In one of the oddest periods of my life I followed our school debating team in a support role. I sat in the mini bus earnestly on long trips and during the debates I had an official capacity. I was the bell ringer. Bell ringing is not for the faint hearted and through my time I learned this important fact.

The best debates are one sided.

So gather round and read why I have not been writing very much. What must happen before I can and the very little that has been.

There shall be no interjections, no points of order and no bell ringing other than my own.

Well as I forebode we did not start our trip to the Maldives on the 20th of November. This is disappointing but the scary thing is it is impossible to tell when we will be leaving.

We do have one line in the sand. The Dubai yacht show in March.

Add hotel fatigue to my list of fatigues. We are not living on board at the moment. Hotels are nice for a change but living in the same one for a month wears thin.

Given the situation of the still being built Yacht we are not really allowed to do much on board at the moment. Thankfully our inventive superiors find us tasks to do which stave off suicide.

In the last weeks I have engaged in.

• Carpet cutting
• 3m hook hanging
• Bicycle seat clamp installation
• Roster board painting
• Plan measuring
• Ikea table building
• Box transporting
• Towel counting
• A lot of sitting looking attentive and keen

Suicide is probably a bit harsh. We are making the best of a bad situation. Things will get a lot better when we move on board.

Until then I have the guilt of not updating my blog as frequently as I would like to. Have you written humorously about counting towels?

Travelling is a great way to find things to write about. Witness Rome. Unfortunately trips to Rome eat up a lot of money. Money that I should be saving for my retirement.

Drinking heavily is a time honoured creative kick start. Unfortunately escalating feats of stupidity have led me onto my annual month long detox before Christmas sobriety scooter. Good to know things are the same in both hemispheres.

I know from the past when I get to this low point in the sine wave of creative endeavours things start to happen.

So things start happening!

Please.

Ding Ding.