The big move onto the boat has started. Out of the crew house with its multiple bathrooms and copious water flow; its double bed and wardrobe space and onto the boat with - none of the above. Whoopee, she cries.
If you've followed my blog for it's first baby year afloat on the world-wide-web, then you'll be very aware of my feelings when faced with this transition. They're not filled with enthusiasm I'll admit and 'normally' I might have a bit of a moan about it all.
However, this year I have very good reason to be excited. Here's a little story;
35 years ago on a sunny day in June, 1977, a little girl was born. A bit early but perhaps she was keen to get going. Her Majesty The Queen's Silver Jubilee was taking place and the Great British Public were also keen, as mustard in fact, to celebrate. They were baking and hanging bunting and closing the streets for village parties as we Brits are pretty good at doing. You can just imagine the waft of Victoria sponges and sausage rolls, the shrieking children, overloaded with sugar and E numbers, still relatively allowed in them days and all that excitement hanging in the air.
Just as the baby sheets were doing, used as flags to hang from the hospital windows. So the baby girl, newly born and peachy, was laid upon a Terry Toweling nappy in her cot instead of the usual soft, cotton sheet which wafted around with a higher purpose out of the window.
Babies in those days were put on their tummy's to sleep. So this wee little thing as she turned her head from side to side, slowly and successfully removed the many layers of brand new skin from her nose against the harsh threads of the toweling makeshift sheet whilst the real cotton sheets fluttered in the early June breeze.
I came out of hospital with a massive scab on my snoz basically. My brand new, little nose rubbed raw in aid of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. What a sacrifice I made in my first few days.
Well my nasal epidermis sacrifice must have paid off because Mariquita has been invited to attend the Queen's pageant on the Thames for her Diamond Jubilee! We will sail up to the Thames on the 1st of June and on the 3rd of June, my 35th Birthday, we will be there to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. How exciting! Mariquita on the Thames. She will look awsome.
I've decided such an event deserves a cake; and I really don't mind baking my own Birthday cake if it's to be shared with the Queen. It's no skin off my nose.
I am therefore in the next few months, going to be designing the ultimate Jubilee/Birthday cake. The crew will , I'm sure, be up to the task of tasting the results of my inventions and I commend their commitment to the cause.
So as you can see, I am pretty excited about the move onto the boat this year and our sailing trip to the UK. It's going to be a cracker. I'm sure the Queen will approve of all our hard winter maintenance work. And Mariquita will be proudly gleaming in all her glory. There'll be a few of you watching on the telly too apparently. I'll wave.
Stay tuned therefore, for inside information, stories and cake and all things Diamond Jubilee and we'll see you on the Thames!
Thanks for reading.