[MHml] Last jumper from the closet of '08....

[Pete McDowell]

Dear Folks -

I'm not sure if it is still the custom to introduce oneself to the occupants of the bar (it was a pleasant & friendly custom in days long gone, I remember!), but having been lurking for several busy months now, I thought it was time to join the list properly again and maybe contribute the odd bit here and there.

So here is me, back again for more of the crystal brew on offer.   

What have we/I done since last I leered blearily from the parapet ?
We sold our excellent red Hawk (BIG mistake) & our Dart 18 (and have only acquired two more boats to fill their places!).
I still have Jamie's Rave, still have plans for it, but it has seen regrettably little use...
We seem to have lavishly sponsored Ireland's first (& probably last) foray into F16 - enough said!
We now sail a 16' Spitfire (rather samey I know, but top class socially!)
Progress on the Crowther self-build is.. languishing (to put it kindly) : however retirement is now a reality...... ;->
We have now successfully negotiated Round the Isle of Texel, & done Aruba (with a remarkable lack of success!)  

I will allow Patrick Kavanagh to wish you a pleasant & prosperous 2009 on my behalf - being a practised man of letters, he puts it far better than I could -

DEAR FOLKS
Just a line to remind my friends that after much trouble
Of one kind and another I am back in circulation.
I have recovered most of my heirlooms from the humps of rubble
That once was the house where I lived in the name of a nation.
And precious little I assure you worth mind storage :
The images of half a dozen women who fell for the unusual,
For the Is that Is and the laughter-smothered courage,
The poet's.     And I also found some crucial
Documents of sad evil that may yet
For all their ugliness and vacuous leers
Fuel the fires of comedy.  The main thing is to continue,
To walk Parnassus right into the sunset
Detached in love where pygmies cannot pin you
To the ground like Gulliver.   So good luck and cheers.

cheers
Pete McD

(hmmm, it's '09 now here...)

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