The Journey -
Rosy's Last Few Weeks

Although the past few weeks have been rather too hectic for my liking, and although not everything has gone according to plan, things still happen in life that are worth recording.  The last wittering, sent off a couple of days ago, was a touch heavy on the "We went to A and then B and then C, where we moored" and a bit short on the asides.  Let us put that right …

Heard on the radio.  I switched on just as a woman was finishing singing a song in Irish.  The presenter asked for a brief translation and the woman said "It's a girl singing about a man she was in love with, but who has now gone away".

Presenter:  And does the man come back?

Singer:  No.  He does not.  But there ... that's men for you.

May I recommend a visit to St Ives - the one in Cambridge?  There are several good boaty reasons for this.

First off, it has a bridge with a chapel on it.

Secondly, it is the home of Imray etc. etc. the waterways publishers.

Thirdly, Wadsworth is there - not Wadsworth the Devizes brewers, but a quite remarkable off-licence.  Apart from having a very good selection of wines, its collection of spirituous liquors is nothing short of remarkable.  I think they have bottles of every whisky that ever there was, and it's the only place outside of Greece that I have found Mastika.  Their collection of rums is pretty good, and I bought some Trawler Rum, rarely found except in boaty places.  AND Scotland.  It's a wonderfully dark blend of rums from Guyana and Barbados, bottled by Watsons of Edinburgh.  Rum is a drink associated with boats and the sea, and I first started drinking it on a diving expedition to Belize.  Wadsworth also sell many European liquors, including our favourite Apfelkorn - a mere 17% or 18% liquor with a taste of green apples.  I'm hoping to consume considerable quantities of this wonderful aperitif during the cruise through Holland and Germany.

Has anyone got a right handed tape-measure - the type that lives in a spool?  I suspect not, as the sinisters amongst us have inflicted their version upon us all.  Let me prove it.  Pick up the tape measure - probably, if you are right-handed, in your right hand.  Hook the protruding end of the measure over the edge of (say) a table, and make to mark out a distance of 12.5 inches.  Note how the markings on the tape are easily readable as they are the right way up.  Note also, how difficult it is to mark 12.5 inches, as the marker is now in your left hand - the hand that doesn't like writing.  If you hold the measure in your left hand, so that you are writing with your right hand, then all the numbers on the tape measure are up-side-down!!  Isn't this a brilliant example of how simple changes to everyday items could make life so much easier for our left handed brothers and sisters.

Talking of measuring, the tool in the toolbox that is used most often is the vernier gauge.  I didn't own one until 18 months ago, but now it is used two or three times a week.

That's it for now.  More soon.

Toodle pip!!

Bill