Clar and Millah hit up Guatemalah, Ecuadah and Galapagah. Bantah.

Monday, 3 May 2010

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go...

Less than 48hrs until we will be leaving on a jet plane, but the difference between Claire and I and John Denver is that we DO know when we will be back again. There is a little something called WORK to get back for. Freshfields and Norton Rose would not, I fear, be too pleased if we decided to throw all the funding that they've given us away and turn our gap yah into a permanent one*

(* as in they'd ask for a
ll that cash back! I for one do not have a spare 35k hanging around!)

Yep, as our faithful followers will have seen from Claire's post, the horror that was the Accelerated LPC can now be put behind us and we can set off for faraway lands with a light heart and, I hope, light rucksacks.

My marks were,erm, close to the wire to say the least but the most important thing is that they were all over the required 50% and so it's a good 'un. The sense of relief is enormous and we can now get on with enjoying ourselves without the threat of an early flight home to revise and to bury our heads once again in the LPDT rules, the Combined Code or Butterworth's. There'll be time enough for that once we are proper working girls who solicite for our daily bread.


Although last Friday produced a massive high, it was tinged with sadness and overshadowed somewhat by the dreadful news that there had been a catastrophic fire at the boatyard where my father kept Makai, his pride and joy, and that she had been inside.

It seems trite that in a world where so many terrible things happen to people to say that I am bereft but it does feel like a bereavement. She (as boats are ALWAYS female) was such a huge part of all of us, not least my father. Not for nothing was she referred to amongst friends and family as 'Mark's floating mistress' for the amount of time, love, affection and I dare say money that was lavished upon her!

She was a Bombay Tomtit and was built before WWII very close to where she was sailed on the East Coast for many years, she was an extremely handsome wooden day boat and had been a part of river life for many many years. My father 'rescued' her several years ago and restored her to her former glory. Seeing her make her way down river, her white sails filled with the wind, the sun glinting off her teak decks and her white hull slicing through the water, she was a joy to behold and joy to us all. Not to mention a VERY sucessful racer - the Bombay Bowl was a feature on our dining room table for several years.

This however, is NOT Makai, as it is somewhat difficult to photograph a boat when you're in it! But apart from the decking, she looked identical. It was a terrible terrible shock and so unexpected.

The Tomtit fleet at Orford was made up of 4 boats, Nadya (4), Hebe (5 - pictured), Tania (8) and our darling Makai (9).

I heard today that come next summer (we hope!) there will
once again be 4 Bombay Tomtits at Orford as my father has decided to ask the boatbuilder in whose shed she was to rebuild her. A brave decision and one that I am absolutely thrilled about.

It was the thought of 'bits' of her being left (we still have her sails and mast) that was the heartbreaking thing, but as some parts of the old Makai will be be part of the new Makai, she will still be with us and will continue to sail on the River Ore.

Not to mention the fact that I reckon that the Bridges' should have first dibs on the Bombay Bowl for the next few years....

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