A Special Relationship

Rodgers & Hammerstein, The Two Ronnies , Peter Brough & Archie, Rod Hull & Emu, Ant & Dec …. take your pick. What persuades people (or dummies) to work together? Whatever it is, it has been working hard on us for the past three years as we have travelled with Mick & Bee & Toots and Hannah.

In that time, we have been as far north together as Labrador, Canada and as far south as Charleston, South Carolina. We have spent lots of time together in Maine and Canada, been introduced to many of their friends, so much better than Facebook friending, and stood up to good and not so good times together.

 We have dreamed of distant voyages, of living the communal life in Maine (or was it Nova Scotia? – the dribble farm is beckoning) and keeping our sanity. Throughout, we have seen distant sights through each others eyes. The pursers/crew/catering staff  have constantly squabbled over giving stuff to each other – who is keeping the ledger? – while the two skippers, now figurative blood brothers united by hernia scars ( The Hernia Boys, or as bee has it, the Hisnia Boys), try and fail to keep order. How will we keep control of our budget without Bee’s amazing recall of prices and specials?

Now our paths have to part with no set time to rejoin. We will miss our joint travels a lot but may be giving at least some livers a rest. Late night Willie (Roger that) Nelson will be lonelier but no less tuneless as we persuade ourselves that we can sing or (even worse) play the harmonica. It is in the nature of our life that we move on but this prolonged cruising together makes the parting harder. In fact, it turned out to be a three Kleenex event highlighted by the crew bailing the dinghy after rain on the day of our parting and filling it up with her tears as fast as she bailed.

This has been an unforgettable time and the parting has only been sweetened by our plan to reunite in South America in 2013 – the Hernia Boys on tour supported by their carers. We’ll miss you in the meantime.  

PS Taylors cookers suck, especially if that what you do to them. There is therapy, apparently.