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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

FALLING IN LOVE

Once upon a time there was a man who due to circumstances decided a change of life was needed so decided to live on a narrow boat and blog about his travels. So as the blog became popular he decided on the last blog of Oct. 2009 to put a few lines in asking for overseas readers to contact him. Already up to then he`d had a few e mails from across the globe just one off`s and wondered how many more people might be reading but not commenting.

On opening his inbox on the 9th Nov 2009 his heart missed a beat upon seeing one that had all the markings of the Inland Revenue seeking money. It began -Dear Sir........ Now being a laid back Water Gypsy the first instinct was to read no more and throw it to the Lions in the delete box, no news is good news so the saying goes. But then again if he just read it first and then fed it to the Lions, well how would they know? and life could drift on. So bravely he stood on deck facing un-known dangers with a force 9 gale blowing and lightening bouncing off the gunnel's.......
sorry about that, thought i was writing a best seller. So he scrolled down and below, heavily edited - it went on and on, is what he read.

From: jalmdale@roadrunner.com
To: lesbiggs1948@msn.com
Subject: U.S. follower
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 19:16:26 -0800

Dear Sir,


Per your request within your blog I am following your NB experiences as well as those of NB Living in Sanity (Sheila and Bruce), NB No Problems (Sue and Vic ), NB Poppy (Julie and Mark), and the NB Quidditch.............................................................................

I just discovered narrow boats and canals mid October while watching Burt Wolf’s Travels & Traditions on PBS. He was on the Canal Du Midi in France. It roused my...................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
.........as my one weakness!

To your good health,
Jaqueline Almdale
Cloudhouse
Pullman WA USA

Ok the storyteller has got us this far now i`ll take over.

That folks was the first of 300+ e mails and phone calls that have bounced across the pond in the last 14 months and despite what you read above i love those e mails to be of book length.
Politeness....no hang on the politeness has always been there, Formality, is the word, was still the order of the day in the comment of Nov 11th below with`Hello Sir` but formality was to end on the 18th with all communications being` Hello Les`. Nowadays it`s..........well different.


Dragonfly said...
Hello Sir,
It's nice to read you are back on the move again. The pics....
.........................................................................................................
.......them first!! :)
Safe Journey to you.
Jaqueline
USA



Casually mentioning in one of my e mails my wish to re-visit Las vegas i received an e mail on the 12th Jan 2010 inviting me to visit, 9 weeks! before getting an invite must be losing the charm eh lads, Jaqueline and stay a while at her home. Well l played it cool and said plans were not made yet and could well be into 2011 before the Vegas trip took off so thanks but no thanks. What was i thinking i hear the blokes shouting, listen i`m thinking this crazy woman wants me to make a 2 plane, 1200 miles trip from Vegas for a visit. I know it`s a big country but is this what they call in the area so pop in.

So as the months went by the bond between us grew to such an extent that after much talk of flight options i decided that my bucket list needed another tick and Vegas was planned for around October.

Now it so happens that my loved one works for Washington State University and in October she would be on University business in Seattle. The suggestion was made that i visit Seattle and she would collect me from my hotel and we would drive the 6hr journey back to her home in Pullman when she would take some leave (vacation). Only 55mins on the plane so why drive for 6 hrs, my mind is whirring, meet at my hotel. The flashbacks are becoming clearer it was the hotel part, oh my god she is a crazy, Hitchcock and the Bates hotel, no it`ll be ok just have to be up early and out of the shower before she arrives.

On a sunny Sunday morning Jaqueline drove into the hotel car park and i knew then my 3 hrs late into the night Internet session had paid off........she was definitely not one of the photos on the FBI most wanted list. As she walked across to me all my nervousness and thoughts of will she be the hostess from hell were melted by the lovely smile that beamed across to me and after the customary hug the conversation flowed like we had known each other for years. The six hour drive seemed just a couple of hours with many stops to through some beautiful country. Driving to Jaq is the preferred way to travel, why be above the beauty when you can drive through it.


I suppose it only fair i share that smile with you all.





Ok so you can put away the sick bags or the tear soaked hankies depending on how you took all this on board because for you the story is over. As for Jaq and myself i think that `Dear sir` letter was our starting grid and the car park meeting was when the chequered flag was lowered. As for the result i see the the podium with two people standing on the No. 1 spot.

Check out Jaqueline`s blog HERE. where you can read the full `dear sir` letter plus all the other posts.

February will see me back in her arms for a much longer visit and all being well Jaqueline will be on board NB Valerie for a visit later in the year during which time she is hoping to bump into some fellow bloggers.

1 comment:

Les Biggs said...

15 comments:
Alleycat said...
Lovely, absolutely lovely! All the very best to you both :)

Regards
Aly
(wannabee NB retiree)

Tue Dec 14, 09:55:00 PM
LES said...
Alleycat
Thankyou and i have added you to a brand new commercial sites list top right of blog.

Wed Dec 15, 02:21:00 AM
LES said...
Anyone else would like a plug then let me know. The idea is for services to assist boaters ie woodwork, boat curtins, boat electrics etc. Just need a title and a link of some sort.

Wed Dec 15, 02:24:00 AM
Jaqueline Almdale said...
Les,
I wish I were there to help carry water buckets. Seven weeks and one day until we are together again. (But who's counting, yeah??!) Looking forward to traveling the miles together, baking many loaves of bread, sharing many years of laughter and warm flannel sheets...and being there to help carry the water buckets.
I love you,
Jaq

Wed Dec 15, 12:32:00 PM
LES said...
Hi there P....

Won`t be long and in the meantime i`ll keep the fire burning and the water flowing.
Tough lot us boaters, we survive the winter because the joy of summer is on the way.

LES WG

Wed Dec 15, 02:40:00 PM
Nev Wells said...
Les & Jaqueline,

What a great story, we need reminders every now and again that there are good people with good stories to be told. Thank you both for sharing it and all the best, we have one life and it is not a rehersal, take centre stage and shine. We would welcome you if you get to Fradley,

Take care

Nev (NB Waterlily)

Wed Dec 15, 05:39:00 PM
Anonymous said...
well Pappi,

what can I say? your loved up to the eyeballs and it is wonderful.
:D
(look I've actually got round to reading your blog lol)
I can't wait to see you over xmas x
sending you lots of love x x x
<3
JoJO

Wed Dec 15, 08:59:00 PM
LES said...
Nev
How nice , on behalf of Jaqueline and myself thankyou.

Wed Dec 15, 10:58:00 PM
LES said...
Annon/Jo JO
One of my lovely Daughter in Laws has finally decided to comment.
I think the younger generation way of text speech is showing here so i think :D is a smiley face
<3 is a heart or l love you

Love u JOJO

Wed Dec 15, 11:07:00 PM
Anonymous said...
Dad

did it take you long to work out how to do the text pictures.

Kev ( your son )

Wed Dec 15, 11:33:00 PM
LES said...
Hi Kev
I assume you mean the copy/paste of the bits of e mail as i`ve been publishing pics for years.
I was just not clicking on the right section before i pasted.
If you start your comment DAD why put your son in brackets at the end. Love ya se you christmas

Thu Dec 16, 12:33:00 AM
Alleycat said...
Well thank you Les, that's very kind of you to add a link. Sorry that we don't do any boat-related products!

Regards
Aly

Thu Dec 16, 01:35:00 AM
Carol said...
lovely story - lovely couple - stay happy! Carol and George

Thu Dec 16, 02:55:00 PM
LES said...
Carol/George
Thanks, Happy is what i intend to stay with the lovely Jaqueline.

Thu Dec 16, 07:29:00 PM
chas said...
wonderful story, bravo , and the very best of luck to you both

chas

Thu Dec 16, 11:33:00 PM
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NB Valerie & Steam Train by Les Biggs

NB Valerie & Steam Train by Les Biggs