Home at last.

Our cabin - champagne on ice & canapes on arrival.

Me, about to cast off in Barcelona.

I thought that this was G & me, from the thumbnail - John, on the next table.G is much younger & better looking!

We flew into Heathrow at 2.40pm on Sunday having spent 20 hours in airports - Kerala - Bahrain. We found that it was going to cost £100 & take until 8.30pm to get to BHX on the bus, so opted to hire a car & drive home for £99 instead.
We called in at B & E's en route, helped out with the turkey & revived a little.
It was great to see them all after a month away.
Steve & Di had kept the home fires burning & bought milk & bread - brill.
The bad news was that a gas leak at the Alms houses had lead to the deaths of two of the tenants & a lot of damage.
P, A, J & T came to lunch on Monday, M & N to tea. Today, Peter came to stay, it has been a really nice couple of days.
I have done six loads of washing, four of ironing. I deserve a medal!

We had a lovely holiday, which you may have kept up with, Mumbai & Kerala were fascinating - noisy, hectic & fun. I think that we saw most of the 16 million people who live in Mumbai, along with the litter that they drop. This seems to be collected randomly, allowed to fester & then deposited in large piles on street corners, for the locals to sort.
Kerala was a real contrast, green & luxuriant where you can travel for the odd mile without seeing anyone at all!
Ann's Homestay was wonderful - peaceful & relaxing with the most amazing food, all home grown & home cooked, including spices & fruit.
We went to midnight mass in Pula; driving past all of the villagers, in their best clothes, walking to church for a two hour service in Malayalam, mostly chanted. During the service we all walked outside to pray by a fire, the priest holding a baby Jesus doll; we then had frankincense to throw onto the flames, then walked to a nativity scene to put J in the crib.
On Christmas day,we had Christmas cake, beef, pork & fish curries with rice pancakes, & that was just for breakfast.
We went for a good walk on Christmas morning, & families in cars stopped to introduce the family to us & say "Happy Christmas".
There was elephant dung on the road!
We have 3000 holiday photos - G will put them on the TV for anyone who visits!

Thanks for all of the cards & letters - there are 7 days of Christmas left, so Merry Christmas to everyone, especially those still struggling with the turkey.

Kingfisher flys south in winter

Great visit to Coloba fishing village about 3 roads down from Mumbai Hotel a.m. - real community - but massive contrast to CBD only across the way.
'Cooltaxi' to airport and a Kingfisher flight to Mangalore and Kochi. 'Sitig II' drove us from airport to Arches hotel Cochin in the dark to gs amazement . Got here in one piece.
Hotel great and only c.30c. historic tour today nad culture show etc . Move to homestay tomorrow for xmas celebrations . All seems to be happening too fast now - should have stayed longer. (?).
An indian j is kicking off at pres. same body language- (under breakfast table in defiant mood - him not me!).
Will try to blog tonight as may be last cahnce before Christmas.
G&g.

Godwin Hotel Mumbai - Tues 22 Dec.

Using the computer in the dining room at breakfast -
DANGER 440 VOLTS
PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH
on modem, by my right hand.
Arived Sat - did the town, back to ship to slep.
Disembarked on Sun - 2 hour taxi ride around sights, then on fot.
Carol service at Weslian church in centre at 5.0pm, power cut, started at 5.40pm, sound system a failure.
Walked miles yesterday, did the souks - amazing!!!
Just of walking to local fishing vilage.
Flight to Cochin at 2.35pm
Love & kises.
This keyboard has a problem or two - wont do double leters at al - no time to corect.

Was it an albatros?

Today a large bird soared alongside the ship for some hours, occasionally diving for a fish.
It looked like a penguin with big wings.
I do know that this is unlikely.
We are in the Arabian Sea, one night's sailing from Mumbai, where we dock in about 12 hours.
At 15 knots, that must be 180 knots, whatever a knot is!
We have had two days at sea, which is very relaxing - breakfast, walk a mile around the very top fore deck (18 laps), sit in the sun & read/chat, lunch, sit in the sun, choir practice, gym, each for an hour, change for dinner at 8.30pm.
I'm sure that aj & MM would love this lifestyle - we have some brill web-sites to check out for amazing deals - cheaper than hibernating, with the heating & the moonboots on!

We have just performed our concert to a packed house. It went very well & was great fun.
I am already dressed so am blogging whilst G is in the gym.
We are on board tomorrow night after a day in Mumbai, then we disembark on Sunday morning & have two nights in a local hotel before flying to Cochin.
Some passengers are staying on for the next "leg", to Singapore, quite a few are staying in India for Christmas.
Some passengers apparently did not have Indian visas & had to disembark at Muscat.
I don't know how that happened as visas were checked on boarding.

We were told that there was snow at home - make the most of it. It's no big deal for the Danes, is it.
I hope that BHX isn't closed on 27th!
G wonders if the grandchildren will remember him - will you show them the odd photo of him, but not just before bed!
We are both quite brown, but he doesn't have a beard, so that will help.
It seems an age since we left home, but it's only 3 weeks, tomorrow.
It will be nice to be on land, able to walk in any direction for more than 20 metres & not recognise nearly everyone that you see.
We had lobster thermidore last night - do you know any good jokes about that?

I'm reading W's new James Bond novel, which is good & obviously written with film potential.
Very typical Bond stuff.

It may be difficult to blog when we disembark - I'm not sure how up to date they are with communications in Mumbai!!

Enjoy the snow.

A Job lot.

Today we docked in Oman - Salalah, at daybreak.
We opted for a tour - The Frankincense Trail.
This involved a drive up through the desert to see a frankincense tree, a toilet stop, a visit to the coast to see blowholes & then on to Job's Tomb, a further toilet stop & then back to the ship.
This sounded rather better than it turned out to be.
The scenery was fascinating - desert with camels & frankincense trees. Why we chose one particular tree I don't know. The camels eat them, there is nothing else to eat.
The coast was lovely - 2000 miles of it in all. The tide was out so the blowholes were merely "belching", rather than the 20metre gush that was intimated.
Job (you all know him - had a bit of a bad time with God, then things got much better) has a pretty non-descript tiled tomb with a footprint outside.
The ladies didn't like the toilets as they were "squatters" (toilets, not the ladies!)
Salalah has a monsoon from 8 June to 18 Sept & is then a holiday resort.
It is all new with not a great deal to see otherwise.
We spent the pm on the deck in warm sunshine, watched the sun go down & then went to the gym before dinner.
There is a "Pirates' Party" on the Aft Deck - I hope that there are no gatecrashers!

At sea tomorrow & then a day in Muscat, still in Oman.

Start saving....

For the ransom, that is.
We hit pirate territory this afternoon - Oman.
We are low risk, but measures are already in place & we had a drill yesterday morning - new muster stations below the deck areas & no lights or people on deck after dark this evening.
We have razor wire around the decks & fire hoses at the ready - excitement.
I shall be looking out for skull & crossbones to take pictures for J & T.

Second day at sea & two more to come.
Sea is like a mill pond & warm sun, with clouds.
Yesterday was hot, we lay on deck & read (G slept) for part of the day, then choir practice for 11/2 hours followed by the gym, sauna, dinner, a show, tea & bed.
We have just been to a lecture "Laughter the best medicine" by Dr Rami ..., a consultant surgeon from Nottingham.
His third lecture, all brilliant - knowledge & humour.

On Internet whilst it's quiet - everyone on deck, otherwise it is terribly slow (& expensive)
I'm meant to be researching my sermon for Sunday - spare me a thought at 5.30pm ( 2.30, I think). It's not a real sermon.

Notes made then lunch & back on deck until choir at 4.30pm, which is great fun, with a brilliant leader, then the gym.
G has me weight training & the like - hard work but my shoulder is much better.

Happy Birthday, Oscar.

Oscar is three today - I hope he had a great birthday.
We just celebrated a 64th birthday with Billy, at our table - the first time he has smiled so far!

Yesterday we went to the Dead sea - enough said. We went to the gym this evening & then had saunas, to remove any last traces of mud.
This morning we went to Naama bay to see the sites of G's great diving triumphs. We walked the beach, seeing some pretty good fish right at the edge, then spent an hour on a glass bottomed boat, the water was beautifully clear & blue with a good number of different fish.
I still do not ever want to go diving.
We went to old Sharm & pottered arourd the shops - fairly typical Egyptian tat really - then back on board to sail for Oman, past Saudi.
We have a special drill in the morning & they have put razor wire all around the stern to prevent pirates boarding - sounds exciting.
We will get some photos of "skull & crossbones" for J , if they materialise.
Clocks forward another hour tonight, GMT + 3.

Day 2 on shore.

On Saturday we docked in Port Said & took an early morning, 3 hour trip to Alexandria, where we visited the museum, library (initially founded about 450BC by Ptolemy), the catacombs & palaces. The back streets were fascinating, bustling, narrow & colourful. It deserves a second visit. Back late.
Yesterday we came through the Suez Canal, over 100 miles, which took from 2.00am until 2.oopm - lots of ships!
This morning we docked in Safaga & took an early trip to temples on the NIle, to the North.
Good, but 8 hours in the coach for 2 1/2 hours at the sites.
Just had a great dinner with excellent company - a couple from Loo, bookmaker & wife, who runs a touristy shop.
He's opening a book (privately) on the number who "pop their clogs" on board.
Average age is 68!!
Some other youngsters like us.
Off to the Dead sea tomorrow.

Yesterday's blog!

It wouldn't go - slow connection - here's the gist-
G says that he feels like the Ancient Mariner.
I didn't explore further as the things we are not short of are food & water & we have yet to see an albatros!
We sailed on Mon night at 11,59pm, a storm force 8 promised & everything stowed/held down - apart from the shelves in the shop, apparently.
This opened yesterday.
Veterans of many cruises are surprised by the swell - a lot of "rock & roll" ( but no sign of seasickness)
Highlight of the day was watching the newly filled jacuzzi pour most of it's contents over the adjoining sunbeds. I was noted at lunch as the "lady who laughed". Rather a lot, actually.

UPgraded to a junior suite - champagne, fruit & flowers on arrival, daily canapes, fresh cut fruit & chocolates on the pillows. Only one grade higher. Fantastic.
We thought that this was normal until we looked at the plan to find our Muster Station & realised that there are only 4 larger cabins & we should be in the bowels, not on deck 7/9.
We checked out our cabin - list on the door of jobs to be done - all possible!
Praise the Lord!
I've joined the choir (practice daily for 1 hour when at sea), we go to lectures, the gym the spa...
A floating" "Mount" (Woking) but with other like-minded youngsters.

I walked a high speed mile around the top deck after breakfast in the fresh air whilst G taught an inmate to use the internet, then a lecture on Alexandria, lunch, a tour of the bridge with the Captain, the gym, choir practice then dinner in the Yacht Club (posh - Italian, 5 course)
Now to bed, up at 5.30am, then off to Alexandria, back late.
Christmas decorations going up today.

Alive and kicking

Nice boat, good food but late leaving Barcelona after 2 week refit so sailing direct to Port Said missing Malta and Alexandria. Consequence 4 days+ at sea and it's been rough - force 8/9 with a big swell on starboard quarter. Not sick but walking drunkenly. Could of course be all the wine!
Cabin upgraded to Junior suite, champagne on ice on arrival + big fruit bowl. Cut Fruit and canapes each day. Trip top Alex on Sat Canal Sat night/Sun then back on Schedule.
All well and getting to gym each day. Bright and sunny today - first time though.
Looking forward to comments. will upload a longer detailed later but connection Not great at pres.
G & g