Archive for March, 2010

[or - how I showed up in England with less than $40 and a month later had a 24-foot sailing yacht whilst living in a 4-bedroom house on the coast]

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it’s absurd - I’ll be the first to admit that. the few that check in from time-to-time know full well of my ‘big plan’ for saving Africa and the ‘big fail’ that was my plan. was I, a month ago, holed up in a dingy hotel room in Addis Ababa almost in tears and down to my last few dollars? yes. I was. scared shitless. did I, at the age of 33, have to call my parents and beg for money to fly back to London? yes, yes I did. did I end up in London crashing at Emily’s house while I tried to figure out how in the world I was going to get enough money to fly back home? again – yes. by the time I met up with her, I had less than $20 – which looks like a lot less when converted to pounds. I had nothing left to sell, nothing left to spend, no favors left to call in, no charity photo drives to email you about. that was it. I called Mel to go down and stay with her and Nick until I could sort things out and she, having been one of my closest friends for a decade now, she knew I would probably be showing up broke – again – and asked me how I was for money and, if I needed some, she and Nick had an idea. the idea was to head down a few hours south to the coastal town of Weymouth and spend a few months redoing Nick’s house – it was a big 4-story home and needed a fair bit of work. I might have lied a little when I said I could easily sort out the waterproofing/caulking, but Mel knows me well enough to know that anyway, so, I headed down. as you can see from the photos, it’s a gorgeous place and I have it all to myself, as they only get down here every few weekends. they offered up a ridiculous amount of pay for me and said there was a good 2-3 months of work if I wanted it. I did. and, once again, was almost in tears – half from finding myself in a pinch, only to be blessed with a new adventure, half because I knew they probably didn’t need all this done, but wanted to make sure I was taken care of. and so, the work began – the days are spent wearing the same scuffy clothes with the iPod on loudly. I wake up to a cup of tea on the beach and go to bed with a glass of wine and a giggle to whatever is on television. this might sound mundane to you, but it’s something I lack in my life – a schedule. a few weekends had past and Mel and Nick came down for a sail on the same boat we had taken earlier that year across the English Channel. we anchored and talked and relaxed and did all the things you’re supposed to do when you sail and I mentioned to them both that I had always dreamt of having a boat as well, one I could live on and take to new places. this led to Nick and I trading daily emails, looking at what there was to offer around the area – but all in a very noncommittal way. or, so I thought. about a week or so ago, I got a call from him – ‘how serious are you about wanting a boat?’ he asked. I told him very serious. ‘well, I found a few online and was thinking that it’s about the same amount as I could pay you for the work on the house – should I just pay you in boat?’ pay me in boat – I liked the sound of that. I said ‘yes’. of course I said ‘yes’. I live a 3-minute walk from the moorings, this island is full of sailors, it’s where the Olympic Sailing will take place in 2012 and a perfect place for me to live and learn – yes. absolutely. we spent the next few weeks online, even took a few drives out to look at a few – and then we found one, a bargain at that. we went last weekend to go see it and after I sat down below, walked up on top and tapped the mast with my fist as if I knew what I was doing, decided that yes – this will be my boat. so next weekend, we’ll sail it from where she’s at, to back down here – a 2-day trip.

I’ll be spending the summer fixing her up and learning how to properly sail. in the winter she’ll be in the boatyard where I’ll do some more work on her and then next year, I’ll make my way down to Portugal, the surrounding areas and then will try and cross the Atlantic. solo. on a 24-footer. that might sound extreme, but it’s done quite a bit [even by some more than half my age] and, funnily enough, it’s only about a thousand dollars more to buy a boat, load her up and sail across the pond than it is to fly.

so that’s the plan – and we all know how my plans go, but this one excites me. it’s just enough responsibility but not enough to make me overly-responsible. she’s small inside, but I’ll live there. there’s no toilet, and I don’t plan on installing one. I’m going to get some of those old oil burning lights, for many reasons, but mostly because I’d like to go to sleep rocking on the tide and reading something good. there’s also no fridge, but that’s okay too. there’s really not much, if you look at her, but take a step back and you’ll see there’s quite a bit.

it’s my apartment.

it’s my car.

and for the first time in a long time, it’s something that’s mine, that I can take you out on – which excites me a little bit too.

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I often get a bit uncomfortable when talking [in person - not here, obviously. you're here by choice - most of you. my stalker is here out of a chemical imbalance] about my adventures – and I think it’s for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it unfairly paints a picture of who and what I am. have I seen a few things? yes. will I see a few more? God willing. but, if you look closer, right below the surface, you’ll see that my part is actually a small one, as for some reason I’ve been blessed with people who have made it happen behind-the-scenes. did I get to spend 6 months around SE Asia, India and Nepal? I did – but what you might not know is that one of my stars, Christine Lu, gave me a project I could do from the road when I know she could have produced it herself. did I fly back home and immediately get on a bus that traveled the States for 6-months? yes. but it wasn’t my bus. it was Tim and Robin’s bus. it was their home. and as nice as it was, it was still a bus – and by bringing me along, it made things crowded. but they did anyway. I got through the Middle East and to Africa because people like you bought my photos. and now here I sit, a house that people would spend hundreds of dollars a night for, because Mel and Nick knew I was hungry – for both something to eat and a little ship to call my own.

so sure – I get the be the one to snap the photos and relay the stories, but please, don’t ever forget that it is, as I have constantly impressed, standing on the shoulders of giants.

please don’t forget that.

and don’t ever let me forget that either.