I’m sat in Woking station reflecting on what has to have been the single most transformative period of my life. I’ve made some unexpected friends for life, pushed myself completely out of my comfort zone and dived into the beautiful world of Cowes, as well as taking that first step into the yachting industry.
Now let me tell you, this was not what I anticipated when I got on the Red Jet two weeks ago. Met me first course mate, an 18 year old fella with a heart of gold and taste to match, and I thought oh hell I’m going to be surrounded by kids here, great. And in part this was true. But a more friendly and approachable bunch of kids you will never meet. We’ve all surprised ourselves over the last few weeks, having dealt with everything from firefighting to dishwasher disputes. And yet they have all sailed (pun intended) through and at times shown more maturity in their little fingers than I had at 18 and 20.
I say “surrounded”, but this isn’t true. I’m already a little teary writing this because when I say transformative, my two “Golden Girls” (sorry A) have unknowingly unlocked a part of my personality that I thought had died a death. I’ve always been a bit silly and I like to make people laugh, but of late I’ve been withdrawing slightly, focussing on my relationship and my family and very close friends - I haven’t let someone new into my life or my head for a very long time. In two weeks, they’ve torpedoed that wall and in doing so have untangled so many knots in my head and heart. From picking up on my little quirks and embracing them, to berating me for being so hard on myself. I am sitting on this train (I’m on the train now bye bye Woking) a different girl to the one who was on this track a fortnight ago. I will never forget them, nor let them leave my life because no one can do a pep talk like they can.
So why did I go through all this and meet all these people? I’ve been on a two week course training to be a Superyacht Stewardess. We’ve been asked 1000 times over the last few weeks why we are there, and every time I’ve tried to come up with something clever but honestly I needed a big shake up in my life. I mean, if you’ve read my blog or you know me then you know why - scroll for more blogs if you need to hear it because honestly I can’t say it again. But boy oh boy am I shaken up like an espresso martini (which I can now make btw - party at Emzo’s).
I could probably make a years worth of posts to describe my time at Flying Fish (and believe me, I will) but that’s all I have for now. Honestly more than anything I need to process what’s just gone on it has been a wild ride.
To the deck/stew crew, it’s not goodbye it’s see you on that ocean.
