Friday 29th August 2014

It is now some 6 years since I began writing this blog, although due to one thing and another it was not published until the first week in September. Shall we see what I wrote that day, as I had just left a ship in Peterhead, celebrated my 43rd (sob) birthday and we were preparing for our wedding.

And so after three days at home, I can now say I am getting used to it.

After having the limited space and restricted time on ship; to be home and have the time to do whatever I want is just great.I wish I could say that I have used my time in a fruitful manner and achieved many of the tasks I have to do. Some things have been done, some mail answered, magazines read and pictures uploaded to Flickr. But there is plenty more to do.I have struggled with switching sleeping patterns, and have woken at half three, half four and today, five o'clock. By mid afternoon I feel like a zombie and the sofa calls for a snooze. And so Sulu and I take 40 winks beside the French windows with just the sound of the fledgling seagulls and the occasional passing train to break the silence. I took Julie's Nan out for lunch yesterday; a quiet country pub nearby that does great ploughman's and real ale. She has her 94th birthday next month, just after the wedding, and I have spent most of yesterday designing a photobook full of pictures and the blogs from our trip to Cornwall. I can't wait to see how it turns out, as more of them could be the ideal presents for birthdays and Christmasses for years to come.

Three weeks right now will see us as the new Mr and Mrs H; and how great that still sounds. We have hammered the final details of the wedding with the planner, and now all we need is the weather. Fingers crossed.This weekend we have several things planned. First of all, tomorrow morning Julie goes to pick up her dress if the fitting goes well. And then we head out to the Isle of Sheppy for a 10 mile walk along the mud flats and broken ribs of countless acient wooden ships. And then on Sunday we head to Loughborough to ride on a preserved railway, and see the first all new steam locomotive built in Britain since the beginning of the 1960s. 'Tornado' is not yet running, but is undergoing trieals before the final painting and then main line tests before she can run on the main line and thrill a new generation of children, and many older ones as well!Summer is threatening to come back tomorrow, but they said that for today and it didn't happen. We'll take each day as it comes.

Have a splendid weekend, folks.

Spelling mistakes and grammar corrected. How exciting it all sounds. And it was: marriage, honeymoon and steam trains, sounds like heaven to me.

Thursday.

After a trip away, even if only for a few days, a day working from home always seems like a luxury. Which it is. Wednesday I was up and travelling from half six and got home at half eleven, however I do know that J was up for 21 hours that day, travelling to Amsterdam and back from DK. Bugger that.

The day is quiet enough, I answer mails and file reports as you do. And once the working day ends, I get back to Mr Crosstrainer for a session. Now, it has been some months since we last met, and it was not easy at all. I did 20 minutes, and by the end I was blowing bubbles. But I got it done, and I am pleased with that. What with work trips, holidays, more business trips, orchid hunting and the rest, I just have let it slip, but after seeing my reflection in a shop window in Rotterdam, I have got to do something.

Not much else to report, when Jools came back from work, we had a nice light meal of mozzarella and big tomatoes, which was very, very nice indeed.

It is now too chilly to sit outside of an evening, that might change if we get warmer days and evenings, I guess, but with a stiff breeze, it was too chilly for bat watching.