World On Fire!

You turn your back for a minute and the World’s caught light!

I managed to get away to sail the Solent for the whole of June and indeed it was lovely and warm.
In fact we’re told it was the Hottest June Ever In The Whole of Recorded History…. which is clearly pretty damn hot!

A summer activity I recall from being a small boy in Lancashire, around the end of the 50s, is that we used to roll the melted edge of the road into sticky tar balls…. it’s grim up North and you had to make your own entertainment in those days!
I remember it distinctly because I always got into trouble for covering my summer woolly jumper in the hot, gooey stuff…

But in those days the weather came in Fahrenheit so there was never any possibility of the World overheating – or perhaps the council just bought cheap tarmac.

There are no Tar Balls nowadays – but there are Hot and Sticky Jolly Jack Tars, and here are a couple of them cowering from the relentless rays beneath my close fitting, hand tailored bimini.

These two hoary old sea-dogs were sailing the same model of yacht as Lobster, and we had met up in Gosport… though their passage from Brighton had involved me calling the coastguard due to them being 8 hours later than expected. They finally arrived as it was going dark – exhausted and keen to list the boat for sale.. However, a few beers and an excellent ‘much as you can eat’ chinese meal seemed to dull their short term memory and consequently restore their faith in the joys of sailing.

With this new found enthusiasm we set off the next day for Yarmouth and spent the hottest hours as in the picture above.

Once cooler I introduced them to the beer garden at The George where the ferry looks like it’s going to run up the beach – though sadly the tide was wrong for the full effect.
It was Ian’s round and only after ordering 3 beers did he discover the price was £7.50 per pint!! and to rub salt into his Scottish wounds, when he went to pay they asked for £25…
They’d thoughtfully added a service charge – which he refused to pay!

Interestingly The George went into administration a few days after our visit which made me wonder if Ian’s withholding of £2.50 had been the final blow that resulted in the receiver being instructed.