Life moving on!   Wednesday, 20/08/2025

Having gradually calmed down after my interesting experiences in the North Atlantic, I flew from the island of Sao Vicente to Sal island on Saturday evening, 9th August, the only direct flight I could get (in fact I got the last seat on the flight). Then on Monday 11th I got a direct EasyJet flight home to the U.K. I arrived at Gatwick airport late, so stayed overnight in the Travelodge there. 

Last Tuesday, the 12th, I travelled up to London. Anna is living with her boyfriend in Hackney, east London, and she met me at Mile End station. The shock of being back in London was lessened somewhat by it being hot: 30 degrees that day – in fact hotter than Cabo Verde! That evening we met up with Louisa at a wine bar close by. She had been working in London for the day, and it was her 28th birthday. So the family reunion was also a birthday celebration – as the girls put it, we were celebrating Louisa’s birthday and the fact that I was still alive. (Obviously I’m happy about that, although I never had any intention of dying…).  

I stayed at Anna’s through the week – happily they have a 3-bed house, so that wasn’t a problem. What I did do was get the keys for my house in Ealing, which is fortunately empty. I bought a load of cleaning products and spent several hours on both Saturday and Sunday doing a deep clean of the house. It is now ready to be lived in again, and I have arranged for a removals firm to collect the furniture and household stuff that I have in storage. I’ll be a bit short on furniture, having given away things like sofas, but that hardly matters – I will just need to find a few replacements. It initially felt very strange going to a street and a house that I haven’t lived in for over four and a half years, but I think that the hard work there helped make it all start to feel familiar again. 

Rather strangely, I’m writing this from the small town of Kirkby Lonsdale in the Yorkshire Dales. Anna had been due to come and meet me in the Azores, but clearly circumstances had changed. I decided that going somewhere in England made more sense. Happily Louisa managed to get time off work too. So I looked online and found a great little cottage up here. I hired a car, and we drove up yesterday. We have four nights here, and then we will head down to the Brecon Beacons in mid-Wales, where we will stay with my aunt on her farm for a few nights.

I consider myself very fortunate to be having a holiday with both of my daughters – an echo of so many happy times we spent away together over the years. The Yorkshire Dales is wonderful country, and Kirkby Lonsdale a beautiful little town, largely Georgian and Victorian buildings built from local stone. Our accommodation is on the Market Place, so right in the centre.

It’s true to say that I have had a lot of change in the last two weeks! Quite amazing to think I’ve gone from the Atlantic Ocean to rural Yorkshire, via suburban London. So I have no complaints – everything is going along pretty well!