Songs, and Scribbles", published privately in 2012.

The new book will be based on so-called "Tomisms", which are the quips and tips formulated during a working life in management, and which have been quoted time and time again to the unfortunate victims the author felt in need of advice. But, since the term "Tomism" might be too self-indulgent, even for me, I have re-christened them as "Managems", since their purpose is to distil the essence of management training into memorable epigrams for their given situation.

Here is the first example, which illustrates the conflict between "Look before you leap", and "he who hesitates is lost":

The Journey of a Thousand Miles....

 The journey of a thousand miles
(Confucius used to say)
Needs only just a single step
To get you under way.

Confucius, yes, was very wise
And still that wisdom sticks,
But yet he missed the concept
That you need a double-six

 But those of us of recent times
Brought up in Western ways
Have learned the rules of Ludo
Which we played from childhood days

And there we learned, frustratingly,
(Though sometimes losing heart)
You have to throw a double six
Before you get to start.

 Yes, some conditions must be met
Before you start to run
Like athletes, we must learn to wait
Until we’ve heard the gun

The double-six in life can be
Disguised or out of view
But those who make a foolish start
Must plan to start anew.

So, bearing this in mind, from now

We all must understand

The Journey of a thousand Miles

Begins with - first - A PLAN.

That was The Summer Cruise, that was...

Tuesday 3 September—Home  to Yarmouth.

 

It turned out that the extra wait in Brighton had been very worthwhile, as we had a very enjoyable cruise home. The conditions were near-perfect, with flat seas, no wind, good visibility, a following tide, and no incidents.

A slight course variation needed here

Extracts from the ship’s log:

Engines 984, water 1/2, Fuel full, All checks OK.

 Waypoints: Looe buoys, Horse Sand Fort, Cowes, Home.

A waypoint reached on a tranquil sea

This pot can be seen in most seas

0855 cast off.  Cloudy, dry, slight, F1. 2800 16.3 log 15.5 sog, AOK, ( port engine temp 200F, dropping to 90C)

1000 13nm@255T to Looe. Slight. Bright,

 

 

 

  

1030 5nm@257T to Looe. Diversion for  fishing fleet.

 

 

This one is completely invisible at any sea state 

1100 Smooth. Sun. Crew sunbathing aft. Ideal. 16.4 log 17.5 sog. Great conditions. AOK.

1120 Horse Sand Fort. 2800rpm 16.5=. Sunny. AOK.

1200 +3 kts of fair tide. Egypt Point. Flat. 18.5 sog.

1225 Yarmouth fuel dock. Fuel 197 lt, £156 plus vat.

Osborne House, Isle of Wight

 John & Sue, our “shore crew”, were standing by to welcome us and give a lift to pick up the car, which we did after a lunch and a rest. It is always great to get home, and to sit basking in the Yarmouth Harbour sunshine, being welcomed by familiar faces.

 

We took just the essentials home for the first run, and we enjoyed just being back again in “Westward”.

After a  few cups of tea, and a nap, we went out for dinner at “The Hut”, in Colwell Bay nearby, and we watched very contentedly as a magnificent Sun slowly sank into the Western sea, bringing a fabulous summer adventure to a lovely close.

The Sun goes down on "Summer 2013"