Respec', mon!

Returning from Trinidad to England on June 22nd we expected to be taking advantage of our NHS benefits, but did not realize just to what extent! Sentinel was laid up on shore, we were all ready to leave, and I was looking out for the taxi to take us to the airport. Our own ladder had been stowed on deck and we had a ladder from the yard leaning against our hull. Andrew, with laptop over one shoulder and a bag in the other hand, stepped off the boat for the last time and the ladder slid over sideways onto the ground.

Andrew fell about 10 feet and was very shaken but more concerned over the fate of his laptop than himself. Some workmen helped him up and found his glasses. The taxi arrived and we drove for an hour and a half to the airport with Andrew resting his sprained wrist on a bag of ice. By the time we arrived, he could hardly walk and I got him a wheelchair. After checking in the baggage we visited the first aid post. They wanted to send him to the hospital, but gave us permission to fly as we would be back in England in less than 12 hours and could go to a hospital then. Andrew was suffering a little from shock when he arrived in his airplane seat but after that was not too uncomfortable. At Heathrow we eventually got another wheelchair and hired a car. As we had arranged to spend that night with my mother, we drove straight to the Walk-In Centre at Crawley hospital and within ten minutes Andrew was having X-rays taken. He had broken his pelvis and possibly his wrist as well. The doctor strapped on a wrist support, gave him a crutch and some strong painkillers, and said it could be three weeks before he would be walking again. We visited my mother but booked into a local hotel for the night.

That weekend we had a great time in Northamptonshire with my daughter Stephanie, eating out, speeding around the countryside in her Lotus Elan, and visiting interesting old buildings – a triangular one and a castle. Then it was back to Crawley to spend a few days with my other daughter Nicola and granddaughter Rebecca. Andrew visited his old office in Canterbury and I shopped for his birthday presents and helped Nicola with one or two things in the house. Friday we changed our hire car for a much cheaper one for the next six weeks, and drove to Hayling Island to a hotel for two nights while attending the wedding of one of Andrew’s nieces, Clare.

Clare was marrying Tim, whose family owned a farm on the island. Their house had a wonderful large garden with grassy walks between roses, a large fish pond, a tennis court, a bouncy castle for the children and a large marquee for the wedding breakfast and disco. Since arriving in England the weather had been as hot and sunny as Trinidad and was continuing the same. The wedding took place in the parish church just down the road. A few of the guests camped in the field adjoining the garden. During the time between the church ceremony and the meal, a string quartet entertained the guests in the garden, while a crucial World Cup football match entertained most of the men indoors. It was truly a superb day and the disco had everyone from 3 year olds to the over 80’s dancing. After a swim in the hotel pool Sunday morning and another great English breakfast, it was back to the marquee for coffee and croissants and farewell to Clare and Tim, a drive round Hayling Island, and then off to Plymouth to stay with Andrew’s mother.

That night I went to bed feeling I had a little indigestion. An hour later I awoke feeling really bad and Andrew drove me to the A & E at Plymouth hospital. Two days later I had my gall bladder removed by keyhole surgery and was discharged the next day. With Andrew still hobbling on his crutch the doctor was not sure who was going to be looking after who!

Two days later was Andrew’s 60th birthday and I was glad that I had got most of his presents before going into hospital. Andrew’s sister Helen prepared a wonderful evening meal with party poppers and a gas balloon in the shape of a cocktail glass complete with drinking straw. It was a fun evening with Helen and husband Des, Andrew’s mother Barbara, and his niece Katy, her husband James and son Edward. On Saturday, we all went to a restaurant on Dartmoor for a lunch where we were joined by Andrew’s other sister Sarah, her husband Jim and daughter Alice, his niece Rebecca and husband Neil, and his daughter Cali, who stayed in Plymouth for a few days. The food was excellent and much wine was consumed.

Andrew's birthday lunch

The following Thursday it was Helen’s turn for a birthday and as the weather was still brilliant, we celebrated with a barbeque and yet more champagne. Friday we drove to Dover where we were very fortunate to be able to stay in a flat in the same block as our own. It belonged to the mother of our friend Ruth who rents our flat. It was strange how soon it felt like we had never been away. We met many of our friends from the White Cliffs Motorboat and Yacht Club and were due to sail the Ladies Race with Ruth and Barry in his yacht at the weekend.

Saturday was to be the Ladies Race and was also Sport Relief day, part of the Red Nose Day charity events, where people were encouraged to walk or run a mile. Barry had bought us all the sport relief T-shirts and red socks as our contribution to the charity, and we were to sail 20 miles to Ramsgate with sport relief as our theme for the day. Unfortunately the weather was rather too windy and the racing was postponed to Sunday. Nevertheless, everyone agreed to walk the three miles to the lighthouse and back in the afternoon, and then follow this with the usual themed cocktail competition, dressing up of participants and yachts, and the barbeque. Barry had a huge red balloon tied to the pulpit of his yacht that he had blown up inside the cabin and had great difficulty getting out through the main hatchway. Sunday had us racing down to Folkestone with the tide, drifting and lunching till the tide turned, and then racing back to Dover. It was a fun weekend with a fair amount of champagne and strawberries and everyone winning a prize for something.

Ladies Race. Barry gives Lyn the prize for ... er ...,
while Ruth waits her turn.

We had about four weeks in Dover. Andrew went to his old office and caught up with things there, doing a little work and sorting out his tax return, pension etc. I spent a week helping Nicola with some house decorating. We managed, with some difficulty, to get appointments at our NHS dentist, though the work on a cap must have loosened the adjoining bridge as it came off immediately after returning to Trinidad, where it cost me the equivalent of £50 to have it refixed - within 24 hours on a Saturday morning. One day I visited my old offices in London to show our voyage photographs, and had a pleasant lunch out with Niamh and Linda. I have been really pleased how they have kept in touch and shown an interest in my travels. Apart from changes in the dictation arrangements for the secretaries, and some pleasing slimming results, everything else seemed much the same.

On the 3rd of August we took my mother out for lunch for her 87th birthday, and, as a surprise, my life-long friend Linda and her husband Norman came too. I was overjoyed that they could come as we had been unable to find a time to visit them in Colchester. They are also very good to my mother, who had been a great friend of Linda's parents. From there we spent a few days with Sarah, Jim and Alice in Malvern. With Andrew and I now much fitter, we were able to take short walks over the hills most days. Clare and Tim arrived for the weekend and we had some pleasant trips out to Ludlow – tea in a marvelous old fashioned tea room and buying sheep’s cheese in a fantastic cheese shop; finding great-grandmother’s tomb stone and the village where she had lived; and a very tasty Chinese lunch. Clare produced a wonderful late birthday cake for Andrew. Several hours were spent with four laptops out on the kitchen table swapping photographs, and tracing the family tree. Jim is in the middle of a massive house extension project, but they gave us their best room and a very comfortable stay.

I had one more day with my mother where, after one of her delicious lunches, we went for a walk round a local park we had not visited for some years, and picked up some wood chippings for her garden. It was a very enjoyable time together.

On our last Friday, we left Dover. We had met many of our friends on the Wednesday and said our goodbyes. I felt sad to say goodbye to Ruth and Barry but as he said, we can keep in touch quite regularly. We drove through Gosport and picked a pair of new dodgers we had had made, then continued to Plymouth. The August holiday traffic was bad and it took us several more hours than usual.

Then that Saturday the news broke about the plot to bomb several airplanes, the chaos at the airports and the draconian emergency regulations concerning luggage. We followed the news daily until our departure from Heathrow on Wednesday 16th August. At the last minute we had to buy a new bag in order to manage our baggage according to the new rules, which permitted only minimum handluggage with a ban on liquids. On Tuesday we left Plymouth early and after returning the rental car, spent the night in a hotel near Heathrow. At the entrance to Heathrow Terminal 3 next morning it looked like chaos. There were security staff everywhere, people were not being allowed into the terminal, and marquees had been erected outside for travellers to wait. But at our entrance we were allowed straight in, to join an enormous queue that seemed to stretch for miles to the check-in desk. While Andrew queued, I went to the Customs office, and soon had the documentation sorted to claim back VAT on some boat parts we had bought. After the queue for the check in, we then faced a much longer queue where everyone shuffled slowly forward towards the airport security check. It was all a bit like Alton Towers on a bank holiday weekend - endless queueing backwards and forwards round the barriers, then suddenly its all happened and you wonder what the fuss was about. We were at last in the departure lounge with a bottle of free mineral water to compensate for any we had had to throw away earlier. We congratulated ourselves on getting from the entrance to the departure lounge in just two hours, still in good time for the scheduled departure.

Then our plane was late arriving on the incoming flight. After losing its take-off slot, it was over two hours late in getting airbourne. The cabin was in shabby condition, it hadn't been properly serviced in the hasty turn-round, the inflight entertainment was broken. I was hoping that the same didn't apply to the flight systems, when midway across the Atlantic we were interrupted by a special announcement from the captain. The plane had "a small technical problem - nothing to get worried about". But as it would need repairs it could not make its scheduled stop on Antigua and would have to head direct for Trinidad. As we digested this news, the cabin lights went off and the aircraft started to lose height. Hollywood buffs will know that next thing to expect is an ashen faced stewardess at the cabin door asking if anyone knows how to fly a plane. I am relieved to report this did not happen, and we arrived safely enough at Trinidad. Because we hadn't stopped en route the arrival was in fact almost on time! But not so good for the majority of passengers bound for holidays in Antigua, who faced a further delay of several hours waiting for another plane to take them on.

Customs took a while to negotiate with our duty-free boat parts, but by early evening we were once again back at Sentinel to find to our relief that all was in good order. We have had eight lovely weeks in England and are not so sure that we are glad to be back in Trinidad. It is the rainy season now, stiflingly hot and humid, with thunderstorms and torrential rain showers each day. There seem to be more mosquitoes than ever. We have decided to hire an air conditioner for the yacht, and at least the cabin is comfortable. Now it is back to the grind of trying to get things fixed - in a country where the work ethic is low and we generally end up having to do it all ourselves. It looks like Andrew will finally have to face doing some welding repairs to the deck. I have lost count of the number of companies I have contacted about replacing our old hatches, but nothing has worked and it looks like we will have to "mend and make do" for the time being. Repainting the yacht will be a real chore in this heat and with the uncertainty about the showers. At least our sail has been nicely repaired, even if it broke the sailmaker's machine in the process. This week we have the country's Independence Day celebrations to look forward to - Trinidadians certainly know how to party. And some good news, two articles we wrote for Yachting Monthly while in England have been accepted for publication.