Chapter 10

It was early in the morning and the noise next to my ear was loud and shrill. It beeped three times and I was wide-awake. I swung my legs out of the bed, at the same time pressing the stop button on the pager. I immediately realised my bladder was in desperate need of being emptied so I headed into the bathroom and had a piss. My gear was on the bedroom chair ready to go. I slipped my trousers on, slipped my feet into my trainers, and pulled a fleece over my head. Danni was dressed and ready to go almost at the same time as I was.

As we headed down to the station, I thought about my life and how it had changed. Danni and I had exchanged calls and emails for two months before I took a week off and took the train up to London.

Whilst I was there Danni asked what I would think about her coming to live with me in Cornwall. I had agreed without giving it a seconds thought. She handed in her notice at the marketing company she had worked at for the last five years and a month later we hired a van and moved her meagre belongings down to my cottage. She decided to start her own business and soon had a small office hired and set up in the village.

She worked for the local business community and the local paper doing graphic design stuff. Posters, adverts, menus and pamphlets etc.

She soon settled onto village life and we settled into living with each other and it’s been great. She soon found a lot of friends amongst the rest of the crews’ wives and girlfriends and she has really taken to the lifestyle of living in the village.

We were not the first to the station, so the front door was already open. I ran straight into the kit room. I kicked off my shoes and within seconds I was down to my boxer shorts, I slipped into my thermal under suit and then on top of that I pulled on my bright yellow all-in-one dry suit. It was a struggle as they are not easy to get into on your own, but practice makes perfect as they say.

By the time I was kitted up Danni was in the office manning the telephone to the coast guard and relaying information to the crew. She gave me a nod and wink as I got on board the boat.

I looked around and saw that lads that had drawn the short straw were still on the slipway as the engines roared into life and we slid down the ramps and hit the water.

We heard the two marine diesel engines change tone as the propellers dug in and we shot off, building speed as we headed away from the station, for me the last few shouts had been different as I knew that when we got back to the station Danni would be there ready with mugs of tea and bacon sandwiches.

Life does not get much better than this...