Snowbird...

So, little snowbird, take me with you when you go
To that land of gentle breezes where the peaceful waters flow..."

Anne Murray

The Decision is Made

Made the decision not to work for another year and have now set the date for departure - April 21st, 2008! The work option is not as enticing as going sailing - surprise, surprise. Having sorted this out, we can now begin planning all the myriad details and things WHICH MUST BE DONE before leaving. Good thing we've run multimillion pound programmes for a living, planning this is more complex!

We're settled on a set of core preparation categories - property, finance, skills and health, the year before we go (because this isn't all about tomorrow, we still have to enjoy today!), and boat prep. These categories include everything from mail and money logistics, provisioning the boat, what knowledge gaps do we have right down to how many pairs of socks we need to bring. All of the house stuff has to be automated and we have to manage mail / money with the same speed in which we would if we were at home. The boat has to be 'fit' and have an inventory which will enable us to deal with breakage / breakdowns.

Food is a biggy since Steve and I are serious foodies. The idea of eating tinned beans or nasty canned vegetables is NOT appealing. Therefore, we're practicing - learning to cook in the way we like with the foods that we can carry on a boat. Our freezer is small and at this point we don't know how reliable it will be so we won't be putting all our eggs in that particular basket. The big question becomes 'how do you cook gourmet food without access to fresh ingredients?' We've made a lot of progress in this area and have compiled a list of recipes which we are currently testing.

Figuring out what to do on a boat is another area we're thinking about. Since we've both been working full-time for 30 years, having jamb-packed, highly scheduled days is the norm. What happens when there isn't an hourly meeting every hour of every day? What do you do during the day when there is no work? Tough problem, right?! Thus far we've come up with fishing, writing a book, playing instruments, books, movies, music, games, swimming, snorkling and scuba diving. I suspect there will be a bit of socialising too!

Just over a year to go. I think we'll be very busy!