Update time again

It's a particularly grey morning, the sky is leaden and the rain is constant. It has been a good week for travel though only one night away for me. I'm at a meeting all day only 5 minutes drive from Kevin's work so we had a very pleasant drive to work together. The rivers were near to bursting all along our route this morning and I have to say that the feeling of leaving behind the grey and wet this morning is nothing short of euphoric. It's the 10th of January already and the time is just rushing by.

Last weekend we arranged Ship's Radio Licences and International Certificate of Competence (ICC) for Kevin, like an International Driving licence for boats, needed in European waters and although a relatively low level of qualification more recognised than our RYA qualifications. I have also arranged our first appointment for immunisations for Friday. The required list is rather long and thanks to a tip off from Jonny we are starting now in order to be able to get the necessary 6 month boosters required for those such as Hepatitis B to extend the immunity sufficiently for our trip. Certain immunisations required are not available on the NHS and will need to be obtained from private clinics. I found the MCA website was very useful, they also provide a copy of a Ship's Medical Guide for free download, 12 chapters covering all sorts of medical emergencies and care when away from land.

Other discoveries have been Skype. Our good friends Jill and Ross who are out in New Zealand following their wedding last summer have been using it to keep so touch with people at home. The video calls using webcam are particularly good way to feel like you are really keeping in touch. I have recruited to whole family onto it in preparation! There is also a feature we are investigating to set up a UK landline number which forwards calls to your Skype account for those relatives who are not online for about £30 per year. If you are not on line when they call you can even get the calls forwarded to say a local pay-as-you-go mobile, however you then pay for the forwarded call albeit at reasonable Skype rates. You can also add a voice mail facility I believe at additional cost.