One month of land

December 15, 2009 – 6:39 pm

After being back in what is called the ‘real world’ (by most people) for a month I thought it was about time to update our faithful blog watchers with what the last 30 days have been like. I’ve had to miss out loads to keep it fairly short (and because my memory is going) but thank you to everyone who has invited us, driven us, fed us and watered us and those who have come to see us and Bo.

I think I knew when I first accepted Mick’s invitation to come onboard Bojangles, that things would never be the same but I don’t think I had really thought about what it would be like. The welcome we received in San Francisco was breathtaking. Not only just on Friday 13th but for the subsequent 2 week period that Mick and I were able to stay out in California. Our time there passed in a whirlwind of meetings and speeches but undoubtably the highlight was meeting up with Wayne who took us for a helecopter trip wine tasting tour of the Napa valley. (it really doesn’t get much better than having a friendly helecoper pilot with his own helecopter). Thank you so much to every one who came to see us in, came to see us after we landed or just came to see the boat after we had flaked out and were sleeping. The Golden Gate Yacht Club holds a very dear place in my heart and is now not only my spiritualy home in San Francisco but as honorary members I feel I really should learn to sail and visit more often. Thank you to everyone at the GGYC who made our stay so perfect.

On arrival in the UK we were greeted with a brief bout in front of BBC camera and then released to get to Molesey for a quiet night in the boat club. It felt lovely being back in familiar surroundings with familiar faces once again. It also was great to go up to Boston for the Dawson welcome home party at the Cowbridge inn. Mick and I did a little speech about our trip but we were amazed when Bill and Brandy from Lantern Productions turned up having flown in for a surprise from the US. I manged to leave before theTequila bottle was finished but was still a bit groggy in the morning.

Since then I’ve spent most of my time trying to organise my life and complete the ever present to-do list. However just as memories of waves and whale dodging were starting to fade Mick sent me a rough cut of the trailer for the film that we’re going to make. I can’t show it to you yet but believe me when I say that it is outstandingly good. I was surprised by how much of it I had forgotten. I’m looking forward to spending some time viewing the footage as after a while memories do fade and lessons learnt can pass you by.

And what of Bo? Well Bojangles has been accepted as a temporary exhibit at the San Francisco Maritime Museum. She’ll be there for a little while yet so please pop in to see her if you get a chance.

I’ve just been informed that there are still cases of ‘Bojangles’ available so get yourself to the Hog’s Back Brewery if you’d like to buy one of those. T-shirts are now in rather short supply with only ladies large and medium remaining but please do get in touch if you’d like one.