This Holiday Has Reaffirmed My Faith In People In General

Where do I start?  Firstly I’d like to thank everybody involved for choosing me to receive this wonderful holiday.

When I noticed that there was accommodation available on a houseboat, I was really interested. Then I realised it was on the Isle of Wight!  Even though I looked into the town of Bembridge and viewed the photos and the narrative about the boat, it did not prepare me for this trip.

Over the past few years I’ve gone from being a successful businessman to almost loosing my life.  Over the 8 months it took to diagnose cancer of the larynx, my finances took a massive battering. I could not even afford to pay for the insurance on my Mercedes which resulted in it being seized and sold at auction. I still haven’t recovered any monies from the sale which is why I had to travel to the island as a foot passenger.

The journey over with Wightlink was excellent though.  I haven’t been back to the Isle of Wight since my dad past away when I was 8 years of age, so you can imagine the fond memories I had getting off the ferry at Ryde and seeing that the place hasn’t changed that much.  Lots of lovely memories came flooding back.

On the way to the house boat we stopped at the Pilot Boat Inn in Bembridge, a lovely rustic public house not far from the house boat.  The owners personally drove Ventia and myself to the house boat where we found it easy to find the boat and access the property.

Now on to thanking Simon, the owner of the house boat. What an achievement to have built this master piece and thank you so much for trusting me with the keys.  I absolutely love the place and the care and detail that’s gone into every part of the space, it’s absolutely magical.  What a space you have created!!!

Venetia (my long suffering partner) and I would like to thank you all.  We really needed some time to talk about what has happened over the last few years.  We really needed some space, away from all the reminders of cancer at home, to draw a line under it and make sense of it all.

I’m having radiotherapy when I go home to make sure I have the best possible chance of the cancer not coming back and start my life again and I just feel that what you have done as a team will give me that chance.

This holiday has reaffirmed my faith in people in general, and by the 25th of March I’ll be ready to start the process of going back to work and to pick up the pieces of my life in general.

A massive thanks to everyone involved.