Wednesday 20 May 2009

London

On Friday we took the crew back to University College Hospital for them to do a presentation. Dan Monk stood up to introduce the Trust to the crowd that had gathered. He then passed over to young Dan, Jay and Michael, who continued with the presentation. It always makes me so proud to see them stand up in front of people and talk openly about how much fun they were having. After the presentation, the hospital gave us some lunch and a chance to talk to some of the patients who had come to the presentation. The boys were really good at going up to strangers and telling them about their experiences, and I could see exactly how incredible these hospital visits really are. Not only does it give confidence to our crew, but the hope and enthusiasm from some of the patients who are still going through treatment is really incredible. It gives them a break, even just for an hour, but for them to see and meet people that have been through what they are going through, survived, and then looking so happy and confident must be such a relief.
Young Dan also made a TV appearance with Ellen on the Breakfast Show, and what a great job he did. He is just so enthusiastic about sailing, I really wouldn’t be surprised if he follows Big Dan’s footsteps and chooses sailing as his career.
The sad part of my journey happened after the hospital visit- I had to say goodbye again. We do become a real family on Scarlet every week, and I can see this happening over and over again. But, the great news is that both Dans are rejoining us for the next leg, and Michael and Jay are coming back for a leg up to Scotland! Hopefully the weather will be a little kinder to us next time, so the boys can get to do a bit more sailing.
On Friday night we had a dinner on HMS Belfast, in the Admirals Quarters. This was such a great evening, and it was really good to have to opportunity to meet people that have given us so much support. It also gave Frank and Ellen a chance to talk about the Trust. Ellen stood up with nothing planned, other than to talk about the kids. She is so passionate about them and what we do, and every time we get feedback from the parents it just reinforces that we really do help. The food was fantastic, and our dinner place cards were Belfast ration cards.. really cool.
We’re now in St Katherine’s Dock, waiting for the arrival of our new crew tomorrow. We had a chance to take a couple days off over the weekend which was good. Scarlet as always needs a little love and attention, and Karen and I have had the rather unpleasant job of cleaning oily water out of the bilges (very smelly too…). We have company though, there is a family of coots nesting under our pontoon. It was really funny when we docked up. Karen jumped ashore with the bow line, and when I asked her to take in on it, she was bent over double with laughter… the coot was pecking at her feet from under the pontoon!! I suppose it was quite rude of us to interrupt their nesting, even though we did have a boat to tie up!
Anne Cecile Turner brought her friend Jane round last night. They are in training for the West Wight Triathlon, which they are doing to raise funds for our Trust. It was a really great evening and nice to talk about the work that we do. I somehow let it slip that I was intending doing the Triathlon as well, and Ann Cecile very quickly added me to her list! Oops… I suppose this means I had better put my running shoes on a little bit more often.
Scarlet is calling… and unfortunately so are the diesel tanks. It’s time to get messy again.

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