Newlands of Southwold

... br>Its going to be a a ******* Ball!!!!!
The Goodbye Party Organised and i think everything is sorted!
No more clothes to buy...maybe just a few xmas presents before i go.
And i have packed and unpacked my bag about 4 times already!

Its really bad i am just wishing the next few weeks away!!!

I'm sure i won't be sleeping for days before!!!!!

Only 553 hours to go!!!
Yippie!!!!

H.x

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

... now in Northampton, tomorrow we leave for Dover, and on Friday morning we board the ferry for France. Hurrah! If all goes according to plan :-) We'll let you know how we get on of course.

Having got our hands back on everything we own, we're now able to upload some pictures we took of our time in Norfolk, in case anyone fancies a look. They're below.

Hopefully the next entry will come from France, please cross fingers for us.

"Whatever can go wrong at the most inopportune moment, will" Sod's law

All I had to do today was to get the laptop ready for travel: clear out old files to make space for photos, transfer my planning files with all the hotel, travel and other necessary detail; and check in.

First the laptop email chose ...

"We're leavinghome" Beatles

Leaving thehouse for three months over winter can be a bit of a worry, and besides, thehouse insurers don’t like it.

Fortuitously,Barbara and Steve will be house sitting. Good friend Barbara and new partnerSteve have both recently left failed marriages and are looking to start a newlife together. So the arrangement suitsthem, suits us, and suit our insurers.

But even so,much has to be done to get the house ...

"If you can always sit, don't stand; lie, don’t sit" Anon

Unless you’ve got first class seats, you are not going to lie, so get a good seat.

Flying is a very competitive business. Not just amongst the airlines, but also amongst passengers. Because (particularly on a long haul flight) you’ve got to give yourself the best chance of getting the best seat.

Once this was easy: just ...

... after an hour, this would mark our first 4 miles.

We walked for around 55 minutes and we reached Kessingland, a small village situated on the coast, we wanted to stop for a coffee at the waterfront restaraunt but time was against us and darkness was only a couple of hours away, with 8 miles to go we followed our logic and kept walking, we used the tempting thoughts of reaching Southwold and finding a pub where we could rest our feet and drink back a ...

... sounds emanating from my poor boat (and my poor wife on board and of course me!) as she took the strain. There was absolutely no way that I, together with 3 or 4 helpful and concerned people on shore, could pull the boats back in and the combined efforts of the 2 boats' engines in reverse did little to help. The other major problem was that their stern shore line had now, thanks to the changed angles, worked its' way under our boat and jammed itself between our rudder and skeg ...

... yard provides so it was nice to have some confirmation that the decision I made way back last winter, to leave CW in Tollesbury for the coming winter, seems to have been a good one. For a change, we ate out. We went to the local pub and had fish & chips all round, with red wine for Julie & Rosemary and Adnams bitter for me - an excellent pint.Thank you Rosemary!

... Richard England, so I've got a full day before me when I get up on Monday morning. Chris Musto is the guy who brought me to England on my first trip there three or four years ago. He's a remarkable character I met through Wayne Kramer who seems to be equally skilled as a drummer, writer, producer, artist, designer, and promoter in the employ of Smash-UK, running the London office of the Japanese firm that stages the massive Smash ...