Some of the week is spent sorting out an interview I have just recorded with a famous sailor.
The older among you will remember a chap called Chay Blyth.
Back in the 60s, he and another man, John Ridgway, rowed across the Atlantic.
The pair came home to great acclaim and Chay, in particular, got the sea-bug. He went on to become the first person to sail single-handedly ‘the wrong way’ around the world.
Passport to the world
All sorts of exciting challengers would follow, including a dramatic race at sea with one Richard Branson.
Taking on the elements. From yachts to state-of-the-art vessels. It was heady stuff.
Sir Chay, as he is now, became a national hero. And an unlikely one, too.
Working first as a butcher’s boy in Hawick, then in the textile mills, the young Chay decided to take a chance and joined the Parachute Regiment. It would be his passport to the world.
Back in the Borders
Now he’s back in the Borders and still going strong. A man with a handsome face and a shock of white hair. A youthful 80-something. Because they make them tough in Scotland – and I am sure the paras have their own way of sharpening you up, too.
This man has a story and a half to tell, and he is easy to talk to.
We record an hour of nautical memories. An exhilarating life on the waves, which I am now trying to condense into a 23-minute programme.
It is some undertaking. What to put in, what to leave out, when all of it is of interest.
Feelings of adventure
As the reporter, I am the one who does the rough-cut. Then the producer comes along, of course, and changes it all around…
I have to say that watching the thing stirs up feelings of adventure.
Because, I don’t know about you, but there has been precious little of that over the last 18 months.
The matter of masks
But now life is becoming a little more free – although old habits die hard. Crossing the border to Carlisle, I find myself the only person in the supermarket wearing a mask.
It is one way to be anonymous, I suppose.
The thing is, I have got so used to the wretched mask that the other day I came home still wearing it. Much to the MacNaughties’ shock.
They do not like these face coverings. They do not like them one bit – because dogs rely on facial movements. They are very good at watching human reactions like smiles and frowns. And if they cannot see them, it must be a tad confusing.
Not having that
Bennie the naughty Norfolk puppy plants his paws firmly on the carpet and has a good old yap.
Delilah the Chow does a bit of gentle growling.
While Barra the spaniel just looks quizzically at me. Then he’s seen it all, because he is 15.
The mask is removed, and members of the household can relax. Things are as they should be. There has been enough adventure for one day.
