Seablog: Triumphs of The Land Brigade

Wohoooooo! Five thousand squiddlers. That means you, The Rt. Hon. Land Brigade, have risen to the challenge I laid before you way back in times of yore, when knights were brave and dragons fierce, when fruit-loops rowed the world… Excuse that, got a bit carried away – 59 days alone in a small boat remember…

Anyway, I challenged that the total raised on my Justgiving page for Arthritis Care should beat my miles rowed to Mauritius. And you’ve jolly well gone and opened a can of Whoop Ass on me! (We’ve done 2,000 nauties – and not all in the right direction. 1700 to Mauritius…) Splendiferous job and beautifully done. Normally I can’t stand being beaten but this one makes me happy.

Thank you indeedy. Nothing can ever bring my Dad back or fill the empty pain that will always be there, but knowing that all this money is going to help folks who suffer like he did is a good feeling. Coupled with the coffers we raised for Arthritis Research Campaign in the first two years of the project, we are now about 3/4 way towards raising the £20,000 for arthritis charities which I set out to do back in 2006. Happy days.

Given that next week I plan to break the Sound Barrier with some supersonic G-force -inducing rowing on the new Red Carpet, the Justgiving efforts probably ought be maintained. Maybe I should have another birthday – that seemed to work well…. Mum pasted in the Justgiving pages and I not ashamed to say it brought a tear to my eye to see how generous everyone has been. And many of you have never even met me or Dippers. Super grateful.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a day in the cabin going backwards. Hmmf. Not my favourite way to spend the day. Maybe try it for yourself. Pull the chairs out from under your dining room table. Put a blanket over two sides, and two half-blankets over the other two. Turn the fan heater on to achieve the sweaty-round-the-edges 27°C (at least). Scatter chocolate/flapjack crumbs everywhere. Don crash helmet and Happy Socks. Lie/sit beneath the table. Get someone to run around the edge with a bucket of water making sploshy whirly watery noises and throw the water straight at you if you leave the cabin. N.B: You only have a 1m x 2m patch outside your cabin in which to walk and, remember, the wind will want to blow you over and the boat is pretty rocky too. Don’t lie still – that’s not realistic. You have to throw yourself about a bit. Or a lot, depending on the weather. You have 1.5 books left to read in your onboard library and you can only listen to music outside – fairly risky given that the hatch will need to be open to hear it… And don’t come out until I say you can.

Anyway, enough talking – I’ve got some lying-in-my-cabin-doing-nothing to be getting on with.

Until next time,
Outey Toot Toot x

Alistair – Indeedy, shipping scares the hell out of me as invariably my boat is lost amid the waves and they never seem to pick up my VHF. Still, we’ve not been squashed yet… Check out Woman’s Hour Radio 4 from 21st May – I’m telling Jenni Murray of a rather scary night in the storm
Susie Hewson – Wowee wowee. What an incredible pressie, thank you. I’ll bring the coat later, might be a bit damp/mouldy but it’ll be ok!
Flickertyroo – Edward Monkton, what a dude.
Laura the Puppy Saver – Tell all, tell all! What happened ?
Xtina – Bluey is a dorado. Yellowy fins, bright blue body, quite a tall head and flattened body. He is quite keen on breaching too- when he does he changes colour. Silver sides, not blue! Amazing. Wonderful descriptions of their behaviour in Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki. It was from his book that I worked out what he was. By night under the moon they are beautiful too – irridescent, with a bright stripe down their back.Brill work on the 1,000nm! Have tried ringing a few times this week but keep missing them – must be out for a walk or something. Hehe.
Sue Wigram – Say hello to your boys on R4P. Perhaps we’ll meet in Mauritius! Yep, Mum went a bit stir crazy without the net when she was away last weekend.
Amanda B – We were in fact interviewed by a reporter from The Daily Fin yesterday and Gill Weekly are coming on Monday…