I shall avoid the political discussion. I may have to protest vote for any monster raving loony parties that there might be.

Back from a jolly long weekend in Paris with H. Actually it fairly overcast and drizzly and was only really sunny on the last day. We had a good time though and managed to see most of the main sites. Sacre-Coeur, Eiffel tower, Champs Elise, etc

The hotel we stayed in was rather plush and the buffet breakfast a bit of a highlight – of course, we ate as much as we could;-) At 50§ a course, we steered clear of the hotel restaurant and instead frequented rather disappointing cheaper ones.

It was only marred by my camera breaking whilst we were photographing the Louvre’s Pyramid – hopefully I haven’t lost all the photos.

Also, I’m growing a goatee again. Some may think that I’m copying Solid and Jacques, they forget that Slightly and I were growing them back in the nineties!

Wohoo! Off to paris for the weekend. Shall take many a photo from the top of te Eiffel tower…

Might vote Lib Dem or perhaps not…

25 is darn old if you ask me! bellies begin to appear and, as you say, onsetting baldness…

made the mistake of playing footy yesterday not having properly recovered from sailing and snowboarding. Calf muscles are feeling decidedly dodgy!

So I’m now a fully qualified RYA Day Skipper (Tidal). And if I may say so, a damned good one at that!

Day 1 : Port Solent -> Hamble
It took us a while to remember what we were doing, so intially things were fairly shambolic, but we improved. Hamble has very nice showers.

Day 2 : Hamble -> Yarmouth
Maggie was skipper for the day.

Maggie and I had a mini condiment-eating competition. We did vinagar, mint sauce and mustard, until Maggie made a beeline for the toilet!

Day 3 : Yarmouth -> Lymington -> Alum Bay -> Ocean Village
Skipper for the day was me! There was no wind for the first leg accross to Lymington, but the tidal vector I calculated was accurate and we practised some mooring, had lunch and had a go with the bosun’s chair (being winched up the mast). The wind picked up in the afternoon and we had some good sailing down to Alum Bay, practising Man Overboard all the way there. Anchoring up was pretty idyllic and Maggie and I rowed acrross to the beach and bought some ice cream at a touristy shop we found after we climbed up the cliffs.

Chris took over the navigation for night sail. A bit hairy at times – we nearly ran in to a sand bank – but otherwise it was fun.

Day 4 : Ocean Village -> Cowes

Southampton harbour was pretty busy, but once out in was pretty good sailing. the wind was pretty good by the end of the day. Nearing force 5. Cowes was fun as usual. We had supper at a restaurant – i had swordfish – and got fairly drunk on wine.

Day 5 : Cowes -> Port Solent

Force 6. some good sailing, but we arrived fairly early and it was all over too soon.

Photos to follow.

Washing clothes every day sounds like some sort of personal hell to me!

No time to post – off sailing!