Book 2, Chapter 51

It took very few seconds before Andy, risking Dad’s wrath, made a typical male joke about me and I promptly phoned Litara back.

“I don’t know what you promised but there’s no way I’m prancing around in front of a crowd on Milford Haven dock wearing a bikini!”

My paranoia was clearly unfounded if I’d given Litara’s protective interest in my public image even a moments thought but by the time I realised Andy, Ian, Jack and even my Da were laughing at my self-righteous indignation.

There seemed to be no end to the jobs requiring my limited talents that Bill and my Dad could come up with in the preparation of Dumblebit. Bill had found inflatable fenders advertised and thought it would save on stowage space so bought six. Of course when they arrived they were grey so he wanted me to sew white ‘socks’ to cover them. My initial idea of buying and using socks for real people seemed good until I realised that the fenders were about 10 inches in diameter. Then I wanted to buy three more fenders and sew the letters D U M B L E B I T to each sock in turn but in the end sense prevailed and I got stuck in. There were a lot of frustrating moments like that where I initially over-complicated the problem or fantasised impossible solutions. Having been told to arrange for a ladder to climb back aboard after swimming, I wanted something elegantly fixed on deck that would deploy or fold away in moments but Dumblebit actually got a simple ladder that clamped onto the toe rail in use and stowed in a locker otherwise.

There were satisfying moments when I got something particularly right. With the experience of Flat Holm fresh in my mind I chose a simple roller on an arm in the centre of the transom to hold when stowed and guide in deployment a stern anchor - thereby making an unexpected added asset of Dumblebit’s unusual twin rudder design.

Those were my day to day concerns but the fun came after work hours. Evan’s rugby match on Sunday had left Serena in Swansea with time on her hands and she signed Arianrhod up as an interested party to attend a talk on tidal lagoon power being given at Swansea University.

This was not the tennis playing Olympian level shopper BFF that I'd come to know over the years. Serena was far from dumb and her run-in with the dubious methods of property developers connected to her father had made her keen to see Arianrhod Development follow a different path.

“These new eco-friendly power generation plans the tree-huggers want and the scientists say we need, may come in the same way as when the railway and canal systems were built. Leave it to money-motivated builders and developers and the result will be schemes that displace people and destroy jobs without creating anything but a power plant in a wasteland. I don't believe that's the only way and I want to make sure that when you and I have children there are jobs and homes for them here in Wales.”

“But how can a power plant create jobs and homes?”

“Why shouldn’t it? If you build a lagoon of protected water people will want to boat and fish on it. They may even want to live on it! A lagoon might be big enough to build a floating town or city on it with no need for roads as boats would move people about. There wouldn't be the danger of flooding from the rising sea levels they talk about… ”

“OK! OK!” Serena was getting over-excited and I was seeing her in a different light. She was spending her days working with Bill and Alistair Dougan and their influence was rubbing off. Maybe by the time our children were the age Serena and I were now she would be my ‘Alistair’, running ‘The Welsh Office’ of the trusts interests. “As NED of Arianrhod Development I will expect you, Serena, to deliver a paper to the board on the potential created by Welsh plans for new renewable power generation.”

I wanted to laugh as I said it, feeling as I did like a kid playing at grownups, but we were the future as I was already an NED and there was a lot more to Serena than the cute little designer coat she'd been wearing when she joined us in the café after exercise class on Thursday evening.

That Thursday chat in the café had also led to plans for us to join a ‘making music session’ on Saturday evening. Kelly was the instigator as she had a finger in every pie connected to the entertainment industry in Cardiff. It came out in conversation that she was playing keyboards with friends on an evening that sounded similar to Litara's film folk evenings in London but with more instruments and less karaoke. When she heard we all sang and played various instruments she wouldn’t take no for an answer - we might have slightly exaggerated our abilities but it's a narrow divide between blowing your own trumpet and false modesty and we only agreed when she accepted that we would do just one song to show willingness but no more.

Luckily my part in the song on which we agreed was some simple guitar chords and harmonising to Evan's lead vocal but practicing on my guitar back at home later I missed playing with Litara so rang her in London to see if she would be in Cardiff at the weekend and if she was would she like to join us. Disappointingly she wouldn’t be home Friday to help me get my part right but thought she could get there directly from London on Saturday so we left it at that and I got back to my practice.

Friday was our opportunity to practice properly at Serena's house, chosen because her parents were out, and to my mind we got our chops spot on before heading to the local pub for the last hour before turning in for the night.

“Right you lot. Shut it!” announced Kelly firmly when our turn came on Saturday night. These are my friends and it’s their first time here so be civilised or at least as close to it as you can be. I present Arianrhod singing Dancing in the Moonlight.”

I think we did alright and the applause had started when big sister Litara walked into the bar and caused a stunned silence. Because she's my sister I presume her appearance caused the shock because much as I liked Serena’s coat it was way outshone by Litara’s hand-painted leather creation, straight off some New York or Paris catwalk. Almost anyone else not related to Litara would have thought it was her company… Simon I'd come to expect but there was a couple with them of which the man was instantly recognisable and was in no way expected to be found in a local pub. The Prince of Wales might have been expected but not this man.

The Welsh don't like to be upstaged and quickly the conversation restarted as though nothing had happened and didn't even get out of hand when just before the couple left the man and Litara got on stage to do a karaoke duet with Litara taking the Kylie Minogue part when they sang Kids.