It's nice to be back in Swanage, such a quiet place, best nights sleep I've had in ages. Unfortunately Nicky couldn't say the same and was up most of the night. It's certainly noticably colder and damper recently , my fingers ache in the morning when I get up, (arthritis I think) Spent some time today emptying the boat of all it's soft furnishings in an attempt to beat the mould. There are a couple of wet spots in the boat so have to trace back where the leaks are, more tasks for the winter months. The wind certainly sounds stronger than the forecast 12mph
Inshore waters forecast is 6-7 poss 8 tonight.


Swanage weather

An isolated morning shower; otherwise, sunny periods Max 16°C
Winds S at 12 mph
Wind Gusts 27 mph
thunderstorm Probability 7%
Amount of Precipitation 0.5 mm
Hours of Precipitation 1
Arthritis Index 9

Off to Swanage for a couple of days to catch up on life down there. It seems an age since we have last been down but in reality it's only a couple of weeks. Work on the house in London has to take precidence. It's just draining reserves at the moment. We will have a chance to finish emptying the boat, I haven't seen it since it was hauled.

Weather for Swanage today

Sunny spells, then turning cloudy Max 17°C Winds
SSW at 7 mph
Wind Gusts 17 mph
Maximum UV 1
Thunderstorm Probability 21%
Amount of Precipitation 0.0 mm
Arthritis Index (0-10) 10

It's a strange thing but whenever I visit boatyard in winter it has that feel of a car scrapyard. It's because thay are all out of the water, static and unmoving. It's the water that gives them life and movement like a dog straining at a leash. All the while they stand there waiting for the next season, they get tended to, cleaned, painted, polished. A few get forgotten and slowly rot away, adding to this scrapyard feel.

Weather for today
Rain at times this morning; mostly cloudy Max 19°C
Maximumreliablel® 18°C
RealFeel Shade® 17°C
Winds SSE at 19kph [12 mph]
Wind Gusts 35kph [22 mph]
Maximum UV 1
Thunderstorm Probability 29%
Amount of Precipitation 5.1 mm
Hours of Precipitation 4
Arthritis Index (0-10) 10

What's wrong here?

I was watching the TV program "Rogue traders" the other night and they
stated that if you have your rubbish taken away and subsequently fly-tipped, you
are at risk of prosecution. Who on earth made that one up. Surely it's the fly
tippers who are at fault. If an accountant embezzles money do the employers get
fined for giving him the job? If a politician do'es a bad job do the electorate
get jailed for voting them in (I suppose we do pay for it in a round about way)
but you see my drift. I have been the victim of fly tipping and the last person
I want to get angry with is the poor devil whose rubbish it is. they have
already paid once, It's the greedy, mindless idiot who dropped it I want to see
punished. It's a matter of trust, you trust the man who clears up your garden to
dispose of it correctly. If he doesn't then prosecute him.

Weather forecast by accuweather for Hounslow for thursday 19h Oct

1. 
   Cloudy with a couple of showers; windy Max19°C
   Maximum RealFeel® 17°C
   RealFeel Shade® 17°C
   Winds SSE at 24kph [15 mph] Wind Gusts 46kph [29 mph]
   Maximum UV1
   Thunderstorm Probability 19%
   Amount of Precipitation 3.0 mm
   Hours of Precipitation 4
   Arthritis Index (0-10) 10

Part of the economics of retiring is having enough to live on ad infinitum. At the moment outgoings outweigh incomings and part of the plan was to refurbish the family home to a state where we could rent out rooms for extra income. Well as always it takes a lot longer to do these things than you first imagine. In hindsight, it may have been a mistake to get the boat this early, as it has been a constant distraction. Lets face it lovely hot summer, no work, boat just sitting there, you just have to go and play don't you. Well we did anyway. All in all I am surprised how little I have spent since leaving work. You learn to be frugal.
We have completed the kitchen , lounge, downstairs shower and the upstairs bathroom. Now onto upstairs rewire job (mains and lighting).

To do list includes

• replaster and decorate 3 bedrooms
• replaster hall and landing and decorate
• new flat roof on extension
• new aerial
• new ridge tiles on roof
• repaint exterior
• build studio in garage
• landscape garden

Then theres the boat to winterise ...... and so on, this retirement is hard work!!

In October 2003 Gillette UK decided it would close it's uk production site in 2006, this left me with a dilemma. At the tender age of 51 I reasoned it was a little too early to retire, I would surely need to get another job. However Gillette was kind enough to give us 2 1/2 years notice so there was time to contemplate and plan.

I had for many years wanted get a small yacht with a view of living aboard, at least for a good part of the year. The problem was that Nicky had never shown the slightest sign that she would ever want to step aboard a boat no matter live on one. However after much cajoling and dragging her to boatshows, plus one or two holiday trips on yachts and cruisers she was persuaded it might not be that bad. There was one overriding condition, it had to be a catamaran. Now there's a coincidence.

My wife, Nicky and I came to the conclusion that if we could rental income from our London home and with the pension I would get from Gillette we would have enough to live on. Nothing lavish but sustainable.

So as 2006 started we bought our boat, a Gemini 105Mc and named her Watanga. The spring was a time for getting used to the boat, but sadly as the year wore on family illness curtailed our adventures and we put our plans on hold. As autumn approaches the boat has been hauled from the water. The adventure of sailing off into the sunset will now start next spring. In the meantime we have lots of little mods we want to do to the boat and a whole lot of stuff to do in the house!!

Meanwhile meet the family

Lets start off with Nicky my wife of 30 + years, scary huh (the 30 years bit)

She has had a variety of jobs from nursury Nurse to Matron. Full time mum whilst the kids grew up. Mobile Library driver, womens safe transport driver. 4 year break to do a psychology degree. Teaching, and counselling young offenders in prison, then finally church administrator. before taking the plunge and retiring with me.

Luke 26 and Tim 23 are my two sons, as different as

chalk and cheese and have always been that way. Luke has always been studious and thoughtful one, Tim the more adventurous sporty type. Both are very musical, Luke in particular endevouring to pursue it as a career , writing performing and producing his own music. Luke plays guitar and mandolin, Tim plays the drums. I have always felt that raising kids is a bit of a lottery, you never know how they will turn out, I've been lucky that both of mine turned out good and I'm very proud of them both.







Oh and here's me, I did an apprenticeship with British Airways and was a qualified Aircraft technician by the age of 20. I later joined my fathers company and reinvented myself as a toolmaker, primarily working on a vertical mill, but able to turn my hand to most machining jobs. In the late 80's as engineering was suffering a huge decline in Britain, my father retired. I decided that running a company in decline was not my idea of fun so we sold up and I joined Gillette as a machine technician. There I stayed filling various roles over the years, finishing up as a project engineer. Redundancy came in April 2006 at the age of 51 not a bad time to start retirment after all.