It's true that the older you get, time feels like it goes by quicker. It feels like it's taken five hundred days for the last two hundred to go by, Two hundred for the last hundred, and ten for the last fifty. Which means the next eight hundred will take ten, if my maths is right?

But it's been a busy hundred. Two new years have come (In Vegas, you can't escape the Western New Year, with it's drunken twats paying idiot prices to get into clubs they can't move in, or the Eastern New Year with the red-and-various-animal-motif decorations). I turned 33 in a spectacular non-event. Got a new kitchen in the house. Redesigned my website. Started writing properly again. Started watching what I eat, laying off one sort of sauce while rediscovering my love for Sriracha (vote Sriracha lays, everyone!). I have even. . .wait for it. . .started working out.

Sort of. By working out, I mean swimming. But compared to the sedentary lifestyle I usually maintain, anything is good, right? And it's not too hard this time, either. Five minutes the first day is now fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of swimming laps in a pool that's about 68 degrees is better than three minutes of blowing like a beached whale after climbing two flights of stairs. Because I've only got 800 days.

Actually, it's less than 800 days. As the countdown is to my last day at work and first day at being an unemployed sailor (read: bum), I should mention a couple of clipper things. Sent off another payment, started buying gear, and signed up for my level 1 training. 4-11 October, I'll be getting the shit knocked out of me as I start to really learn how to sail, not the half-arsed 'look-I-have-a-boat' bollocks I do right now. According to past crew member accounts, it's going to kick my arse. So much so, that on the 13th October, when I'll be headed to Salisbury to celebrate a 100th birthday, I'll probably be moving more stiffly than the birthday girl.

But hey, I've got a dry bag and a pair of Harken Sailing pants (and some bamboo underwear, more on those later), so at least I'll look the part.