Smorgasbord

My land lady volunteers at a Roman villa in the New Forest. She play acts a Roman lady come back to life after 1,600 years and walks a bunch of school children through her villa. Most of the villa is etched with the help of well laid out stones and a few surviving mosaics and bath areas. She brings alive the era with her realistic play acting and of course the help of the enthusiastic and imaginative 8 year olds. If I had learnt history the way I did that day, I would have had a different career! I did learn  to write my name in Roman...

As a volunteer for the day, I then helped the children learn to make perfumed oil using e optic spices; only to have the experience jarred by one of the teachers say the Romans must have smelt of curry with all that spice.

It was a beautiful day out, so my fellow volunteer and I took off, with the land lady’s dog, for a ramble in the countryside. Breathtaking views, quaint houses, friendly horses following us round the fields we crossed, hedges bursting with flowers and a watering hole called Rose&Thistle. Ummm nice.

That evening, 2 new flat mates happened along. A girl from Sweden, Charlotta and a Welsh guy, whose name I cannot recollect at the moment. They're here to learn how to act the animation into a film. Do you know the entire Orc army in Lord of the Rings was enacted by a handful of actors!? So disappointing!

The kitchen is a common meeting ground, and all of us flat mates hang around there, cooking dinner and chatting about our day. The Welsh actor has a lot of inane information up his sleeve. And since his actor mate is from Sweden, the emphasis is all Swede. Do you know the paper clip was invented by the Brits but the Swedes believe it was one of them. Do you know Smorgasbord is a Swedish word to describe the huge selection of foods they offer at a meal. He’s also an expert at stealing your mobile from right under your nose. Charlotta found hers in the cereal box after hunting everywhere else in the kitchen.

I was overawed by his legendaryness and probably had my jaw at chest level when he walked into the room; but Robin put me at ease right away. He had funny anecdotes about living in India, about people we know in common and about his first love, sailing. He loves Indian food and Mughal-e-Azam is his favourite movie! When I attempted to pay for our drinks, he threatened to be as angry with me as Salim’s father was with him when he finds out about the romance with Anarkali. An all too brief encounter, with promises to meet again soon. Inshallah!

And then some emergency shopping, due to some very British eccentricities. I decided to wash my clothes the earlier evening, so I could have fresh clothes for my meeting with Robin. But, my landlady does not keep a dryer, so I had to hang my clothes to dry. And, I did not check that with the weather gods, so after a week of sunshine, it poured that night! I had no option but to meet Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in my sailing clothes.

The next day I spent traveling: by bus, then ferry, then tram, then steam engine and then all over again, in reverse order.

A day at the Isle of Wight. I saw the Isle from the sea on both my Levels of training, circling it in the moonlight and hearing tales about ‘threading’ the Needles. If you remember, we started a night in Cowes and did a mast climb there the next morning. So despite the range of transport options, the experience fell short of my sea based encounters.

Ryde Pier

On the way back, I lost my way home. Since I had changed bags, I did not have the map that Kristina had so helpfully handed me at the Charles Dickens museum. So I was gaping at a ‘You are here’ map at a cross road in South Sea when I was spotted by Wei Wei from Team Sanya. I've not sailed with her but we bumped into each other a couple of times in the shower rooms. She wanted some time away from her team and decided to rent the last remaining room in our BnB.

Wei Wei is a dinghy sailor and plans to race in Cowes after completing Level 4. She's been racing for 6 years and got her job with a sailmaker in Hong Kong thanks to her racing friends.

Drew my single holiday to a close with a visit to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, to feast on Britain's rich sailing history. I actually walked through HMS Victory, the ship that won them the war against Napoleon and was commanded by Lord Nelson in the famous Battle of Trafalgar.  It was eerie to step on the spot marked 'This is where he fell' and see the lantern that marked the area in the hold where he breathed his last. The ship has been restored in its entirety and along with the museum helps immerse you in naval lore

HMS Mary Rose, Henry VIII's ship that sank off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Remains of its starboard hull hwere recovered and now lie in state at Portsmouth. The recovered hull is placed in an air tight shell of glass and visitors can walk around to see stylised representations of the many activities on board the ship.

Model of the Mary Rose

And then, there's HMS Warrior, the first 'iron clad' ship of the British navy.

Dad, whose birthday it was today, would have loved to be here!