Maffi has gone

Thrupp seemed strange as Maffi pulled his pins and sailed off into the sunset. Shipton, where he had spent some time preparing for his epic trip, didn't hold the ghost of his boat and, like everytime a boat moves on, it seemed that he had never been there. At first I kept expecting Molly to come flying around from Annie's or jump onto the boat. Maffi's bicycle isn't propped up next to the tea rooms and the car we shared is in the same place before I go to work and when I return; no longer does it skip around Thrupp in different parking spaces. All change.

Maffi has been here for a long time. If you ever needed anything doing it was Maffi who would quietly and silently step into the shoes of hero and do it for you. It wasn't an easy ride living next to Maffi - if you have the good, you get the bad too but that is what friendship is about, and ours had it all.

Maffi did a lot of travelling it in his first year of living on his boat but when he was set to pass Oxford it took him a while to leave - he worked, went to college and left with more tools to be the writer he wants to be. He has written some super work while he has been here. So, he has set sail to travel the system again and I look forward to hearing about his travels as he sets off and meets new and old friends on his great adventure.

I never know whether people will keep in touch - no-one ever can know; but either way I know that I am looking forward to hearing about the highs and lo's of this particular boater as he heads off into the sunset.

I stopped off to see Maffi on my way home on Saturday as I had some post for him. He was in that familiar state trying to resolve his boats plumbing and moored in Cropredy. The following day he went off to Fenny Compton and now he is beyond the boundaries of waters I consider to be 'up the road'.

Enjoy your trip Maffi and be careful of them there dragons! Sail free, sail happy and most of all have an absolutely fantastic time!

See you soon!