Happiness Tinged With Sadness..

 In my last post, I told you all about the new phase in our lives.

Al and I are settling in nicely on Tickety Boo and the marina where she is moored is lovely. Unfortunately, I have recently lost another close friend who played a huge part at the Marina.

Mark was one of a kind and the mold was definitely broken once he was made! He was a once-in-a-lifetime character. Slightly bonkers, unique, funny, stubborn, wacky sense of humor with a heart of absolute gold.

He was taken suddenly totally out of the blue and if I am being honest I am still reeling from the shock, and finding it hard to accept he has gone. We go way back and at one time we were an item but we both very soon realized we would never make it as a couple and we were far better as close friends and we were. We could go weeks or even months not seeing or hearing from each other but always picked up where we left off.

Mark was really happy for Al and me and he was pleased to see me settled with someone at long last! He had lots of girlfriends but never managed to settle down, his first loves were his family, boat, and his dog. Sadly he had recently had his dream boat built and he had so many plans for the future I find it incredibly sad that he never got to see those plans through.

The Marina holds so many memories of Mark, everywhere you look his handiwork is evident, he loved working at the Marina and was always about with a cheery wave and that mischievous grin! I know he is missed by us all.

Mark always gave everybody a nickname, mine was Dooey short for Debbie Dolittle, he thought that was hilarious, me not so much but it grew on me! I got my own back by giving him the nickname Scooby, he just reminded me of the gangly cartoon character all legs and goofiness. Alan didn't get away with it either Mark called him Haircut as he always has his hair neatly cut.

Mark's woodworking skills were excellent he took pride in his work and it shows. He made a lovely cratch frame for Tickety Boo and made it exactly as I asked. I am really happy we have that to remember him by.

The Marina will never be the same again but when we chat about Mark with other boaters it always makes us smile remembering him. I will miss him a lot as we all will. More than anything I will miss his voice bellowing Doooooooeeeeey over the Marina!

The only thing that gives me some comfort in losing my friend at such a young age is that he packed so much into his short life, more than most people do living to a ripe old age. Mark will always be remembered forever young and full of beans taking the micky out of people but not in a nasty way.

I am in touch with Marks's Mum and Dad on a regular basis and as you can imagine they are devastated but we often laugh at memories of him we recall. My heart goes out to them.

I have lots of fond memories of my wacky friend and I know for certain he wouldn't want any of us to be sad he would tell us we were being silly buggers!  As time passes the sadness will lift but he will never ever be forgotten...

  

RIP Scooby xxx

Back On Water!

 Well, where do I begin? Before I start this post I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Quite a few people have asked when will I write another so here we go!

It's been a hectic year really but in a nice kind of way. Al put his house on the market as he wants to downsize. A four-bedroom family house was a tad too big for both of us. It was hard for him and I will never underestimate how tough it was for him to sell his lovely home but as I pointed out to him all the lovely memories that were made in that home would travel with him in his head and heart, and there were truly lots over the thirty odd years he lived there. He had toyed with the idea for some years to downsize so the fact that he took that leap of faith makes me really proud of him.

The bungalow we were hoping to move into has not been vacated as of yet as the sellers haven't found a suitable new home. Luckily we have Tickety Boo to live on while we wait. I can think of a lot worse places to stay! I love being on board again because as you all know I love my boat, I just hope Al will cope with living on her for a while! I am sure he will be fine and seems to be settling in well. It's not completely new to him as he has stayed on the boat lots of times.

As you all know if you have moved house, it's really stressful and hard work! Made even more stressful by the fact the property we were hoping to move into won't be available for a while. In the meantime, Al is leaving his options open. Everything is safely in storage so it will still be there for us when we move into our new abode.

We went on a two-week cruise at the end of July it was a much-needed holiday before the onslaught of packing and moving which was imminent. The break was nice but the new P+O ship we went on was not our cup of tea at all, it was huge, and had far too many people on board. Lots of queues for everything which we really didn't like, so in future we will stick to the smaller more personal ships. The break did however recharge our batteries. Unfortunately, our calorie intake went through the roof, we all but bounced off the ship at the end of the cruise!! We have however been really good since being home and the pounds gained are coming off slowly. Running up and down stairs dozens of times while moving helped too!

It took a while to decide just what to bring to the boat as she is already equipped for living on so we just had to choose carefully which of our many clothes and shoes to bring as storage on the boat is minuscule compared to a four-bedroom house with lots of wardrobe space! My Mum has kindly let us put a huge clothes rail in her spare bedroom so we can get to our clothes if need be. My little "Noddy Car" (Fiat 500) has now become a mobile shoe caddy as I have all my shoes in a suitcase in the boot, a kind of Fiat Emelda Marcos! We need to have our dancing shoes at hand too as we still love to dance.

I took a whole day to unpack the numerous bags we brought to the boat as everything had to have an allotted space tidy and out of the way. I spent most of the time juggling and swapping about to make space, I am proud to say I did it..eventually. I like to keep the boat tidy so I won, just!

So now we will just enjoy living on the boat and wonder where we will end up living as there is a possibility that the owners of the bungalow may not find a suitable new home and even though Al put in an offer that was accepted they may have no choice than to back out on the deal but we will see.

Al enjoying a pint on the cruise in Barcelona.

I loved it there beautiful place.

One of the highlights of the cruise

was this fabulous Horse show that Al surprised me with, The horses were stunning I loved every minute. We then went on to a Sherry tasting which was lovely too. 

Big Sherry glass needed!

Another lovely highlight was my 64th Birthday gorgeous flowers from Al and a lovely meal plus money to treat myself, I am so bloody spoilt! It was also lovely to be treated to another lovely meal with Mum, my two Daughters Kirsty and Heather,  Charlotte, my Son Dean, and my fabulous Granddaughters Phoebe and Darcy. So lovely having them all together! 

The Gang!

My lovely flowers.

We have lots of little jobs to do on the boat that will keep us busy at the weekends. I only have two more weeks in work before we break up for our 6-week school summer holiday, I can't wait!

Hopefully, I won't leave it too long before I write another blog but I can't promise! Life is wonderfully busy at the minute so as much as I like waffling to you all I just can't believe where the time goes!

We have lots to look forward to finding a new place to live but I will let you into a secret, my home is wherever Al is so I will adapt to any choice he makes for our new home.  Happiness is being with the one who means everything.