DON'T PANIC

Hi everybody , I would like to introduce you to our pilot to be Petra. AKA Wonder woman. These photos depict a sequence in which i was just taking a photo of life boat Steve and Fran and she happened to appear. so i took the chance to photograph her.  She said she doesn't mind having her photo taken but she does like to be asked first. Now that i know what a rugby player sees when about to be tackled i shall and have been asking if people want their photo taken. as you can see  its quite a scaryplace to be infront of Petra in full charge. I am not one for running as i tend to fall over or pee myself laughing or what mostly happens is both. So being the wee brave lassie i am and not wanting to embarass myself held my ground and it was Petra that veered off, after minimal contact. Some people i take an instant liking to and i do her, even though she constantly takes the piss. but its not one sided and i am afraid that sometimes we even gang up and take the pis...

Hi. Had a great day . Loads of pressies and well wishes.Had a good lazy dayish. We may have a buyer and i say may,for Monty my disco. So out came the wax. I washed him yesterday with my shampoo because i had no car shampoo , and i wasn't using fairy liquid cos os the nasty saly in it. Mind you abit of extra salt probably wouldn't make much difference as he has a few blotches already but its the principle. So i have almost finished . Mark came round and said " do you want chippy chips for tea " Well the cloth was down in seconds so of we went and then back at LAL he presented me with Logan DVD. My friend had watched this in the cinema and ended up inconsolable so i had my doubts if i would like it but it was good . Don't want to spoil the plot ,but its really really sad. So get the tissues ready.So i shall finish waxing using boat wax tomorrow . Totally knackered. This is one of our cats and me looking spooky. Patch had a bad eye injury when she was a kit...

                    Just a ramble today, Today we spent alot of money ahhhhh. There is no point moaning about it as it was stuff we needed. The most expensive thing was the VHF radio with GPS and a special DSC button for use in emergencys. Sort of idiot help me button. { i think that is why Mark got it ,  incase i had to use it ] I would like to argue and say i am not an idiot , but i would have to agree that in times of stress [man over board ] i possibly with my anti tech syndrome be an idiot and therefore i am glad that the big red button is there. It even has a flap you have to lift.which makes it even more irrisistable. So i am just not looking at that corner of the boat. Mark will have to show me how to use it. YIPPEE great can't wait , oh what fun. If you haven't guessed i am being sarky. A specific genetic trait in all scottish people , that non scottish people can sometimes...

                  Today there shall be no photos, and you will be glad.  I may have mentioned before that whilst learning to sail, i was being eaten. This eating has now ceased , thanks to the fact i am no longer up to my neck in water. I am very proud of my daughter , Bethany. She has achieved a huge amount.A masters degree in zoology a wonderful partner who loves her dearly and is quite happily running her own life. The benefits of a zoologist in the family are obvious. Countless wildlife species identified and explained. Proper scientific discussions and so on. The downside to having a zoologist in the family is that when your husband facebooks her a photo of said bite marks . there will be a full explanation of what it is and how it live on , in , around you   Now i am not squeemish, having spent a lifetime of howking in dead animals to get skulls, but this has a few shivers running...

Hi everybody, just some photos today. The top photo is a junk.This is a type of boat. Most people will know it if i say it has a lot of wooden spars in the sails.This boat is amazing because a man named John has spent the last20 years building it himself. The masts are douglas fir and he made them his self pretty much by hand. The front mast is slightly tilted forward and is ment to be like that as it makes the boat easier to sail by one person.. I am hoping to get a photo of John when he comes toput it in the water this week.He is a lovely man and instantly likeable. Photo no 2 This is the tide out and in the front of the picture is our mast getting sorted to put on the boat. Photo no 3 Monty has a bedmate tonight . Thought Hamish my nephew and Angus would like this. It is an original volkswagon beach buggy.. I could just see that bolting up to the farm na bother. Photo no 4 This is one of the ponds, with the club in the background. It's called the pond because th...

           Third day and last of the lessons. i woke up this morning hoping there would be adverse weather condition and it would be called off. Got to the sailing club and hoped nobody had turned up. Nope The lesson was on.The kids being kids were full of enthusiasum bounding about the changing rooms like a herd of gazzelle. Karen and i were slightly less enthusiastic but rallied round thanks to the kids. Karen and i compared bruises. I had lots of little ones like a rash of them but she had some belters. Stiff bones were discussed , why we were putting ourselves through this was discussed The battle of the wetsuit commenced , was won but only with a lot of grunting , trapped hair and abit of help. we were told to get the picos out and ready. We knew this , we did this. my rudder and dagger board were apparently missing , I said they were in cupboard no 2 because that is where i was told to put them yesterday. They looked still cou...

hi everybody. the top two photos are of my first lesson yesterday. and the bottom of Lifeboat Steve and Fran. Yesterday went better than i hoped . got confused with ropes [ sheets ]but all was soo so, thought it could only get better. It didnt. I learned today that booms hurt and that dinghys appear to know this and honest to god by the end of the day i am sure it was doing it deliberately. The instructor who is blissfully patient with dimwits like me , is called Rachel and the other lassie taking lessons with me is called Karen now that is Karen with an e and i am Karin with an i. you just know don't you how confusing this is going to get. well yesterday we almost capsized because Rachel said "Karen if you would like to move over , so we both did and if Rachel hadn't of lunged for the other side we would have been over. So now i am Scot Karin which is working well. Karen is also lovely and very easy to get on with , has an adorable daughter 6 called Poppy wh...

 The top picture is me on a bike ride . Felixstowe is in the background. It is really impressive at night time as we can see it from our boatyard. We shall be sailing quite close to it as we leave the river Twizzle.. We cycled/walked from the Naze tower to the mouth of the Twizzle and on our approach to the tower were amazed to see loads of kites. This snake was at least 60ft long and was up all day. Then we have The gold stripe. [cove line ]Look at it just a tiny little stripe. What a faff paint gloopy masking tape awkward to follow the lines slight curve with and then decided to try and weld itself to the boat.Up and down and shifting of planks on very old and very heavy water tanks. Who needs step aerobics. 3 bloody coats ,3 honestly i thought it was going to break me. but now you have the picture and can see what all the fuss and stress was about. Bit pathetic isn't it. Then we have pictures of the inside of the boat. I did the pictures and they dont...

Hi everybody 21st of july. Time is flying. Halfway through summer already..Bilges are being done today.Really mucky with a stagnant gunky pond smell. However when building this boat , cleaning of bilge was not thought out as ergonomically as you would think it would be.Thin gap disappearing out of sight in to the depths of the keel. Mark is cleaning as much as he can of the sides and will be buying a drill pump to suck the last water out. While working on the engine yesterday he dropped a nut.into THE BILGE.But he has a little magic twizzle stick. Looks like an old car aerial but has a strong magnet on the end. Well he went in to the murk and came back up with a screwdriver and nut . So we got a freebie.. Being a woman i am trying to understand why a small mesh tray was not inset into the bilge to prevent the likes of screwdrivers and important nuts bolts etc from ending up down a gap even i cant get my hand in.. But i am keeping my mouth shut as ;a nobody likes a smartarse and ;b Ther...

We had a plan for today,but it didn't go the way it was planned. We were going to go and visit the Naze tower. Go down to the beach and hopefully find some shark teeth , prehistoric that is. But Mark had a flat tyre, and the pump he could find did not fit. It was okay "there is another one, now where is it "This is for the bicycle by the way as we were braving the traffic and heading out on the bikes. Where is it , are the words i am starting to dread. Trying to remember where everything is in LAL is hellish.he thought it was in the sail locker right at the furthest away part.Sooo me being abit skinny decended in to the depths of the boat and eventually got the bag he thought the pump was in out. It wasn't. Well it just wasn't going to be that easy.We both knew it but just hoped that just for once, something would  be where we thought it was. So the boat was slowly and methodically searched by me and then again maybe not so methodically searched by mark with m...

 Just incase you are wondering , yes that is a bloody big boat  hanging in the air, suspended by only a couple of straps. We watched this lift last night.I now have no worries when it is LAL's turn to be lifted in..The Bedwell team made it look so easy , when it is certainly not .It is a beautiful big one recently restored but having problems with her hull, so out for some work. The cat is called Tom, we have two. Patch is this ones sister and has only one eye, having lost her eye when she was a kitten. Tom is coping but not as happy as patch.Missing wandering around his old steading. Tom is a big proud cat. We are taking them out at dusk on leads to have a wander. If you have been following this blog , then this is the culprit who tried to gut me on the way up a ladder, just cos someone said hi and a bicycle passed by. The scratches have almost healed up and we have solved the problem by letting him climb the ladder himself.. This is my new bike. I am not in to b...

Hi . Hope you are all well . Well this is me,and no this is not mine. I have drooled over Lambo's since i was a child.This is the very first one i have seen in the flesh.They are rather sparse in Stranraer. I have a list of cars i want to own in my lifetime;    Lambo    Subaru impreza[ have one and oh it's wonderful]    Toyoto celica GT4 [ the old one with the pop up lights ]    Landrover Bowler [60 miles an hour cross country is very appealing ]    Mustang    Dodge charger    Range rover [1970's one ]    Clio 2 litre cup [ just for a run a round ] There is many more and i could list them but it would go on forever. I am actually , though you won't believe it as enviromentally friendly as i can be . But there is just something about cars i love. i do plan to plant many many trees  if ever i get them . If i win the lottery i would probably have a car for every day of the month. This sound...

hi everybody . this blog is going to be a diary of thoughts and things that happen etc..So if it jumps about abit bear with me I am going to tell you all about a mate, a devoted friend and comrade through the 5 years i have had him He is a  Landrover discovery, model one and 24 years old,He is called Major Monty. Given to him because i could not think of a name and his colour is called Montpelier red, as i got to know him, his character dictated the Major. Takes his time getting his troops briefed but will without question go over the top if asked. I always name my vehicles as i think i am more inclined to give them respect and tolerance. And i think as many people do that just because they are made of nuts and bolts does not mean that they do not have a soul . Which brings me to the reason for my ode. I know he knows something is going on, He may just think this is his new home and we have moved or he may see into the future and realise we ar going and if so what is happening...

8th of july 2017 Hello everybody,let me first of all wish Paul McGibney a very happy 50th birthday. Paul is married to my sister Rosie and father to two of my lovely nephews Hamish and Angus. Busy couple of days. Lal our  now home lost her name for a while , as she was being painted from a blue hull to a white one.. Mark my husband did the work and made a super job .Well yesterday we pu the stickers back on. And so Lal in gold is getting nearer to the launch day. It may sound easy putting stickers on but half way through i would have gladly paid a signwriter to do it. She sits on blocks on the dock just now so she is quite high .There was lots of grunts and moans and cursing and holding of breath. The fellow boatyarders are very friendly and supportive and came round to see and compliment but did the very thankful thing of not watching while we were doing it. And today it was the anti fouling. This for those that don't know and have no reason to know, is a paint like substance...

HELLO EVERYBODY. let me start by apologising for all the lack of correct grammer. I never was very good at english at school. I am Karin, 45 this year . I have been married to my lovely husband for 24 years and have a wonderful daughter who is 23. Mark and i have spent many years doing hard physical work .We have done all we can to not be in debt and suceeded in getting our daughter through uni without her having any and us having any. That has not been easy. The whole family has done without , only getting something when we have the money to buy it . No fancy cars , clothes , holidays abroad .sky tv and other fancy tech. Last week i watched my daughter graduate at Glasgow uni. She did more than we had hoped and got a first with honours in her masters degree in zoology. She did more than her bit and it was worth it all. Life has not been easy , And so we have been planning for some time to see some of this fantastic planet. I say we and mean my husband Mark and I. Our daughte...