We had agreed to buy a country house in Dorchester, Dorset, and I rented a cruiser for a week to potter round the sea lochs of Southern Scotland. However we got gazzumped on the Dorchester house whilst we were away, and had to start again from square one when we got back to the south of England. We ended up buying Chadlington Manor, which for all sorts of reasons was not a happy choice. Had we bought the house in Dorchester, it is difficult to know in the abstract if there would have been fewer problems
We did have a moment of excitement at sea when I picked up an SOS from a fishing boat that lost its engine. The skipper was very wary in case I claimed salvage, but on being reassured on that front, we threw a line on board his boat. However our cruiser, though powerful had no keel and we ended up towing him in circles, so he had to another boat to aid him
