Coming Home!

Well it is finally decided, Phil is going to get Pumpkin lifted out of the water and put in the boatyard at the yacht club in Klang. The trip is officially called off, Pumpkin will be put up for sale with Scott Brown, and Phil will fly home!
It will be lovely to have him home again but things can sometimes be a bit tricky at first as we all get used to a new chain of command!
There is an English couple in Klang that Phil has made friends with, and they are going to keep an eye on Pumpkin and maybe even show prospective purchasers around.
So we will see what happens next!

Another Birthday!

Yesterday was my 49th birthday and although Phil is not here I still had a lovely day with the girls, and coffee with Lyn! ,Hannah will be home on Monday but has lots of dissertation work to do- the joys of Uni 3rd year!
Phil phoned yesterday for a long chat which was fantastic. He and Daniel( and Pumpkin) are safely installed in the yacht club at Klang. Daniel flys back to UK today and hopes to rendezvous with Crystal at the airport on her way back from Dublin!
The yacht club would be a much cheaper place to leave Pumpkin while we try and sell her- we could even get her lifted out into the boatyard-much easier for prospective buyers to view.Still no word from the crew for the next leg. Phil really doesn't want to continue to Sri Lanka, he would like to leave Pumpkin where she is and fly back to UK. Selling Pumpkin would mean we could pay off most of the mortgage and convert Buttercup into a full-blown camper. Watch this space!!

Here we go again!!

The Pumpkin saga continues! The name of my blog - Thoughts on Pumpkin - is very appropriate for Phil at the moment. All those lonely hours on night watch have given him plenty of time to think about what he is doing and why!! He is missing us all very badly and wants to sell Pumpkin and get back to England. The folks joining him in Klang have booked their flights for 9thFeb. They had asked about buying Pumpkin at some stage so I have emailed them to offer Pumpkin to them but have heard nothing back ( probably a bit of a shock!). Adrian ( crew for Sri Lanka to Oman) fortunately hasn't bought a ticket yet. It is all on hold at the moment really.
Phil and Daniel are passing Singapore as I type, scary and at night, so lots of prayer needed. Once they get to Klang we can try and sort things out!
I have to say it will be lovely to have him back home!

On my own!

Well I'm not really on my own! Lydia and Julia are here with me and Hannah phones regularly.
I'm getting the hang of waking Lydia up for her paper round, the only problem is that the weather has been so cold and gloomy that no-one feels like getting up in the morning!
Phil and Dan are on their way now so there will be no emails until they get to Malaysia. But hopefully they will be back in mobile range soon and they will text so I know they are okay.
Home ed keeps up fairly busy and all the activities are starting up again, Guides,Gym, Top of the Town and Orchestra.
The thing I miss most is being able to run things past Phil, usually when he is away we talk on the phone nightly! Two heads really are better than one!

Here I am again!!

Well it is the last day of 2007, a year that has seen a lot of comings and goings- not all in the direction I expected! When we flew back to England in July we really didn't know what to expect. We were on a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally. But we soon settle down into life in Dartmouth. Julia went to Brownie camp and then moved up to Guides. Lydia found a new singing teacher and had a term of lessons ,she also joined the Saturday morning orchestra and will continue with that in the new year.
But the biggest turn around was our decision to keep Pumpkin and bring her back to England- as quickly as possible!! To that end Phil and Daniel are flying out to Cebu on 2nd Jan to sail the first leg to Klang in Malaysia where it is planned that Daniel will fly back to England and Phil will take on new crew in the form of Chris and Katie Devenish.
This of course means that the girls and I are going to be on our own for quite some time,which is not great, but this trip for Phil will be a great experience. Since leaving the RM band he has benn a bit in limbo, too much DIY at home and at Church and not enough music ( which, lets face it is what he does best!) so this for him, especially the chance to spend time with Dan will be great.
I am going to try and write more frequently this year and keep a record of Pumpkin's doings!!

Well here we are back in Tagbilaran again!
Since my last post a lot has happened. We, rather foolishly( as we now know) left for Palau. We cleared Customs and Immigration and we were on our way! Before we had left Philippine territorial waters we hit some bad weather. The boat withstood the conditions with no problem, but not all the crew! Julia was sea sick, but not too badly. I, on the other hand, proceeded to pass out after every spell of vomiting! This was enough to convince Phil to turn around and head back to calmer waters. Maybe I am not fit for Ocean sailing after all.
After much prayerful consideration we have decided to return to the UK for the time being. We are leaving Pumpkin at Tagbilaran in the care of a local boatman. We will put her up for sail, but if there is no interest Phil may return to Pumpkin with a view to sailing her down to Australia with an able bodied crew.

Goodbye Hannah and Dan!!

Hannah and Dan flew back to England yesterday, so we are back to just the four of us. Although the Yacht club is convenient we won't be sorry to sail away from here, it is hot, noisy and very insecty!! We all get bitten at night despite wearing lots of insect repellant and keeping covered up!
Phil is keepimg a close eye on the weather forecast ( he gets daily updates on his mobile phone), if the weather is okay, God willing, we will leave the Philippines tomorrow to sail to Palau.
This is the scary bit!! This will probably be my last post until we get there. Don't know how easy it will be to use the net when we get there.