Some memories stick with you...

no matter where you are, what you're doing, or where you're working. As a consultant with IBM, I have the pleasure of being able to work from home if I'm not due in the office or at customers for meetings. The downside to that is that the fridge is just out of vision of where I usually sit and work, in the TV room...but it's there and temptation is great. The upside is that I can turn on the TV, drop the volume so that my concentration is not too affected (sometimes it's hard, being the sports fanatic that I am) and I can merrily type away on my laptop in the comfort of my couch. Right now, I'm doing exactly that...except that the TV is tuned to the Travel Channel and Tall Ship Chronicles is on. The program is a series of hour-long documentaries, diarising the circumnavigation of the globe by a triple-masted barque called the Picton Castle and it brings back memories of my own short, but exciting, sailing career. About five years ago, I got shafted by the management of my old company (cos I didn't want to take a salary cut after the company was sold off to another) and with the settlement I was lucky to get from them (four months worth, after two days short of twenty years continuous service), I ended up doing a month-long sailing course in Durban, South Africa. The course was trying as we had to live in cramped, onboard conditions on the boats we were learning about, but the lifestyle had an appeal that I think can only be equated to by those who are privileged (read, rich) enough to be able to travel at will, or those with no other ties to the "real world" and can thus make the break. To cut a long story short, I ended up crewing a brand new, 37ft catamaran, on its first sea-trials from Durban to Richards Bay, then a few weeks later, sailing it from Durban to Zanzibar on a five-week sailing and diving adventure. The memories of the trip are still quite vivid and I'm going to share them with the rest of the world, like it or lump it. I took a journal along on the trip, documenting a whole range of experiences, emotions and lessons. Look out for instalment episodes...coming soon with pictures!