Last November I was knocked off a bike onto my head and was given a 10% recovery chance by the neurological team at Kings Hospital. I vowed I wouldn’t drink when I left their company and not a drop of the strong stuff has or will pass my lips again.

I have recovered but I find new things matter to me, most important my partner who I forsook for the Lady Lucy summer after summer.

That boat is now for sale and if you know her and love her and want to do what I did for 17 years here is the link to the brokerage at Peter Freebodys

The photos do not capture the riot of fun for the thousands of guests that came on the boat over the years and I hope she will find a happy owner to follow me.

I had her rebuilt from bare bones in the early years of the century, she won an award for the restoration of the year in 2007 at a Henley boat festival when she was moored up alongside the boat of Rodney Bewes- some memories.

One injury – Jenny – no one falling off the boat, some difficulty one year at Hambledon lock when we were squashed by the mighty Oxford.

Good memories of generations of Freebodys – Peter not forgotten.

But I must move on

My partner is lead singer of the Windsor Ukulele Band. Today I will watch her playing in the Windsor and Eton pride

We will go to the races this evening and to the racecourse via the Swan.

Singing is great therapy for all of us and if you want to explore what the band is up to, here’s the website

My life in years to come will take a new shape! This video was shot on Clewer island -by Clewer Mill Stream. Clewer is where the Swan pub is , this gig started at 2pm and ended somewhere near 10pm. It was on the tiny Mill Stream Island , next to White Lilies Island that Natalie Imbruglia lived on and called her second album after. The ukulele band is preferable to my ear! Rays Mead is the west end of White Lilies Island and is better known as Windsor Racecourse. It’s all in a day for us.

Nothing’s quite going to get me away from the river and I hope selling Lady Lucy won’t stop us meeting.

I think this has us both singing. My partner is in the white tee-shirt. A better partner still than Lady Lucy

But who can forget Claire and the blue-tongued  kids from Slough (below). Who will forget the  cloudless summer skies of the past, the present and the future!