The vast majority of people would question the sanity of me swapping a summer solstice, for a winter solstice .
The cyclone season in the southern hemisphere is from the 1st of November to the 30th of April. Forcing me to take Logic out of the South Pacific then, back to the heat of an Australian summer.
When my dear friend Lisa, offered to have me come over to SW England for Christmas, I jumpted at the chance. the weather forcast in Falmouth was not enticing, but it was warming up back in Brisbane
but an internal temperture of 45C, when I retured to a shut up Logic, reinforced my need to not be here, for the heat of summer
I met Lisa in February 2017, was I was looking for crew to sail around the Bay of Island in New Zealand, then down to Auckland
Lisa crewed for me, for a sail from Brisbane to Melbourne, last year (2018)earlier this year (2019), I came over to the UK, for Lisa and I to do ROAD TRIP, from the SWed corner of Great Britain to NEen corner
So this will be our fourth adventure together.
it was approaching the time to get on one of those airplanes that had been coming into land over the marina, I was moored in.
Time to move Logic to a safe place to leave her, for 11 weeks.
packing my warm clothing, while on anchor in Morton Bay
this cruising off-season I am leaving Logic on the hard stand storage at The Boat Works
my son-in-law, Jackson, was working on the north side of Brisbane, driving past Brisbane Airport, so he gave me a lift to the airport the next morning
I always enjoy looking down at the airplane that transports me, off to my next adventure
next stop, Singapore Airport
and the crowed trains, to commute between the terminals
I had an 8 hour stopover, so I booked into a room in the hotel inside the airport, for a shower and a decent sleep
on the flight from Singapore to London, I was talking to the guy seated beside me. In the conversation, I mentioned my daughters, who were around his age. He asked to see a photo, and instantly recognised my youngest, who was a friend of his, back in Melbourne. A very nice guy, our conversations, in amongst some sleeping and movie watching made the 14hr flight time, fly by.
The first train from Paddington Station (London), to Penryn was the peak hour-expensive one, so I waited a few hours for to the off-peak one.
I passed the time, going for a walk
stumbling upon Kensington Gardens
and this magical statue of Peter Pan
and a Henry Moore sculpture beside The Serpentine
I could have spend the day walking around, catching the sights, but it was time to get on my train to Lisa’s
which was delayed for a few hours, while the tide fell, to enable the swell from the gale force southerly, to stop breaking over the train line, as it went along the seawall at Dawlish
As we did last time, we stopped at the Pandora Inn for a pint (or two, in my case), on our way from the train station
last time I was in the UK, it took me taste buds a while, to learn an appreciation for drinking warm beer. Luckily I was not back at square one, having to start again. The first pint, tasted as good as the last one, before I left, last time.
Lisa had a vase of the new season’s Daffodils in the room I am staying in
The next morning I joined Lisa and Rufus for their morning walk
It feels good to be back, looking down at Penryn from Lisa’s verandah
a walk down the hill, for a pint in her local
Christmas is only a few days away