The New Year has started at quite a sedate pace as the guys didn’t start back at work until 3rd January. This was probably just as well because the party season here is long and hard and it is difficult to avoid. The marina is full of expensive boats and also some very small boats, some of which have just completed their Atlantic crossing. There was a welcoming party for a guy who sailed in last night in a Contessa 32, having just completed his crossing, single-handed in 24 days. Also another guy down the dock came in a few days before, also single-handed (literally as he only has one arm) and he did it in 21 days. There is a great mood on the dock and lots of tales to be told.

Flossie become Bella and is now Foxy! She didn’t look or behave like the first two names and as so many people were asking what type of dog was she and the explanation was always “ a fluffy white dog” which became abbreviated to FWD and subsequently Foxtrot, Whisky, Delta, hence Foxy. There have been times when Jeff has forgotten what the “F” stands for and has used another word beginning with “F”- quite unkindly! She is absolutely charming and a real time waster. She is very friendly and playful and seems unusually intelligent, or perhaps we are just comparing her with our previous dog Bracken, who took over a year to house train. Foxy has cracked toilet training in a few days and now sleeps through the night and just gives a bark at about sunrise to be put on the dockside to do the necessary. She is 12 weeks old, doesn’t eat too much, plays hard for about an hour or so then sleeps for the same amount of time. We are dog sitting her family up the road, which should have meant just feeding twice a day and keeping an eye on them. This hasn’t been as easy as that as they are all escape artists. Jeff went up there first thing this morning to discover four puppies missing, presumed stolen as the three adults were still there. He eventually found them in a ditch at the bottom of the hill, wet and very smelly. Their escape route has now been boarded up.

We were hoping for a continuation of the dry weather but it has started to rain again just as we need to do some excavation, so once again the building site is like a quagmire.

We have just sailed to Martinique and back to get the boat stay and our stay lengthened for another six months. We are required to do this until or residency is accepted, which is being processed at the moment. We had a good sail, not as rough as it normally is crossing the passage. We even managed a bit of hypermarket shopping so have topped up on wine and cheese.

Foxy spent the two nights with a friend who has a Yorkshire Terrier and seems to have had a lot of fun and enjoyed the freedom of a garden. Lets hope it wont be too long before she has her own garden.

Robin and Carol tied the knot on 29th December , followed by a BBQ for all their friends in the bay.