Well, there is life in this salty old sea dog yet.  Not a lot but definitely some.  The plan was to spend the weekend sailing, thanks to the generosity of my sister Holly and husband Richard who treated us to a sailing course so we can accompany them on their boat.  I didn’t last the entire course, partly due to being so tired but mainly to being too big to move around the boat easily.  I really enjoyed what we did so hopefully that will inspire me to lose weight and get fitter so I can sail some more.  I have never sailed before but I do want to learn how to do it.

When I looked back at what I did this week, it is not surprising I was so tired.  On Monday evening I met a friend, Karen, who I worked with many years ago and have been in touch with ever since.  We met at some point in the mid 1980’s. We had supper together in Hays Galleria This sculpture was working i.e. the water fountain was working.  It is huge and quite a spectacle.
Hays Galleria is very convenient for me as it is on the South side of the river near London Bridge.  This is the view from Hays Galleria, looking North towards the City. On Wednesday I enjoyed a concert which Harvey was singing in at Battle Abbey. We were treated to a wonderful variety of performances; 4 different choirs sang and the orchestra played, plus there were many solos or duets.  We heard an accordion duet and a fabulous piece played on an electric cello!  I really enjoyed it, especially seeing Harvey sing so enthusiastically and sit so still between times – for nearly 3 hours!On Thursday we were up in Durham for Lara’s graduation and I do work full time so by Friday evening I was too tired to head down to Chichester to stay at sister Holly’s in readiness for our sailing course.  I went down early on Saturday morning instead.

We were learning to sail at Cobnor Activities Trust which is located within Chichester Harbour (http://www.cobnor.com).  It was an excellent course and I recommend them.  We began with some instruction in the classroom and then in a boat on dry land and then we were off.  Out on the water with an instructor.  I was in a boat with 2 of my sisters, Lucy and Abi.

This is what we learnt to sail – a Wayfarer dinghy.

Abi and Holly did really well but I was not so helpful.  This is Holly with Mattius who was the brave instructor that took us out.

The instructors were quite young but very competent and professional.

Not too mature to manage to resist a selfie! It was surprisingly tiring on every level.  Learning the names of everything and how to sail was more technical than I expected and then out on the boat, I had no idea you needed to move about so much and today I seem to ache all over.  It was very good fun and if I was fitter and less tired, it would have been brilliant.

We had a picnic lunch beside the water.

I did the afternoon’s technical training and then decided to take it easy and abstained from the afternoon sail. The others got back down to the water.  It was very overcast which was a shame but it was warm and the water was very warm – luckily as we did capsize! There go the different crews on the safety boat which is a large rubber dinghy, which took everyone out to their boats. There go my sisters, in boat number 4. When we were all back on dry land and changed out of wet suits and waterproofs, we went to the bar at Chichester marina for a drink. We then walked along the pontoon where Holly and Richard’s boat is moored.Ta daaaa.  I look forward to going sailing on it one day in the not too distant future.  Thank you both so much for inviting me along.

Sunday morning.  I felt tired and stiff and far too fat so began the day with a green juice, made with 2 apples, 1 lemon, 3 cavolo nero leaves, half a cucumber, 2 carrots, a chunk of ginger and a green pepper.

Feel the goodness coming at you through the glass.Curently loving my random flower arrangements. Also liking muchly the more composed ones. My favourite little local go to place (Hartley Dyke) is moving so they had a good sale today and I made the most of half price fruits and veggies.  Last night Holly had made us a delicious chicken dish with plums.  It was from Hugh F-W’s 3 Things book and you can find the recipe here, courtesy of The Guardian.  I recommend you make the chicken and plum dish as it was lovely.  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/07/chicken-plums-soy-recipe-whittingstall

Inspired by Holy’s dish and making the most of some half price chicken, fresh Singapore satay sauce and apricots, I made up a dish, rather successfully. I did enjoy cooking today as I seem to have been too busy lately to cook properly. I made a huge stir fry of red onion, asparagus, leeks, pak choi and broccoli. Roasted some aubergine and tomatoes.

The chicken and apricot satay.  I covered the chicken in the satay sauce and baked in the oven (190 °) for half an hour.  I added the apricots (which were halved and had the stone removed) and cooked for another 15 minutes until the apricots were soft.

This was quite delicious. Slightly spicy, peanutty chicken with sweet apricots, stir fried green veggies and soft from being slow roasted aubergine and tomatoes.  All very flavoursome.

We had lunch at about 4pm so no supper was needed.  I managed to eat healthily today and am hoping to do the same tomorrow.