As if Lady Jane was not enough....

Yup, in the space of one month I went from having no women in my life to having four of them!

It's not what you think. At the risk of sounding a bit soppy on a manly blog about boats, power tools and stuff, let me explain.

Since January of this year I have known a stunningly beautiful girl, Kate, who lives in the same village as me. Next door to my local pub in fact. As it turns out she also scuba dives, likes planes, and generally has masses in common with me. I've been around a bit, but have not, until now with Kate, really connected with someone as completely as I have with her. Our relationship really started around about the time I bought the boat in July. Kate is truly a soul mate who, thankfully, also believes in the dream that is Lady Jane, the other woman in my life. We might even see a contribution to this blog from Kate before too long.

Well that's two of the four.

Kate has a beautiful flat coat retriever, Molly, who I love to bits. I had two dogs ages ago and until recently have not really had the lifestyle to have a dog, mainly due to work and travel commitments. Molly has not yet been introduced to Lady Jane simply because we are nervous about the process of lifting her on board from a small boat in the middle of the river. She's a big dog, weighing in at about 30kgs (66lbs). Both Kate and I are sure Molly will get on just fine as a boat dog, she looks so cute in her doggy life jacket.

The small boat I use to get to and from Lady Jane has been christened Baby Jane, obviously not using champagne, and is the last of the four women in my life. Baby Jane is a small inflatable with an amazing four horsepower engine on board. The picture shows Kate skimming us along the river Itchen on our way out to Lady Jane. That trip was the first time Kate had ever driven a boat.

As it turns out on the first of our powerboat courses our instructor, Stuart, was enthusiastic enough about Kate's skill with a boat to recommend she thinks about racing one.

Think four is enough? We have discussed buying a rib (rigid inflatable boat) with a respectable engine, not for racing, but to use as LJ's tender in the longer term. Finally we will probably buy a sister for Molly in the new year.

I come to work for a rest nowdays.