The departure day turned out to be really lovely. Perfect weather and despite last minute panic food shopping, I felt calm and much happier. We left Liv’s flat in a bit of a rush to try to get to ‘SKD’ by 9am. No chance of that, but Tom had the excuse that he was doing victualling tasks! We really didn’t think much about the route in as it was Sunday morning and no congestion charge – or so we thought – the dreaded ULEZ caught us both by surprise a couple of weeks later! Coffee and almond croissants in Waitrose on Sunday morning, before Tom needed to be on the boat at midday, felt unexpectedly intimate and heartwarming. Having thought I really wouldn’t see Tom again, I went off to meet Stef. He’d been hanging around for a while and it was time for me to pull myself together. So strange to sit chatting with Stef in a cafe arguing about Brexit! Liv had arrived in the meantime and she’d found a great spot to watch the crews parade around the docks. So, I did have time to say goodbye many more times. Then time to get on our spectator boat in order to accompany the Clipper fleet downstream as far as the Thames Barrier.
We hadn’t realised it would take about 90 minutes to embark – and the Clipper boats had to wait for us in the end. It was such fun to be mixed up amongst all the pretty Clipper boats decked out with flags and banners. A couple of beers went down a treat – enough for me to be able to ignore the ghastly commentary from a veteran Clipper crew member! She lived up to my impression of Clipper hype – she must have told us ten times that She was the face of the Clipper Ads on the Tube! A final wave to the boats and we all started to head for home. My darling little Rogie bear was waiting for me!