nutty-knitters nutty knits: April 2008

The sun refused to shine on us on that Sunday, but inspite of this we set off for Cowes on the Isle of Wight. My stomach was turning somersaults and I was also trying to reassure Charlie that nothing will go wrong. (She has had a few unfortunate experiences on the boat).
Our guests, Sue and Andy, were oblivious of mine and Charlie's nerves and had a great time on board. Once we were sailing my stomach settled a bit and Charlie and I started to sing all the sea based songs we could think of. Our favourite goes something like this:
When I was one
I sucked my thumb
The day I went to sea,
I climbed aboard a pirate ship
And the Captain said to me,
We're going this way, that way,
Forwards and backwards
Over the Irish sea,
A bottle of rum
To fill my tum
And that's the life for me!

When I was two
I tied my shoe
The day I went to sea

and so on for as long as you can make up numerical rhymes!!

This kept Charlie busy for quite a while and then we moved onto other songs like Drunken sailor and stuff like that.

Eventually we arrived in Cowes and tied the boat up in a Marina in West Cowes. For those among you who have never visited the Isle of Wight and have only heard of the Cowes Yacht races the place is very small, and W. Cowes is very much dedicated to the Yuppie Yachties! Lots of overpriced yachtie shops selling overpriced clothes you would never wear anywhere else!! While Sue and Andy went out to discover Cowes, and track down a loaf of bread and a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce, I settled down for a nap. My sciatic nerve by now was driving me up the wall (or the sides of the boat) and i needed to lie down for a bit. Mike and Charlie also went out for a walk and before long were back to disturb my sleep.

We had a feast of Corned beef hash that night, washed down once again with plenty of liquid refreshment.

Monday dawned bright and cheerful and we put on our walking shoes and headed off to East Cowes via the chain ferry. This old fashioned form of transport is free to foot passengers (unbelievable in these penny pinching times)and takes a couple of minutes to cross the river Medina. While we were waiting to board the ferry my mobile phone rang. It was Emily, who we had left at home, ringing to say she had a puncture.

(some background info needed here; Emily stayed at home as she has a part time job at a local leisure centre and didn't want to spend her hols on a crowded boat. She passed her driving test in March and has yet to drive on the motorway by herself. She had agreed to visit Mike's dad in Maidstone, to do his shopping and to check up on his welfare. This involved driving for 45miles on A roads. After driving all that way she couldn't get in as he had double locked the front door. She rang me 3 times before she got there and eventually got in, put away the shopping and then left to drive back as she had to go to work. It was just after she left that she had the puncture, and she had never changed a wheel before.)

It was quite entertaining listening to Mike trying to explain what Emily had to do, especially as she didn't know where to start. She didn't know what the jack was or the tyre lever! 5 phone calls later (each one involving the next bit of info) she told us that someone had stopped to help her. About time too as far as I was concerned! The knight in shining armour had driven past, gone into the petrol station about 100m up the road, and had seen Emily still struggling when he came out and so had offered to help. He was shocked by how many people had driven past her and not offered any assistance. It makes my blood boil to think that no-one will stop to help a young lady in distress these days!

By now we were well on our way up the hill in E. Cowes on route to Osborne house.
Wow, what a fantastic place. It was built by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (not literally you understand) as a holiday retreat. It is a beautiful house and the gardens are beautiful, even in April during a rain shower. It has a Swiss cottage in the garden built for the royal children to learn household chores such as cooking cleaning and serving meals to their parents. There is also a minature fort with minature cannons where the children could play.
Having visited the house we were ravenous, but the prices in the English Heritage cafe were extortionate and so we decided to eat when we got back to Cowes.
Hence we ended up having a pub meal in Cowes that evening. Then it was back to the boat for a much needed lie down (for my back) and an evening of chat!

To be continued..............

We made it back from the Isle of Wight after being storm bound on our little boat in Yarmouth for 2 days. Other than time to knit socks it was an uncomfortable few days and nights.

Our holiday started on Friday 11th April with long delays on the M25 and A3. This meant that we arrived in Gosport later than expected and had only just moved the boat to a convenient mooring before our friends from "The North" arrived with enough "STUFF" to fill our poor little boat to the brim. I am restricted to one holdall of clothes and a small bag of knitting when we go away. Although I always manage to sneak a little extra yarn into my bag (just in case)!

Once the boat had been filled, we enjoyed a liesurely evening meal on board washed down with plenty of liquid! I'm glad there were no people on the boats alongside us as we made plenty of noise chatting and laughing as we had much to catch up on since we last met just before christmas.

Saturday was spent stocking up on essential foodstuffs and gas to prepare for our trip. Andy and Sue are complete sailing novices so we gave them some basic sailing lessons in the marina. The weather was unpredictable and was changing from sun to torrential rain in minutes.

On Sunday we were ready to set off. Sue had taken her travel sickness tablets and the ginger biscuits were ready. Life-jackets were donned and sock knitting put safely in a side locker.

to be continued.....