I was going to share with you some observations about Ramsgate and how everyone looks vaguely similar to each other and how they are now living in cafe culture (without the culture). STOP! Now I have Weymouth to talk about. We arrived last night about 7.30, rafted up next to a couple of other yachts on the Town quay and headed for a beer and some Fish and Chips. One of the other boats was skippered by a guy from Gatehead – across the river from Newcastle – so that was a bonus when disturbing their Saturday evening to get over to put dock lines over!

So first stop a beer – and our training skipper insisted on going to – a Whetherspoons! Here we are in the picturesque harbour of Weymouth – the jewel of Dorset (it’s oft called the Dorset Riviera ) and we go to Whetherspoons – the largest chain of pubs in the UK. HOWEVER – it turned out to be a very good choice for many reasons, not least of all that we got served very quickly, the prices were amazingly low and the people watching was awesome. Saturday night seems to be the night for the locals to parade themselves in their finest, which, and I don’t want to sound too judgmental, seemed to be desinger Primark! Also, it seems that sizes were limited and so you took what they had, too large, too small (mostly), but this was not a wear what fits society and I think mirrors are scarce! The place was packed with a collection of  interesting people, assembled in groups. Let’s call one group “The Gary Group” and another “Tina” (usually shortened to just plain “Tine”) and another “Kevin” and the final group we’ll call “Rill” (presumable shortened from Cheryl, who knows). While standing at the bar waiting (and as I said – not for long) – there were 3 cries for Gary with numerous people answering, a couple of Kevin’s, also answered numerously and you can fill in the gaps about Tine and Rill! I have no idea how to convey the local accent – but West County English is probably rightish – although there was a clear smattering of something else which involved swallowing the end of every other word. BUT – the Gary Group and the Tine Group – while sitting or standing together didn’t actually talk to each other. The Garys talked to the Kevins (sparingly) and Tines talked to Rills (surprisingly sparingly) – but they all shouted to other similar groups – “-righ Gar” ” Yer or-righ Gar” – “Tine” “Yer righ” and onwards! I think the origins for this became somewhat obvious when looking at the tables lining the walls where the older Weymouthians were sitting (and wearing similar clothes to their kids). Not a word was spoken within the couples and absolutley no inter-couple communications. Silence – plain silence! Years of honing their communications skills to zero and passing on their know how to the next generation!

There’s could be so much more dribble to share about Weymouth – like going into another bar later on to listen to a very good live band and finding a variety of spaced out older men dancing on their own right infront of the band like groupies being cheered on by a number of Taylor Swift wannabes (it was a vague resemblance – very vague – but the influence was there) – or the Fish Shop offering “Place and Chips” or even the late night hairdressers called Blonz (yes open on Saturday evening at 9.00).

For those interested – we got here from Southampton safely, a little later than we wanted to – winds were highly variable and often right on our nose (10 – 15 knots). We had a very pleasant sail, but long tacks away from where you want to go get old after a while (especially on a Saturday night) and then we got really cold so we motored the last 6 miles (out of the 69 we did to get here). We passed out of the Solent through the Western Channel, along the north coast of the Isle of White, past Lymingtom to the north and Yarmouth to the south and right by the Needles. The scenery along the way was spectacular and we got close enough in to shore to see the entrance to Lulworth Cove and to look through Durdle Door (I didn’t take the phot below – obviously!). Rolling fields running down to chalky cliffs with an abundance of green. Pip pip, N