Original? Ok we stole the idea.

Where did we get the idea?

A couple of years after we moved in to our present home we decided to get a dog to help us exercise and give us a reason to frequently visit the beautiful coast line on our doorstep. 

Then we got another dog and the plan was to take them with us when we sold up and sailed. This very recently took a turn for the worst rather tragically and I can't bear to write about it as yet. 

   Anyway, we were in the local Pet Shop ran by owner Julie ( ably assisted by Lindy ) and in conversation she mentioned that herself and husband Roger had plans to go sailing the Med on their own boat on retirement. 

    When we got home we both agreed it was a fantastic idea. "Why don't we do that" one of us said. The seed was sewn. 

Julie and Roger are doing things properly. Keeping a house, saving up and will be pensioned up with a regular income.

 They bought the yacht, a Hallberg Rassy 39 ( quality ) and treated us to a day out on it. Thanks. 

How could we do something like that and what are our reasons for wanting to? 

What do we know about sailing?

How could we finance such a thing on our meagre income?

Our careers had hit a wall and rapidly spiralled downwards due to ill health and company restructuring. 

We downsized from our executive 4-bed detached in the north east's premier housing estate. 

We turned this into a positive by moving to the sea side, where we would have liked to live if it wasn't for work commitments.

 Being near the A19 was vital for our jobs at the time. 

It was like being on holiday for quite a while. Despite Alison's mental breakdown and the 16 hour a week job that I had fallen into. Best job I've ever had though. Alison was under a psychiatrist and I became her registered carer. 

The 16 hour job gave me the time to look after her and take her out as she had become house bound due to agoraphobia and fear of panic attacks. Also we qualified for working tax credits. Thank you Tony Blair. 

This meant enough money to live on, with  free dentist treatment and doctors prescriptions.

You can put your violins away now. 

 I didn't feel like a scrounger as we had paid in to the system plenty over the previous years. 

So for us it would be all or nothing. We couldn't afford to run a house and a boat. 

The good thing is, we do own the house having made a good profit selling the previous one. We had missed out on every other property boom so it was about time we were the winners. It was good to sell on the 'crest of a wave' so to speak. 

Cont.....