In the middle of all this hedonism, something has to crop up just to make you review your life and confirm that you are doing the right thing giving up your job and gadding about the world on a boat. We had a bit of that this week.

For the last few weeks, Andy has been complaining off and on about a bit of abdominal pain which I, as the good nurse I am, ignored. Last week, however, it had been getting a bit worse and, as we are in Palma, with top notch medical facilities, we thought we would see a doctor. The English one that we initially tried was on holiday in Scotland strangely but gave us the name of a German doctor whose very posh offices we found tucked in with the German and US consulates. Dr S was a very cool, tanned Internal Medicine specialist dressed in tight white jeans and a polo shirt with an impressive gold Rolex and little trendy glasses. I'm not sure what I expected him to do, probably tell us it was muscular, prescribe analgesia and I could go back to my usual non-caring self, but he prodded Andy's abdomen, did an ultrasound scan and told him that he might have a blockage in his colon and to come back next week for a colonoscopy.

That gave us a week to fret. As many of you will know, I was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2010 and ended up having an anterior resection so we were pretty convinced this was serious and he would have the same. Luckily for us, but possibly not for them, the family arrived for a week so we had lots of diversions but it didn't stop us waking up in the middle of the night planning what we would have to do if the worst came to the worst. Where could we berth Matilda for the winter? Mallorca is extortionate so maybe Cartagena would be best. Would we need some help to get there? Who would be able to come? Maybe my brother? Should we go back to UK or Australia? Can we still get treatment in UK?

Blood results came back earlier showing no abnormalities which cheered us up but Andy still had the pain. Wednesday arrived and the family made themselves scarce while Andy did the dreaded colonoscopy prep. For those of you who have not done this, it's character building!

I sat in the Waiting Room on the next day while he had his procedure doing what you always do in times of trouble. Praying to whoever or whatever that you will be a nicer person, give more to charity, do voluntary work if only this comes out OK. Cool Dr S comes out. "No worries" he says "Nothing major. Just a bit of diverticulosis. Drink more water. Eat more fibre. Lose a bit of weight". We love you, Dr S.

So we did do the right thing selling up and buying a boat. We will be nicer people. We will try and give something back along the way. We will try and remember to appreciate what we're doing now before we have to stop. We will eat more fibre!