Sailing through the sky

This cloud was in the sky over my house this evening. It just reminded of good times.....

The Wedding

They did it! Mr and Mrs Thomas have now left the country, and are honeymooning their socks off in more exotic climes.

Porto Pollensa

Sunset over the mountains in Porto Pollensa.

Fat Face Socks

Everyone who knows me know that I have a small obsession about socks from Fat Face.

So, these are one of the oldest pairs I have, and also one of the best-loved pairs.



The colour hasn't come out so well on this picture - they actually look like choc-mint-chip.

Uffingham White Horse

This is White Horse Hill near Uffingham.
Click here to see other photos from the surrounding area.

Witney

This is a picture of the Butter Cross in Witney. Historically this is the place where the hosuewives used to market the butter they had churned. Sounds like a typical welsh village, where people survive by taking in each other's washing.

Happy birthday to me....

This is Axel. He was a birthday present, and he's just too cute, too cuddly, too soft not to share his picture on the web.

Bless 'im...

Well, he has 'Axel' embroidered on his bum, but I'm very partial to call him George instead. He looks like a George.

(BTW: I'm still in my early thirties - I'm not listening to ANYONE who tells me that I'm now in my late thirties - especially when they aren't in their thirties at all!)

So my parents came for Christmas

I love them dearly - but do you know? This wasn't exactly how I had envisaged Christmas Day, but Dad's will be Dad's, and will always want to look after their daughters....

Mum managed to relax some more I think. She even let me cook all of the Christmas dinner, and then wrote me the most lovely letter after that telling me how much she's enjoyed both the dinner and the rest.

Mousehole, Cornwall

At last - a holiday! A week away, in one of the smallest cottages in the world.

Mousehole is a tiny village, in which most of the roads are not wide enough to drive along. If two people chose to drive through the village at the same time then that's gridlock.

Why do we do it?

Lands End... I really thought it would be an incredible experience to visit here, but sadly not the case. I wish it could have still been unspoilt.

Weekend in Wales

Bank holiday weekend, at the end of August - I decided it was time to take my friends and introduce them both to my folks and to the bit of Wales I still think of as home.

So, we wandered off to Mumbles to stay with my folks and then to the Gower for the day starting with my most favourite place - Rhossilli.

(BTW - you do know of course that Wales looks like a pig with one ear)

Worm's Head is supposedly the most photographed place in Wales and is the very end of the Gower peninsula in South Wales. (The pig's chin in fact)

The photo you see is of Worm's Head (from the Norse 'Wurm' for Dragon).

St Cuthman's Retreat

Do you know, sometimes you just crave peace.
I felt just that way. Work was obsessively busy - life was a little stressful generally I guess, so I chose to take myself away from it all for a little while.
St Cuthman's is a retreat - and like nowhere else I have ever been. It was silent enough to almost be scary. There was even silent dining, and it was a very strange experience. I felt regenerated by my time there, and I would honestly recommend it. I was reminded of the beginning section of the Desderata
"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there is in silence"
This seat summed it up in an odd way - it's created out of living willow, and sitting there is an extreme way of feeling at one with nature.

Lazing about in the lower mess

Well, racing or not..... sometimes you just need to join in with the 'craic'. In between racing hard (obviously) there just had to be time for guitars, singing, drinking, more singing and more drinking...

Tall Ships Race First Leg 2005

Wow. Sailing on a tall ships is always an incredible experience, but the site of traditionally rigged ships heading toward the start line is enough to make the neck hairs on even the most hard hearted amongst us to stand on end.
Just for a change, I sailed on SV Tenacious and wonderfully enough we managed to come second.

Oyster Tasting

Introducing someone to the dubious pleasure of Oysters sometimes works, and sometimes clearly isn't what they thought! (Sorry Jen - but these pics were too good not to post)

The Nutmeg Restaurant

I have no idea what this restaurant was called - but my abiding memory of the place was the nutmeg shells all over the floor. It was the most amazingly georgeous smell imaginable.

New Years Day

The Aquarium at Grenada.
This was the first time we got to the eastern side of any of the islands, and its true to say that none of us had the benefit of very much sleep. Maybe that contributed to the problems people had fighting against the ocean tide to get out of the water. One of the lasting memories of that trip for all of us I think!

Photo's of anyone trying to fight the current back up the beach will NOT be posted.... purely to protect the guilty!

Working Aloft

You can see already by the fact that I took this picture, that I wasn't one of the brave guys who went aloft on this particular occasion. This was just after lunch on New Year's eve, and the guys were working aloft, neatly stowing the sails away, so that when we entered the harbour in Grenada we looked the very epitome of 'ship-shape'.

Lying on the beach

It's not often I just lie on a beach, but when the view above you is just like this, then even I can think about it.

This is in St Lucia, in one of the few moments I was awake. Happily snoozing away in the shade.

Sunrise on Christmas morning

Sometimes offering to stand harbour watch is a really easy decision. I can't imagine having too many opportunities to watch the sun rise through the rigging of Endeavour who was moored alongside us in English Harbour.

Just magical...