62. I Think Its Gonna Be A Long Long Time

Not long after I published Post 61, John called me from Durban, where they’d diverted when Andrew developed suspected appendicitis. As well as Andrew, crew member Thomas left Unicef as he’d fallen earlier in the Leg and damaged some teeth. CV31 stayed in port long enough for the two of them to be medevac’d by the NSRI (equivalent to the UK’s RNLI), the crew to have showers and for the boat to be refuelled and re-victualled. They were back on the water within about three hours. They should get back to where they “stopped” and then their race time starts again, but I think in view of the time lost they are just racing to get to Fremantle. Depending upon the winds, I guess that will take another two to three days and that they’ll be about a week late. I’ve not changed my flights as George will be there and I have pals in Perth. We’ll all be getting as much victualling etc ready as we can for the three late boats, Unicef, Punta del Este and Visit Sanya. These latter two set off on Thursday 28th with a race start for them on Friday 29th. Here’s the path to Fremantle with all in sight (just).

There’s possibly a bit more excitement on Friday, as Zhuhai discovered that their planned route takes them through an area where the US Navy will be doing some rocket missile practice, whatever that means. I’ve not had the chance to read today’s Skipper reports to see if Zhuhai still exists. Let’s hope they don’t use our yachts as target practice!

On a more personal note, I had another family phone call, one of John’s grand-daughters auditioned for a film and got through. I’ll tell you more about it when shooting starts. So it’s not just OBB who are stars! Talking of stars, you should remember that I took out a sleeping bag for one of the Unicef crew. She sent me a bouquet of flowers as thanks:

Enough about everyone else. Since I returned to London, in addition to being glued to the Clipper website with all the shenanigans going on, I’ve had a busy time. The first thing I did was reduce my resemblance to Boris Johnson’s unruly mop of hair. Then John’s brother and wife came over for the weekend so we celebrated whatever needs celebrating.

On Friday night we went to About Thyme, a local restaurant which would have been even more local if we’d not walked past it first time! A couple more pals came over on Saturday and we had a late afternoon tea starting at seven, as you do. Then Monday night I went out for supper with yet more friends and had my first experience of using Uber. The day it was announced their licence has not been renewed in London. Better late than never?

Wednesday evening Rene and I went to the National Osteoporosis Society Gala Dinner with a fashion show by Julian Macdonald. Here we are enjoying the evening.

It was held at Banqueting House in Whitehall, so I experienced another travel first when we caught the bus there. Easy! Not so easy the next morning when we caught the bus back to Rene’s place and caught the right bus but going in the wrong direction. One stop on we got off and walked back to where we’d started.

A bit of history here, Banqueting House was where Charles I was beheaded in 1649. While he was still on the throne he commissioned Rubens to paint the ceiling which is magnificent. This is not the best picture of it you’ll ever see but you’ll get the picture (sorry!).

I thought that there had been a Christmas tree installed outside Tate Britain as there were a lot of bright lights. I walked down to have a gander and was rather thrown by the fact that it is an art installation of what initially looks like toilet paper. On closer inspection it is cut-out material. I have to confess I think it looks better from a distance.

On Friday I went to the Royal Academy in Piccadilly with Val to see “Eco-visionaries”, to “Discover how architects, artists and designers are responding today to some of the most urgent ecological issues of our times”. It was interesting but I’m not sure I discovered much. I missed the message of what to do to help avoid future problems and took home the message that jellyfish are going to take over the world. Maybe I should go again and concentrate harder. After that Val and I went to Fortnum and Masons to have a snack. I can recommend it, you get a tiny ice-cream with your coffee!

As we were sitting there we heard a commotion outside and saw a dozen or more police vehicles and ambulances trying to get down Piccadilly. It was only later that we found out there’d been another London Bridge attack with two victims dead and one critical in hospital. I can’t let the terrorists rule our lives and stop there, on such a sad note, so I’ll show you the bracelet I’ve been building.

Go back to Post 42 in August and I mentioned a Pandora bracelet I’d been given to add mementos of my journey. I’ve not found trinkets I thought special enough so I’ve been having some made by Jo who is @work just up the road from me. Here’s the work-in-progress:

You’ll see numbers for the podium positions, a Portuguese rooster and a sun from Uruguay. I think it may get pretty crowded by the time next August comes along.

Before then, however, I’ll be in Australia for Christmas. Knowing I’d not be home, Anne very kindly bought me a tree to take with me. It’s here together with the souvenir I brought back for myself from Cape Town, a rather stylish red wine glass (so you get an idea how big the tree is!).

I snapped the message in the header at a local coffee shop and I think it could be applicable for today. If you can’t read it, here it is again. With luck and a fair wind, the next post should be more optimistic.