Dearly Beloved,
Greetings from the Old Country. I am in England, didn't sail but flew on the big tin budgie.
I have had a change of plans since my last letter.
As John Lennon said,'life is what happens to you while you are making other plans'.
I have taken Eliana out of the water again and she is back on the hard for the duration of the hurricane season. I will fly back to Australia from England in September and plan to return to Trinidad mid January,and head north to see the Caribbean, Windward and Leeward Islands probably up to the British Virgin Islands before June and decide where to from there.I will most likely head down towards Panama ( or Colombia, San Blas, Bocas del Tora?) but it may be too late to start a Pacific crossing.
Watch this space !
Contrary to my expectations, I am really loving England this time. I was last here in 1974 for nine months and did not enjoy it then.However,Alan and I arrived at Gatwick airport to a perfect summers day, had the best cup of coffee since leaving Aust. and his wife Diane picked us up and drove us to the country house in Alderholt, Dorset which they are minding for a retired couple of doctors who are on their canal boat somewhere in England. On Saturday there was a music concert by a group of young people from the district at St James Church and afterwards while having cups of tea and scones in the hall spoke to the Vicar who invited me to sing during communion on Sunday.
I borrowed a guitar and sang 'A Bushman Can't Survive on City Lights' which seemed to go down well. One of the chaps there knew the song and was a great John Williamson fan.
Greetings from the Old Country. I am in England, didn't sail but flew on the big tin budgie.
I have had a change of plans since my last letter.
As John Lennon said,'life is what happens to you while you are making other plans'.
I have taken Eliana out of the water again and she is back on the hard for the duration of the hurricane season. I will fly back to Australia from England in September and plan to return to Trinidad mid January,and head north to see the Caribbean, Windward and Leeward Islands probably up to the British Virgin Islands before June and decide where to from there.I will most likely head down towards Panama ( or Colombia, San Blas, Bocas del Tora?) but it may be too late to start a Pacific crossing.
Watch this space !
Contrary to my expectations, I am really loving England this time. I was last here in 1974 for nine months and did not enjoy it then.However,Alan and I arrived at Gatwick airport to a perfect summers day, had the best cup of coffee since leaving Aust. and his wife Diane picked us up and drove us to the country house in Alderholt, Dorset which they are minding for a retired couple of doctors who are on their canal boat somewhere in England. On Saturday there was a music concert by a group of young people from the district at St James Church and afterwards while having cups of tea and scones in the hall spoke to the Vicar who invited me to sing during communion on Sunday.
I borrowed a guitar and sang 'A Bushman Can't Survive on City Lights' which seemed to go down well. One of the chaps there knew the song and was a great John Williamson fan.
St James Church Alderholt A friend of Alan and Di's, Wayne kindly drove me down to Poole to look at the harbour and luxury houses then up to the nearby village of Wimborne where we went to the 'chained library' up a tower in the Minster.Here then oldest book dates from 1343 and is hand written on calf skin and the first printed book they have is from 1495. Previously we sat in the village square drinking coffee( no not tea !) listening to the bells in the tower chiming.It's all so very English but totally charming. I love the narrow roads with deciduous trees forming a canopy overhead.
Wimborne Minster My school friend from Kenya, Kam Arya had returned from Scotland so I have moved to Wonersh, near Guildford in Surrey.Kam and I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in 1963 and again in 2009 and he stayed on the boat in Richards Bay ,South Africa after a diving trip there.
Today I am heading off to see an old folk singer friend Tom Lewis who lives on a canal boat with his wife..
Today I am heading off to see an old folk singer friend Tom Lewis who lives on a canal boat with his wife..
Let me tell you that travelling on the canals is an absolutely delightful way of seeing the country....as long as you're not in a hurry.You have to open , enter and close the locks which are simply heavy gates with a rack and pinion valve on each gate which you wind open or close to allow the lock to fill or empty. The canal boats are only 7 feet wide which usually allows 2 boats in a lock at a time.Tom and Linda's boat is only 4 years old and is beautifully appointed inside with full galley, bathroom with shower and porta potti and a caste iron wood burning heater in the saloon.
I could fill this letter with photographs but won't as it probably will not send.I left my laptop on Eliana as its still not properly set up after the computer 'guru' in Tobago decided we had to delete the lot, something my instinct correctly told me not to do !
So this letter is going via iPad which I can't convert to the more efficient PDF.
Yesterday Kam and I picked up another old boy who attended the Delamere school in Nairobi and drove to Oxford to see our old sportsmaster and mentor Prof. Norman Myers . Norman took over 800 boys up Mt.Kilimanjaro during his time at the school, ran up the mountain in a world record time of one day,later became a celebrated wild life photographer, PHD, then Professor who has written 20 books and is a world authority on Climate Change and Environmental issues.
Unfortunately, Norman who is about to turn 80 has Alzheimers and is bed ridden.His partner Eileen put on a sumptuous lunch and it was good to see Norman whom I last saw when his daughter Mara ran and came third for England against 2 Kenyans in the 10,000 metre run at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006.
I could fill this letter with photographs but won't as it probably will not send.I left my laptop on Eliana as its still not properly set up after the computer 'guru' in Tobago decided we had to delete the lot, something my instinct correctly told me not to do !
So this letter is going via iPad which I can't convert to the more efficient PDF.
Yesterday Kam and I picked up another old boy who attended the Delamere school in Nairobi and drove to Oxford to see our old sportsmaster and mentor Prof. Norman Myers . Norman took over 800 boys up Mt.Kilimanjaro during his time at the school, ran up the mountain in a world record time of one day,later became a celebrated wild life photographer, PHD, then Professor who has written 20 books and is a world authority on Climate Change and Environmental issues.
Unfortunately, Norman who is about to turn 80 has Alzheimers and is bed ridden.His partner Eileen put on a sumptuous lunch and it was good to see Norman whom I last saw when his daughter Mara ran and came third for England against 2 Kenyans in the 10,000 metre run at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006.
Some days later......
Yesterday I drove down to Portsmouth to check out Nelson's flagship 'The Victory', Henry V111's 'The Mary Rose', and the first iron clad steam /sail powered warship 'The Warrior'. I'll keep this short so it can be sent soon, but the trip was fantastic.
Briefly, the Mary Rose sank in 1545, probably because it's lower gunports were left open when she quickly went about during a battle with the French, then a gust heeled her over and she sank rapidly losing 500 lives including the ship's dog.
Fortunately for us the harbour where she sank is very silty and mud covered and preserved half the ship until she was raised in 1982, 437 years underwater!There is not a lot of the ship left but lots of artefacts and skeletal remains.
Yesterday I drove down to Portsmouth to check out Nelson's flagship 'The Victory', Henry V111's 'The Mary Rose', and the first iron clad steam /sail powered warship 'The Warrior'. I'll keep this short so it can be sent soon, but the trip was fantastic.
Briefly, the Mary Rose sank in 1545, probably because it's lower gunports were left open when she quickly went about during a battle with the French, then a gust heeled her over and she sank rapidly losing 500 lives including the ship's dog.
Fortunately for us the harbour where she sank is very silty and mud covered and preserved half the ship until she was raised in 1982, 437 years underwater!There is not a lot of the ship left but lots of artefacts and skeletal remains.
Captain Dave with Henry V111
HMS Victory without the top masts A highlight for me was going onboard Vice Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship 'The Victory'.
There is a separate Victory museum where Horatio Nelson's remarkable Naval career and victories in the battle of Cape St Vincent, The Nile,Copenhagen and Trafalgar where he was killed are displayed.
Vice Admiral Lord Nelson, probably Britain's greatest Military hero,from a painting by Charles Lucy.
The Warrior's Helm. Another vessel of great interest was The Warrior, the first iron clad battle ship which was both sail and steam engine drive.Launched in 1860 she was the most advanced battle ship of her time with a retractable propeller and fold down funnels for when she was under sail alone.
It's time to finish this and trust it sends with all the pics( sorry cant convert pics to PDF )
think Eliana could use a figure head and will see if this one is available....
Hope you are all well and until we meet, best wishes from The Old Country where it is a sweltering 32+ degrees !
Cheers Dave.
Ps please pass this on to any interested parties.I couldn't send to all...
Hope you are all well and until we meet, best wishes from The Old Country where it is a sweltering 32+ degrees !
Cheers Dave.
Ps please pass this on to any interested parties.I couldn't send to all...
