I suppose this should be a fortnight's worth of blog...

The more observant readers amongst you, will have noticed something a little odd last week. For many of you, this will have come as a great shock to you, and for some of you, your bosses may have been unable to explain the bizarre phenomenon that occurred. From the most recent reports that I have managed to obtain, last week saw the country's gross national product increase by 27p. The reason for this - there was no CATCOUK post last week!

How did this disaster to mankind happen I hear you cry. Well it's very simple actually. I cocked up. I should have mentioned two weeks ago, in my last post, that I may not be able to post last week. And I forgot. Sorry.

I spent last week on an RYA Dinghy Instructor's course, at Cobnor Activity Center. I had to be there for Sunday evening, so I didn't get a chance to post. And as I've been there all week, I've not had a chance to put up a message or anything. As it is, I wouldn't have had time anyway. The general way that thing worked, was I would wake up around 7am in the morning, breakfast at 8, and we would start work at 9. In between, we would have to do various duties, depending on what we were assigned to (kitchen, housekeeping, or boats). From 9 until 9 or 10pm, we would get a few tea breaks, and an hour for lunch. Other than that, we worked solidly. Oh boy - those were long busy days...

But not without fun though. Okay, so more than half the say was spent talking about dead boring subjects (especially Child Protection - which always bores me). As I said at the course, when asked what does Child Protection mean, "Child Protection is very simple - don't kiddie fiddle". But the rest of the time, we spent sailing. I genuinely love sailing - especially on a quiet, sunny and relaxing day. And for the first four days, this is pretty much how the sailing side of things went. That was until, the day of our assesment. On the last day, the wind picked up considerably. I don't particularly enjoy sailing when the wind is ripping through, and I'm sailing a particularly clunky 18 year old boat, being held together by 17 year old mould...

Needless to say, my assesment didn't go well. I didn't fail, but I didn't pass either. The RYA have this middle grade of an 'Action Plan'. So I have pretty much passed, but I need to help instruct 10 evening classes before I get my ticket. They told me, that the entire week went really well, but that last day did it for them. They said that I didn't really look like I was enjoying myself, and I didn't exube confidence. I wonder why.

As exhausting as the week was, it was fun. And quite suprising too. Now, I know that all of my readers know that NTC means Nautical Training Corps. But usually I have to explain what the NTC is, and what I do, so on, and so on. But amazingly, this course was littered with NTC people. The lead instructor used to help alot at our Portsmouth training centre. One of the assistant instructor's used to work with one of the Corps' most infamous Commanding Officers (he goes by the name of Mr. Ginnaw). If that wasn't enough, a couple of days into the course, I discovered that the guy I was sharing a room with, was a member of TS Resolution NTC, and another guy was an ex-member. That may only be four people, but that's about 3 more than usual!

Lastly, there was one odd thing about the course. I have attended quite a few training courses recently (NGB Courses), and at almost all of them, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest attendee. But at this sailing course, I was beginning to feel a little old. This course has a minimum age ogf 16, and so the majority of the course were younger than me. Out of 17 students, I was in the top 5 oldest people. It was a bizarre feeling.

And on that low note, it is time for me to go to bed. I still haven't recovered from the week. I am bloomin shattered.

If you can think of anything witty to say, why not leave a comment to give me some ideas for next week.

If you can't think of anything witty yo say, why not leave a comment anyway.

Thanks to Siobhan and Rob for leaving comments last week. It's nice to feel missed.

Quote of the Week: 'I've lost helm control!' called a harrassed sailing student (not me), as we rounded a mark whilst racing, and I commented that we were turning a bit too far, just before he continued to interupt himself by saying 'Oh - the rudder's snapped off.' He did a good job too, bent the metal work holding the rotten wooden rudder blade...

Song of the Month: I fought the law - The Clash (thanks for the good times, and we'll see you next year when Ashes to Ashes returns, DCI Gene Hunt - an inspiration to us all, and law enforcement officers everywhere)