Superb, completely by accident – just having a bite to eat and while making it decided to hunt for a track by name on my ipod.

Levels – by Avicii

Curiously, when it had finished I waited to see what came next, Crescendolls by Daft Punk, then Destiny – Zero 7 and then the very spiffing Mountains – Biffy Clyro all topped off with fit but you know it by the streets – classic streets – ‘scuse me girl,  I know it’s a bit embarrassing but I just noticed some tan lines……………………on your shirt !  First Class lyrics by Mr. Skinner if you ask me.

Enough of that – so where have I been ? Mallorca – or, for the less frequent followers, Costa Rica and then Mallorca.  Mallorca was a quick trip to do some work for one of the smaller sailing boats that came on recommendation.  Being highly skilled and an honest John, what was billed as a months work was completed in 10 days and invoiced accordingly. So I left Mallorca on the Monday lunchtime ferry heading to Barcelona.  A small road trip planned from Barcelona to Antibes, Monaco and lastly Sanremo before heading north through Italy, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Belgium.  The idea of such an indirect road trip was to visit a few boat hang outs on the way and scout for work but I crossed paths with a recruitment agent in Antibes.  Now, initially you might think that statement sounded like a fruitful encounter but remember, this is a recruitment agent I am talking about. The woman I ended up speaking with was a complete ‘head up her arse’ bell end.  It struck a new theory for me – for those that can’t actually make the grade in the yachting industry but like to be able to tell people they are in the yachting industry – there is recruitment.  This woman was so bad that I no longer wish to talk to her, and I have also completely lost interest in the job they had in mind for me, told her to stop searching on my behalf and also blocked access to my documents that she needs.

Of course Karma is a good thing.  Some of you may remember the last boat I worked on called Secret Love – a real shitter of a vessel with messed up politics and a mislead owner,  a boat I quit purely on safety grounds!  You may or may not know that they were responsible for spoiling my passport and US visa and then declined to help me sorting them out after I had left.  Well today, the captain mailed me asking if I still had my work records for 3 months of last year as now they are selling the vessel and he has lost the copies I originally sent to him and stored on the ships computer.  Now, I reckon the total cost of replacing my passport and US visa came to around 500 pounds all in so I won’t even be responding to his email.

With all exams now complete, I have just an oral to take.  I will be heading to blighty tomorrow to have an upstanding member of the community sign my application and endorse my photos.  It seems extreme to travel just for that but now imagine that the last 5 years of my life have been geared towards this moment and the cost to me personally is around 14,000€ and for it to go tits up right now would be a disaster.

Take a look at the boat I have just been working on.  Its only small and doesn’t have a full time engineer but it does race a lot – nice little thing it is too

http://www.wally.com/open-season/

Today I am on fire – I mailed earlier the yard that build the boat that the agent in Antibes was talking to me about (although they didn’t tell me the name of the boat) and have just had the captains email sent to me – instantly, I fired off a cv.  Sadly for the agents, I have been watching very closely the Dutch boat yards Vitters and Royal Huisman.  My reason is simple, after working on Antares, a Huisman build, I am keen to get back on dutch yachts, so when the agent told me there was a 40 metre Vitters sailing yacht looking that had been launched in the last 6 months, I knew instantly who it was – silly agents !!!!

While I am here in Brussels I also absolutely have to sample Nemo 33 – for those not in the know, Nemo 33 is a pool here in Brussels made just for scuba diving and free diving.  ‘Diving in a pool’ I hear you say, ‘How very boring’ but hold your tongue.  The 33 in the name signals the pools depth, a whopping 33 metres or in old money a little over 108 feet – and it is at 27ºC so no suit required.  Still think it is boring? check the link out below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsbfdXl1toA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLFC99D89CBE9FE9C5

If all else fails, Xbox subscription will be renewed and I can get my arse kicked on line.  Thats all for now, need to go and check over the car for tomorrows sprint to England and also fix the puncture on my bike – why do I get so many punctures? I almost forgot – While in Monaco I drove the Rover 75 across the F1 grid !!

My time here is already over – less than two weeks and I have completed a months work already – a bargain for the skipper and a quick boost for the bank for me. I am already planning the next small road trip back to Belgium and my wonderful woman and of course the Chimay Blue.  This time though,  a little planning is required as there is snow on them there mountains that I need to get across – thats the Pyrenees to you geographically challenged!  I saw the weather on the TV just a day or so ago and noted a hefty amount of snow over there.  Be sure to pack my flask of hot soup and lots of warm jumpers just in case.

The missus tells me Brussels is cold.  I am not looking forward to that.  The big issue with loosing weight is that you loose body fat and fat is a damn fine insulator from the winter chills. Heres the thing – as of last week (friday to be exact) I have lost more than two and a half stones of blubber, thats around 40lbs to our yank chums or around 17kgs to our euro counterparts. I am now firmly under 16 stones – somewhere I haven’t been for at least 7 years – so I am feeling the cold.

Since arriving in Mallorca, I have managed to have two games of Squash – been around 8 years since I last played.  The devious mind is still there but the ability to move my body as fast as it needs to move is sadly lacking – so last week I got a keen arse whooping.  This week, not so bad.  I took more points and even managed to win a game.

My buttocks and leg muscles are sore now, so bad in fact that I haven’t ran for a few days.  Having boats out of the water also means lots of stairs to get on deck and of course being old, I get to the top of the stairs and forget what I went up there for and have to then walk back down to remember – so lots of stair exercise for me.  It all adds up to some phenomenal weight loss though – and for that, I am greatly appreciative.

This weekend is a big holiday in Palma – San Sebastian. It is a veritable fireworks extravaganza and that I am looking forward to.  An added benefit of finishing my work early means that I am now free to celebrate the weekend however I see fit.  Tomorrow evening is the BBQ evening.  All of the small courtyards in Palma have BBQ’s where you can walk up and sling your sausage on.  Meeting up with the Jones and Mrs. Jones, Paul and Emma and maybe even Ashley too so could be good fun.  We are even heading off to a part of the town where I know there is a bar with Chimay Blue, so I may even disappear for half an hour.

Tuesday is likely to be Ferry day and I may even bang along the south coast and stop at Antibes, Monaco and San Remo to spread the CV – but then again, I might just head for the sanctuary that is L’Association.

Only time will tell.

I do hope you have all been looking at the photos that I so painstakingly uploaded just to the right of this message you are reading ?

Back stroke, Breast stroke, Butterfly and crawl – doggy paddle, belly flop – you can do them all – LEARN TO SWIM!!!

Ok, so Costa Rica is over and I am back to reality in Mallorca for January.  Please don’t be sad for me, in fact, just to the right hand side of this page is the ‘photos’ section, take a look at the ‘Costa Rica’ section.  It was a jolly good time, with surfing and some scuba diving – I even managed a few short underwater excursions with the Go Pro Hero camera.

And to top it all – I came back a little lighter than when I left, and I am not talking about my wallet.  I have now lost over 13 kgs, thats more than 28 lbs in yank speak or 2 stones in old english money – although my mothers scales suggest a 2 and a half stone loss.  I expect to loose another 6 kgs during my Mallorca trip so expect a skinnier Wayne next time you see me.

It feels good to be working again after my 6 month holiday, using my brain again is very stimulating indeed.  There are a couple of boats around that I am chatting up while I look for something new, I will also be trying my hand in some new secret tactics that I expect to be fruitful.

Anyway – while I am working, go and have a look at my photos of  Costa Rica – click on the photo to go full page and then you can scroll through until your heart is content