My granny, Joy Wallis, always used to say, “you don’t ask, you don’t get”. I don’t think that’s an original quote from her but has always stuck in my mind. I think that’s what half made me write to Wolfgang to start with years ago and has kept me sending postcard
s to him. That and the unyielding rage simmering deep in my belly. That rage was first ignited when Megs told me about Morgan one quiet afternoon in The Station. I couldn’t and still don’t understand how her situation has come to be. It’s just so utterly shite. The postcards have helped quell the rage to a point…somewhat…kinda, and while I’m not gonna stop sending the postcards to Loro Paque, they *clearly* are not enough.
It is time to harden up the gear.
I am lucky enough to crew sometimes on one of the most glorious sailing Barges known to human kind, her name is ‘Edme’ and she is magnificent. We raced the Medway Match this weekend and had a cracking good time 
of it. The truly great thing about Edme in this hectic old world we live in is she hasn’t got an engine so when we go places we can only get there as fast as the wind will carry us. It took us a full day sailing to reach Queensbough from Brightlingsea and it took us a day to get back. So once the gear was set I got to sitting back, stroking the various dogs on board and thinking. Obviously I spend a lot of time thinking about Morgan and what it would take to get her back into the ocean. It’s 
gonna be a big ask. I have tried asking Wolfgang nicely ….and admittedly not so nicely but it seems that whole avenue is really a non-starter. What Morgan needs is some really loud voices in her corner. People who are difficult to ignore, people who other people listen to. So I, with the help of the others on board, made a list of celebrities and I set to writing them to ask if they could help free Morgan.
I wrote to 13 of the biggest names we could think of and I figure I’m gonna have a butt load of time available to me over the next few month, what with all the bus, train, ferry, plane journeys ahead so I’ll write some more too. I kind of think if even one of these people was to tweet 
about Morgan it would help a tonne.
I was chatting to the lady in the post office when I went in to buy the stamps, she asked me what I was up to and I explained, ohhh you know just trying to free an Orca and I really need help so I’m asking the big-wigs, and then she asked for the money and as I handed her the money I explained what granny used to say and she said “Precisely my dear, the worst that could happen is they say no and you haven’t lost a thing……except for the stamp money” and we both had a chuckle and then, right then, over the radio came “Born Free” by Matt Monro and I stood and stared at the radio a bit till she asked me if I was okay. I was, of course, I freaking adore that song so much, almost to obsession it was just one of those special little moments, I love when timings in life add up like that. I really thought, blimey, every penny on these stamps is money well spent if we get Morgan her freedom back.
“Stay free where no walls divide you, You’re free as the roaring tide, So there’s no need to hide,
Born free and life is worth living, But only worth living, ‘Cause you’rrrre borrrrn frrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
WHAT. A. TUNE.