It’s a strange thing to have to get used to again, living on my own. At least it’s only temporary. Nathan has left to do a three month long residential sailing course, based out of Gibraltar.

I was the one who encouraged him to go. My husband has a great sense of adventure, but sometimes needs a gentle nudge to take the plunge. His family are renowned for their lack of decisive action. They happily spend entire holidays waiting for someone else to decide what to do. I am the opposite I like to decide quickly and get on with the adventure.

So that’s why I encouraged Nathan to do this course now; he’s talked about it for long enough, I know it’s what he wants to do. He is tired of the daily trudge of working in an office. Travelling for hours, working for hours, travelling again, eating, sleeping and starting it all once again. I don’t blame him for wanting more.

Week one of being alone is going okay, I think. It’s reading week at uni so I’ve got no classes, but a lot of assignments that need my attention. That means of course that I’ve done anything but make inroads on any of them. I am writing, prolifically, but not the pieces I need to get done.

The days, all four of them so far, pass reasonably well; I am used to being alone with the cat while he’s at the office. It’s the evening’s I find hard and the night’s are even worse. I am a light sleeper and Nathan’s a snorer. The trouble is I wake up even though he’s not here to blame and then I don’t have his snores or warmth to reassure me in the dark. It’s strange.

I will get used to it, but I don’t really want to either.

I know it’s going to get harder than this week. All his training’s been on shore so far and I’m able to stay in touch with him, we’ve even spoken on the phone. He’s finding it strange and hard to settle in with a boat full of strangers. He’s not sleeping well. It’s nice to know I am the one he wanted to talk to even though he’s in a crowd.

He’s writing a blog so I’ve been able read more about what he’s been doing. I am glad so say it sounds fantastic, but not something I think I could do. He’s been doing the commercial skills training such as firefighting – with real fire.

Nathan’s blog

From next week he’ll be offshore, sailing for a week at a time. I am not looking forward to be out of touch with him. I’ll hopefully been back and the gym and I have a long list of things I need to get done. I’ll update again in a few weeks.