It's amazing how the time has flown by. I've almost got all of the 'boat bits' that were on my original shopping list plus a few other things I never realised I needed until I saw them in a chandlers I just happened to find myself in. Funny old thing that!

Went to a chum's BBQ on 4th July (the date was entirely coincidental). Nice to see the 'old gang' again (yes Virginia, we really are getting to be 'the old gang', still, never mind).

This week I'll be getting the remaining two items on the original shopping list, although the water guage sender is proving a bit of a problem. I'm hoping that the price of hard-drive DVD cameras hasn't gone up to much. I'm meeting a prospective crew-member later on in the week and in email contact with another, so life is full of pleasant prospects at the moment.

Strange to think that all being well I won't be back in Blighty for a couple of years. it's not that I still think of it as home (home is where the boat is) but most of my old friends and all of my family are here. Still, there is much muttering about meeting me somewhere in the Pacific (strangely enough, in the pleasanter places that involve long flights to get to but almost no sailing).