DATE:Thu, Dec 31, 1998 1:07:09 PM
RE:Hello ... Womble calling...
Dear All,
Here we are on the cusp of 1999 and we could not let the end of this year pass without sending you a wholehearted (if cliched) wish for a Happy New Year.
We would also take this opportunity to thank all of you for contributing to our happy and successful 1998. Especially those of you (you know who you are) that helped (and continue to do so) in so many ways to enable us to bring Womble and the lump safely down to Florida without incident (OK - without MAJOR incident!), injury or lawsuit. We really could not have done it without you and will be forever in your debt, and probably owe you at least a couple of curries....
We would also like to thank the following for their exemplary customer service(!) throughout the year :
MCI - for being the most expensive and unreasonable phone company in the USA by charging us $28 for a 5 minute call to Texas and then refusing to admit they had done anything wrong.
Various Obstetricians along the the East coast (especially the Florida keys) for refusing to see me when they realised they would only be able to screw the insurance company for one visit.
The customer service rep at Aetna/US Health care - for telling me that I should not be traveling whilst pregnant, and that I had to know the zip code of the OB's office I didn't know existed before she could tell me whether he existed or not (Get that?)...
The customer service rep from AT&T, who refused to believe that Norfolk Virginia existed and insisted on asking "What is the nearest large town?". It's only the largest Naval base outside of Russia - but according to AT&T it does not exist.
North Shore Auto's : for refusing to remove their name as the lien holder on our car, even though we payed off the minuscule loan from them in April of 1995! Thank you and you will be hearing from our lawyers shortly....
To each and every one of these organisations we send a huge raspberry for 1999!
On a more positive note we really would like to thank to following :
Palmer Johnson Marina - Thunderbolt,Georgia : For delivering 6 donuts and a newspaper to the boat each morning - especially as it was cold on one of the days and we were able to spend the morning tucked up in bed eating donuts and reading the paper.
West Marine Morehead City N.C : For delivering the parts we ordered to the boat within about 15 minutes of us calling them to find out where they were located.
To the OB staff at Mass. General hospital, Charleston University Hospital, Miami's Cuban district health centre (an interesting experience...) and the midwife in Key Largo : who encouraged us to make the trip in the first place whilst pregnant, and provided care, support and advice along the way without ever questioning our wandering lifestyle.
To the fisherman in Long Beach NC for giving us two steaks from the prize winning 50lb King Mackerel he had just caught so that we "English folks" could sample some local fish.
To the five enormous manatees who came to visit Womble in Titusville FL, and stayed frollicking around the boat for over an hour to provide us with one of the highlights of the trip. (Thanks manatees for letting us have our hose back...)
To anyone along the way who managed to understand Claire speaking on the VHF radio: "This is Womble calling Fort Lauderdale bridge out - er actually not out - over - actually I meant to say - is your next opening at 8:30 over - oops I meant 7:30 over - oops I did mean out that time, OVER AND BLOODY WELL OUT." Off air she screams "AGGGGGHHHHHH!" ... you can picture the scene...
To all those people that almost got the name of our boat right : Wimble, Rumble, Trimble, Wombie (this was the most popular), Wombat and others... thank you for trying.
To US Customs and Excise : thank you for not dismantling our boat looking for illegal substances we didn't have and for doing such a cursory search when they boarded us and realised we were pregnant and that we probably were not the gun toting heroin traffickers they thought we were, and also for taking Claires answer to the question - do you have any weapons on board in the right spirit ... " Well we do have a flare gun..."
Anyway - must run happy 1999.
Please visit, we promise not you make you change a single nappy, scrub any decks or visit Disney whatsit... Honest!!
Love
Claire, Gregg, Womble, Wimble, Wombie and the Octalump