Robert Charles SCEATS's Journal

The best laid plans of mice & men as they say ! Having arrived at Graham's (my engineer) on the morning of Saturday 26 March for the grand unveiling, following completion of the restoration works and prior to setting off for Spain, we duly went into his garage for the ceremony. Covers off and she looked superb. Fired her up, she sounded great with the twin SS exhaust and we rolled her out. Then disaster struck ! My mobile bleeped. Bad news ! It was a text message from Brittany Ferries advising me that all sailings, inc mine from Portsmouth to Bilbao on Tuesday 29th, had been cancelled due to exceedingly bad weather. The best they could offer was in 8 days time. Hopeless ! I had to return to Spain for my grandsons christening the following Sunday, i.e in 8 days time !. God, I was seething. The thick end of 2 years I had been waiting for this, now it was blown out of the water ! I was in no mood to take her for a spin through fear of a lack of concentration so thought it much wiser to roll her back in the garage, replace the covers and grab the next available flight back to Spain and that was on the Tuesday so I had 3 days to stew. All I had for my troubles was a set of pics showing "Arlette" in all her splendour.
I am now plotting another attempt to cross the water and will post an update when all the beads are in a row