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"It's a real eye-opener", commented Astrid. "Another time one of our girls used to get up at four in the morning to get the milk in off the door-step. When I told her she didn't need to do this she explained that her mother had taught her to steal milk from people's doorsteps. She was three." Sadly another of their foster children got into a fight in an underground station and was knocked to the tracks and killed. “Of course that was very sad", says Astrid, "as he'd only left our care a week before. We were getting through to some of the kids, though we had to be reminded by social services from time to time that what we teach the kids comes out later in their lives”. Roger and Astrid have many more memories, some bad, some sad, some funny and some just unbelievable.

 

Their last foster was three brothers and sisters aged 11, 3 and 2. "We were only supposed to foster teenagers but we took them in on the understanding that they would stay for three days. They left three  years later to a family who adopted them. The funny thing was we were actually thinking of adopting them ourselves so when they left I was heartbroken. That, and growing regulation restrictions from social security, was when we realized we couldn't do this anymore".

 

Throughout this time Astrid would return to Germany to visit her sick father and she would travel by ferry, which always made her sea-sick. "So when Roger announced that he would like to buy a boat it was 'no, no and no' from me!" Still, they both loved travelling and the idea of being mobile really appealed. They ended up buying 'Storm Dodger' in Antigua, which Roger brought back with Astrid's brother. She's a ketch-rigged Moody 52 and only eight were ever made, yet none of the family had any previous sailing experience. "After the gear-box blew up near Gib I had to call Gina for assistance. Gina, on "Impulse", called Ian on "Rhumb Do" and together they assisted Storm Dodger back to safe harbour. "Since you've missed your window trying to cross the Atlantic, "suggested Gina," you may as well stay in the Med and head east",  and so they all sailed to Turkey together.

 

Jordan loves computers and is frequently seen walking the Simms' dog, Mutley, around the marina. "The best part of sailing is swimming in anchorages and my favourite is in Kefallinia in Greece. I prefer getting to the destination than the sailing itself, though I would love to sail to China one day". Jordan hangs out with the 'Cowrie' and 'Pania' boys "because we love playing computer games". Science is his favourite lesson but he doesn't like maths.

 

Leah on the other hand loves maths and  doesn't like 'reading hour' at school. "You have to sit really quietly for an hour and I just want to play with my friends", which include Aiden, Catriona and Tiger. Despite her dislike of 'reading hour' Storm Dodger has children's books falling out its bilges. Leah also collected beautiful string puppets and hopes one day to put on a show for the marina. Leah and Jordan told me an amusing anchoring story. Roger and Astrid had nipped over to see Gina whilst in a quiet bay, leaving Jordan and Leah on 'Storm Dodger' to amuse themselves. All of a sudden Leah could see her dad jumping up and down on Gina's deck shouting that Storm Dodger's anchor was dragging. Roger tried in vain to row over as Storm Dodger slowly drifted away, leaving Leah and Jordan to hoist the anchor themselves. Astrid, panicking, dived into the sea fully clothed and when she eventually got onto Storm Dodger and made the boat safe, she quickly changed out of her wet things.

 

"Mum’s dress became  see-through and it wasn't until we re-anchored that we realized she wasn't wearing any knickers!"

 

Great-grandmother Simms was sunning herself on the deck when we had a chat. Although she's just visiting for a week she made her deft footwork centre-stage at Karen and Pete's party on ‘Rama’ last week. "I used to dance like a feather back in the day. My late husband, Anthony, who was a true English gentleman, didn't like dancing so he would sit at the bar with half a pint and watch with glee as I danced the night away". Yoland, or Yolly to her friends, was born in Gibraltar but moved to the Pyrenees when she was four. "I got stuck in France. When my mother tried to take me back to the UK just before the war they refused me entry as my mother hadn't registered my birth with the British consulate. When we returned to France Hitler had occupied it so when he came over for his conference with Franco all English people were locked up. I was sent to St Jean de Luz, even though I was just a child, and I remember sneaking up to the look-out turrets and, with a pair of binoculars, I could see Hitler getting off the train". Yolly lived on a farm with no water, electricity or toilets. Water was taken from the stream up the mountain and the toilets..."You just chose whichever tree took your fancy!” Yolly's husband passed away two months ago having suffered from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, the same disease that killed Dudley Moore. "It's still relatively unknown and I'd be very grateful if you could mention it in this article because

there may be someone out there with a relative who suffers from PSP. The symptoms are always confused with MS, Parkinson’s and even  Alzheimer’s, but it's actually a condition caused by too much tau protein". The symptoms include tunnel vision, loss of voice, loss of co-ordination and an inability to swallow. Yolly said that it's still not always recognized and she often found herself having to educate doctors and nurses about the condition.

 

With Yolly speaking French, Spanish and English, Astrid from Germany and Roger travelling around Europe this is a family on the move. "I can't stay put for too long" says Astrid. "The plan is to go into the Indian Ocean", adds Roger. “Since we're in this neck of the woods we may as well head east. We’ve only been sailing for a year but there’s no fun if there’s no risk”.

 

Interviewed by Jamie of ‘Esper’