Right, definitely time for another blog! Since my last post from Australia, I’ve kept super busy as always. It was my sisters birthday a few weeks ago, and as it was her 21st we wanted to make it a special one. I was card hunting the day before as always, and I just couldn’t find any nice 21st cards, so I got the next best thing. A ‘happy 65th’ birthday card complete with badge! She loved it! We went out for a lovely family dinner and it was nice to have a good catch up as a family as we don’t spend a huge amount of time together anymore since both Fiona and I moved to University.
Also a few weeks ago, surprisingly, I had a complete week spare with no commitments, and so I decided to take off and go skiing in France for a week. I went with Will and Mike Broughton who are both great guys. Mike was my weather router for my around the world trip and proved a very valuable asset in keeping me safe and in the best weather. We had a fantastic week with lot’s and lot’s of laughing! It was also incredibly warm on a couple of the days, and I found myself skiing in just a t-shirt. A very peculiar experience.
I’ve since been on a short holiday with the family to the Gower in Wales. We decided to take off for a few days to our all time favourite hideaway in the Gower, a little village called Llangennith which has the most beautiful beach in the area I think. I’ve been coming to the same campsite for as long as I can remember, and my parents have been going there for upwards of 30 years! Fiona, my sister, brought along her house mate Katie and it was fantastic to get to know her a little more. There was certainly a lot of banter on that trip.
This last week has been very busy with lot’s of driving between Southampton and London for quite a few meetings which have all been pretty positive. The highlight of this week though was speaking at a Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards Evening. I was kindly invited to the Princess Helena College to hand out the awards and give a short talk at the end. It went really well, and I had a lot of fun. I always really enjoy talking to young people as I feel like I can connect with them more.
Yesterday I was out sailing in the Solent training for the Fastnet race later this year on the yacht which I’ll be sailing. She’s definitely the biggest yacht that I've ever sailed. I tell you guys more about that in due course. Another small adventure that I’ll be undertaking this year. Exciting!
Mike
