This year's projects - 9:19 PM, Mar. 15, 2006

Having survived the ski season without injury (except to the wallet, made worse by unplanned purchase of new boots, old ones having decided to explode mid-schuss), now looking forward to 1st weekend in May - Popeye's 60th birthday. Have chartered a "pirate boat" - Dutch cargo clipper, circa 1900, recently refurbished for tourists and partying. 32 berths, half of which will be occupied by family, the other half by similarly geriatic / alcoholic friends.Board at Harlingen Friday evening, Sat + Sun sailing in the Waddenzee.Said (expensive) charter was made possible by legacy from uncle K, a keen sailor in Cornwall, who crossed over the horizon a year ago. Bless him, he was a fine man. A libation to Neptune will be made in his honour.

If we survive that, the weekend after we depart for Croatia ( again? yawn), with much the same mutineer crew as the Balearics last October. This will be the last charter trip in Croatia ( Split-islands-Dubrovnik + back) after which we will skip Montenegro and Albania, and continue in Greece. All this is reccy work for the day we finally get our own boat, and spend our Alzheimer years in the Med / Adriatic/ Aegean ( or anywhere else that doesn't have the suffix "ocean").

Depending on grandsons' reaction to the sailing weekend, and my progress as less-than-criminally-incompetent-crew, we may do a 1 week charter at the autumn 1/2 term hols with daughter number 1, her husband (both competent dinghy sailors ) and the grandsons, between Rome + the island of Ponza.

In the meantime, looking forward to Swagman's new season, and more of Magna Carta's life of drudgery (whose boat seems a lot like our house - never ending list of structural things to be done- I don't even dare to make lists any more).

Bon vent à tous