The UK went into full lockdown on Monday 23 March. Our plan had to be put on hold.
With the contract signed and deposit paid for the purchase of “Cerulean of Penryn”, we now had to wait until the lockdown was over so we could arrange the survey and sea trial. In the meantime, we asked to be put in touch with the boat’s current owner, Richard, as we had numerous questions to ask so we could start to understand what we were taking on!
We called Richard during the first week of lockdown. He was very willing and extremely keen to talk about the boat. Having recently returned from a 12 month round trip to the Caribbean, Richard had some valuable and interesting experience to pass on. They had also kept a website, blog and facebook page of their travels, which we eagerly read as it contained detailed information of work, improvements and repairs carried out over the four years of their ownership. After talking to Richard for over an hour, we finished the conversation feeling even more certain we had made the right choice with our decision to continue with the purchase. For now though, there was nothing more we could do to move forward with the sale, except wait as we had made it clear we would not proceed until we could be present for the survey.
We were still living at Paul and Wendy’s in Acton, who had very generously thrown open their doors, lives and arms to welcome us into their bubble. As with most other British people, both their jobs were affected, particularly Wendy’s, who owns and a café in Shepherds Bush. By the weekend it became clear that the lockdown was going to last much longer than the initial three weeks the Government had announced and we started to consider how we could make the lockdown easier for all of us.
Over the first lockdown weekend, we borrowed a couple of bikes and cycled into the central London on a bitterly cold afternoon. It was an odd and surreal experience to cycle along empty roads and take in some of the sites of the city. Notting Hill, Park Lane, Marble Arch were deserted – only mad cyclists would usually consider riding around Marble Arch, but we virtually had the road to ourselves. We continued to Buckingham Palace and The Mall. A man and his young daughter stood with us at the gates of the Palace and watched the guards marching in front of the building with an audience of four looking on. The young girl had been so excited she had left her bike on its stand, in the middle of the roundabout – I wonder if she understood this could be the only time in her life that she would be able to do that!
We continued our bike ride down The Mall and into Trafalgar Square. The usually busy square was virtually empty of people, except for a couple of policemen who obviously shared our amazement at witnessing this scene as they were taking photos of the deserted monument. We biked to the front of the National Portrait Museum and drank in the site before agreeing to head towards Westminster Cathedral and start our return journey along the river. Well, that’s what we intended to do, anyway! I took off first, lazily biking along the paved area behind Trafalgar Square while Steve tried to warm up his hands, as I had nabbed the one pair of gloves! As Steve peddled to catch me up, he was immediately stopped by a couple of policemen sitting in a car enjoying the empty scene in front of them. I witnessed Steve being stopped and (I swear this is true….) had a conversation in my head which ended with me deciding to let Steve deal with their questions on his own…! My reasoning was that I thought his kiwi accent may buy him some grace… I was wrong, although he was not quite hauled off to the Tower (that would have been a great place to see though….), he was told in no uncertain terms that, if we continued to head to the river we would be issued with an immediate fine and were instructed to return home immediately via the road.
This meant going via Leicester Square, Chinatown, Tottenham Court Road and Paddington before biking alongside Hyde Park and back to Nottinghill, Shepherd’s Bush and Acton. Not a bad alternative to the river and everywhere we looked felt like we were biking through a ghost town!
It took me a couple of days to have my epiphany! When we returned from France our original plan had been to head to Cornwall and spend time with my sister, Bea and, if necessary, remain there for the lockdown. As things turned out, this was not possible, but Bea’s son, Piers and his family had managed to get down there. It took me a while to realise that this meant Piers’ house in Watford was empty, so I suggested to them that we could housesit while they were away. They were very willing to allow us to do this and it seemed the perfect scenario – giving Paul and Wendy back their home and giving us space for the indeterminate length of time we would be in isolation.
Wendy kindly drove us out to Watford and donated some much appreciated bags of food, including flour which was impossible to find in the shops. Piers and Jenni have a lovely home on, what is usually, a busy main road, just outside Watford. There is a small back garden which is paved with climbing plants on both sides of the courtyard.
Over the next few days/weeks we explored the area, going for walks, shopping and getting to know the neighbours. Every Thursday evening at 8pm we joined the rest of the street in clapping for the NHS. Each week more people joined in, cheering, banging pots and blowing horns as the street erupted in a cacophony of noise for one minute. It was a heartwarming experience and always brought a smile and wave from neighbours across the street and nextdoor.
As days turned into weeks and weeks into months our frustration and impatience started to grow. It was exasperating to go for a walk and see people blatantly ignoring the social distancing requirements – gathering in groups, playing football or catching up with friends in the park. As numbers of daily deaths continued to escalate to over 600 per day the death toll of the virus had now outstripped the number of Londoners killed during the Blitz over a shorter period of time. We had stopped leaving the house unless it was for essential shopping, preferring to spend our time gardening, building a website for my uncle or studying instead of trying to dodge what seemed like the inevitability of contracting the virus. Our lovely neighbour, Lawrence, helped Steve attack the hedging plants and I planted herbs and gathered seeds to start a small vegetable garden. The weather was fabulous and we enjoyed a few weeks sunning ourselves in the small garden enjoying the unusually warm spring weather.
I started studying for my YachtMasters certificate, soon realising I didn’t know as much as I thought, but learning lots and enjoyed the challenge and learning process.
As we approached the last day of April we decided it was time to put a stake in the ground and plan for the next step in the boat purchasing process. As soon as restrictions start to ease, all yachties will want to get their boats in the water and salvage what will be left of the short sailing season, and we did not want to be left at the back of a long queue of boats wanting to be launched. We decided to pencil in the boat survey for Friday 5 June and arrange for the boat to be splashed as soon as it was possible. The surveyor agreed to start inspecting the boat in early May and we arranged for an engine survey as soon as we splashed. After talking to the boat owner, Richard, again we organised a sea trial for 6 June and had another good chat with him about the boat.
So, things are progressing, all be it slowly. We both feel excited about what is to come in the next few weeks and look forward to continuing our journey in an attempt to keep the dream alive.
Enjoying reading the blog even if the stories are not what we were expecting. When you do get to sail, it will be all the more special.