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<blockquote data-quote="BillB" data-source="post: 67125" data-attributes="member: 9985"><p>There’s been a bit of a delay but my wife decided that we should clear out the cellar and do a bit of painting down there before our Californian friends arrive in May. We leave next week for Normandy to spend a few days with my cousin and then we take the ferry to Dover to spend a few days with friends in Hampshire. Oh, it’s all go when you’re retired.</p><p>Now where was I? Oh yes.</p><p>I really ought, at this point, mention two couples who made a big difference to our lives. The first was Bob D and his wife Lois. Bob came to Stars and Stripes a couple of months after I arrived, but this was his second time. He’d done a two-year stint a few years previously. This time they arrived with their high-school twins, a girl named Shawn of stunning beauty and a boy, Timmy, who thought of little else but surfing. They moved into a flat a couple of hundred yards from us and we became firm friends with them. Bob was an incredible person of boundless good nature and an exuberant sense of humour. He was one of those people who everybody likes and wants to have as a friend. His wife Lois was a gentle redhead who tolerated Bob with rueful smiles and lots of love. After they left Stripes we kept in touch. The second couple was Dorothy and Tony whom we met on Guernsey when they stayed in the same hotel as us. Again we became friends and stayed in touch, always spending an evening with them when we were in England.</p><p>A couple of years after we met them we went on holiday together in Croatia, to Novigrad on the Istrian Peninsula. I booked an apartment via our local automobile club and Dot and Tony flew into Munich where we drove from Luxembourg to meet them before we drove to Yugoslavia.</p><p>One of the highlights of that holiday was a cruise which was going to take us to a secluded cove and then provide a barbecue lunch. Not long after we set out from the harbour the sky clouded over and became ever more dark. Eventually the clouds took on an ominous greenish hue within which we could see lightning flashing with incredible frequency. The storm bore down on us rapidly, thunder drowning out even the sound of the boat’s engine. It seemed no time at all from when we were sitting along the gunwhale enjoying the sunshine to sheltering from one of the most violent storms I had ever experienced. The rain came down so hard that it was like stepping under Niagara Falls, so heavy that visibility was reduced to a few feet in any direction. The wind threw the boat about and the thunder made speech inaudible. There seemed to be no end so reluctantly the boat turned around and made its way back to Novigrad. Just as well as it continued to rain heavily until well into the afternoon.</p><p>One of the features of Novigrad harbour was a temporary open air restaurant which barbecued suckling pigs every evening. We all agreed to have dinner there one evening so we had a couple of drinks while waiting for the piglets to be cooked crisply. When we got our food it turned out to be more bone than meat. After we had finished we were so hungry that we went around the corner to a restaurant we knew where they specialised in grilled squid with garlic butter. Now that was a very satisfying meal.</p><p>Another year we agreed with Dot and Tony that renting a boat on the Severn and Avon rivers sounded like it would be fun so we got a Hoseason’s catalogue and promptly made our booking. We picked up the boat at Upton-upon-Severn and set off upstream. This was my first time cruising Britain’s inland waterways and I confess I was absolutely captivated. Away from the towns we drifted through silent fields, exchanging greetings with the occasional boater and watching the amazing variety of wild birds and water fowl. In short, I was hooked.</p><p>When my mother died my brother and I shared a small inheritance. We put it in the bank and after a while decided that we would use part of it as a down payment on a boat of our own as it would serve two purposes: we could use it as a base when we visited the UK and it would provide some great holidays. In search of our dream boat we drove along the Medway, but found nothing that grabbed us. We moved on to the Upper Thames and after a few days searching we found just what we were looking for in a marina near Windsor. Our choice was a 22 ft Birchwood with an open plan cabin with four berths.</p><p>Deciding that spending four weeks a year sleeping in the same cabin as our sons wasn’t in anybody’s best interest we bought a small tent with the idea of pitching it on the bank for the boys whenever we moored for the night. It worked too.</p><p>But after a year I saw another boat in the marina which was much more suitable. It was a 27 footer with an aft cabin, giving us all the privacy we could wish. It also had twin British Leyland diesel engines. Two engines make a boat much easier to handle than a single engine, so that was definitely an advantage. There is also the safety aspect – it is unlikely that both engines will break down simultaneously if you’re out at sea.</p><p>You get some very strange reactions if you tell people that you own a boat – people who have known me all my life will mutter something about it being all right for the rich. Me, rich – with a wife, two kids and boat repayments every month.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillB, post: 67125, member: 9985"] There’s been a bit of a delay but my wife decided that we should clear out the cellar and do a bit of painting down there before our Californian friends arrive in May. We leave next week for Normandy to spend a few days with my cousin and then we take the ferry to Dover to spend a few days with friends in Hampshire. Oh, it’s all go when you’re retired. Now where was I? Oh yes. I really ought, at this point, mention two couples who made a big difference to our lives. The first was Bob D and his wife Lois. Bob came to Stars and Stripes a couple of months after I arrived, but this was his second time. He’d done a two-year stint a few years previously. This time they arrived with their high-school twins, a girl named Shawn of stunning beauty and a boy, Timmy, who thought of little else but surfing. They moved into a flat a couple of hundred yards from us and we became firm friends with them. Bob was an incredible person of boundless good nature and an exuberant sense of humour. He was one of those people who everybody likes and wants to have as a friend. His wife Lois was a gentle redhead who tolerated Bob with rueful smiles and lots of love. After they left Stripes we kept in touch. The second couple was Dorothy and Tony whom we met on Guernsey when they stayed in the same hotel as us. Again we became friends and stayed in touch, always spending an evening with them when we were in England. A couple of years after we met them we went on holiday together in Croatia, to Novigrad on the Istrian Peninsula. I booked an apartment via our local automobile club and Dot and Tony flew into Munich where we drove from Luxembourg to meet them before we drove to Yugoslavia. One of the highlights of that holiday was a cruise which was going to take us to a secluded cove and then provide a barbecue lunch. Not long after we set out from the harbour the sky clouded over and became ever more dark. Eventually the clouds took on an ominous greenish hue within which we could see lightning flashing with incredible frequency. The storm bore down on us rapidly, thunder drowning out even the sound of the boat’s engine. It seemed no time at all from when we were sitting along the gunwhale enjoying the sunshine to sheltering from one of the most violent storms I had ever experienced. The rain came down so hard that it was like stepping under Niagara Falls, so heavy that visibility was reduced to a few feet in any direction. The wind threw the boat about and the thunder made speech inaudible. There seemed to be no end so reluctantly the boat turned around and made its way back to Novigrad. Just as well as it continued to rain heavily until well into the afternoon. One of the features of Novigrad harbour was a temporary open air restaurant which barbecued suckling pigs every evening. We all agreed to have dinner there one evening so we had a couple of drinks while waiting for the piglets to be cooked crisply. When we got our food it turned out to be more bone than meat. After we had finished we were so hungry that we went around the corner to a restaurant we knew where they specialised in grilled squid with garlic butter. Now that was a very satisfying meal. Another year we agreed with Dot and Tony that renting a boat on the Severn and Avon rivers sounded like it would be fun so we got a Hoseason’s catalogue and promptly made our booking. We picked up the boat at Upton-upon-Severn and set off upstream. This was my first time cruising Britain’s inland waterways and I confess I was absolutely captivated. Away from the towns we drifted through silent fields, exchanging greetings with the occasional boater and watching the amazing variety of wild birds and water fowl. In short, I was hooked. When my mother died my brother and I shared a small inheritance. We put it in the bank and after a while decided that we would use part of it as a down payment on a boat of our own as it would serve two purposes: we could use it as a base when we visited the UK and it would provide some great holidays. In search of our dream boat we drove along the Medway, but found nothing that grabbed us. We moved on to the Upper Thames and after a few days searching we found just what we were looking for in a marina near Windsor. Our choice was a 22 ft Birchwood with an open plan cabin with four berths. Deciding that spending four weeks a year sleeping in the same cabin as our sons wasn’t in anybody’s best interest we bought a small tent with the idea of pitching it on the bank for the boys whenever we moored for the night. It worked too. But after a year I saw another boat in the marina which was much more suitable. It was a 27 footer with an aft cabin, giving us all the privacy we could wish. It also had twin British Leyland diesel engines. Two engines make a boat much easier to handle than a single engine, so that was definitely an advantage. There is also the safety aspect – it is unlikely that both engines will break down simultaneously if you’re out at sea. You get some very strange reactions if you tell people that you own a boat – people who have known me all my life will mutter something about it being all right for the rich. Me, rich – with a wife, two kids and boat repayments every month. [/QUOTE]
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