The first day in the gym after a fortnight stuffing our faces on the cruise. 30 minutes in the gym then a swim to relax. Best bit was the sauna and the jacuzzi. Who would have thought that just two weeks could have had such an effect. Even earlier, I had a hospital appointment to check for an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), but it was all clear, thank goodness. We had our usual salsa class at night and it just 
added to the exhaustion. As for the rest of the day, I have no idea where it went, other than I took some photos of the shooting seed potatoes as a POD. Oh, yes, and I put another batch of photos on Flickr. I think it will take the remainder of the week for us to recover. I aim to have a less stressful day tomorrow when the weather, according to the magic weather fairies, is to be fair and sunny. We’ll see.
Category: Uncategorized
Lazy Sunday – 28 June 2015
Last Sunday, I took 110 photos. Today, I took just 5. That’s the way it goes sometimes. The furthest I got today was the back garden. Torrential rain, then sun with a bit of a breeze. Not a bad day, just a lazy one. A very lazy one. My shot of the day was this one of pansies in the rain. Taken through the kitchen window this morning. Too lazy to go outside. That’s the way it goes sometimes.
Ok, I’ll be honest. All is not as it seems. As usual. There just wasn’t enough depth of field to capture the whole flower, so I took two shots. One with focus on the front and one with focus a bit further back. Then took the two images into Potatoshop as layers and aligned them then used a mask to cut through part of the top layer to allow the bottom layer to show through. That way I could get the best sharp bits from both images. It’s posh name is focus stacking. Others call it cheating. I call it photography.
Fannyside – 27 June 2015
This was always going to be a busy day. We had friends coming to dinner and there was a lot to do. First thing was to make some bread. That was the easy bit. Just chuck the ingredients into the bowl of the 
mixer and let it get on with it. After 10 mins of mixing, divide the dough in half. Half goes in the freezer and half gets set aside for proving (allowing it to do the initial rising). Next, get the pannacotta on the go. I’ve done it a hundred times, but this time I nearly let it boil over. Just too cocky. After that, I could relax for a while, so took the 
bottles to the bottle bank – they make such a lovely sound when you smash them! Then it was time to get the photo done for today, and I decided to go to Fannyside moor to see if the bog cotton was in bloom. For once I was too early, as it was just beginning to flower, so I got some photos of moss seed heads instead. I also attempted a shot of a lonely tree, but the camera and the weather conspired against me and what I got was a shot of some dry grass stems with the tree just out of focus and distorted by the heat haze. A heat haze in Scotland, I hear you exclaim. Yes, it’s true, but perhaps today was summer. It’ll be sleet tomorrow, just you wait and see.
Once the photography was over, it was time to head back home to slave over a hot stove, this time it was the main course. It’s a hard life this.
Auld claes and purrich – 25 June 2015
It’s that sad day after a great holiday when you have to come back down to normal life again. No longer to have breakfast on the upper deck. No longer to slather yourself in sun tan lotion and bake for half an hour at a time. No longer can you walk away and leave the dirty dishes for someone else to tidy up. There’s good things about it too, not least, your own bed at night. That’s worth a lot of the inconvenience. 
Not having to listen to the “Bing! Bong! This is your captain speaking from the bridge” and 9.00 every morning, that’s a relief too. Just a lazy day today with the added brightener of a birthday party tonight in Barca in Glasgow. So the holiday isn’t entirely over yet, oh no. Also, I got a minifig as a Father’s Day present from Hazy and a clever clogs card from JIC. Nice things to come home too.
However, as my dad would often say, it’s back to auld claes and purrich. In other words, it’s back to normal – or as near normal as we get. Oh yes, and it’s still raining!
Homeward Bound – 24 June 2015
It’s been a long day. Alarm rang at 7.45am and we were up and out before 9.00am. Breakfast then a spot of sunbathing on the pool deck. I went for a wander around the deck initially to shoot some shots of he 
Moby ferry and the houses that rise up the hill. Then I noticed a bloke with a camera taking what I presume were fashion shots of a young lady wearing 
what looked like a bikini bottom, a furry wrap around top and virtually nothing else. The shoot, if that is what it was, was being done on a public walkway. Try doing that down on the Clydeside Walkway in Glasgow.
After that, we were on the homeward bound machine, except it was the Italian version. Which is the same as anywhere else, except it takes at least twice as long to get anything done. We waited half an hour for one wheelchair user to arrive and find his place on the coach. Couldn’t it have been done like it is on a plane, when the wheelchair users get on first to be settled before the rest of the passengers are boarded? Nah, that would be too easy. Better to make everyone wait, that’s the Italian way.
Arrived at the airport to find that there was a mini traffic jam at the entrance. One person moved their car and two taxis took their place, then two Carabinieri (Polis) cars double parked and screwed everyone up. Eventually the coach driver managed to get close enough for us to disembark and enter the airport. We got straight through security and were boarded. Well, not exactly boarded, we were sent through the tunnel to the plane, but no further for about half an hour because at least six people in wheelchairs were pushed down the tunnel to be seated first. Why, oh why does it take so long to seat six people?
Genoa is a toy town airport, pretending its a real one. Edinburgh is not bad, Glasgow is worse, but they are gold standard compared with this bunch of time wasters. The good thing was that while we werewaiting for the geriatrics to board and find their seats, it gave me time to take a couple of photos of two Piaggio P-180 Avanti II parked on the apron. There’s always a silver lining.
Got to Edinburgh and got stuck in a traffic jam almost all the way home.
And it was raining …
Stormy Weather – 23 June 2015
This morning, after a fairly bouncy passage north, we woke to the news from the captain that the seas were too high to safely use the tender for going ashore, so therefore we would not be going to Monte Carlo as promised. A few minutes later there was another message that we would instead be going to St Tropez where the winds and sea were lighter and the bay was more sheltered. We were disappointed at first, but as we hadn’t been to St Tropez before, and as we had no choice anyway, it seemed like the best solution, so off we sailed to St Tropez. The journey didn’t take too long and as soon as we were anchored the tenders were readied. Now I know I’ve criticised P&O quite a lot in this blog, but this is one thing they excel at, organization. New port information sheets were printed and issued to every cabin. A “going ashore” presentation was swiftly organised. Tender tickets were issued and the whole thing simply worked like clockwork. We were passengers 638 and 639, but it only took about 20 mins from getting the ticket to boarding a rocky tender. A tender, by the way for those who don’t know is just a small boat used to ferry passengers from the main ship at anchor to the jetty or pier. Usually with a cruise ship, it’s the lifeboats that are used as tenders.
We wandered round the front area of ST and quickly found that it was just one big traffic jam. Occasionally some hooray Henry would race past in daddy’s Porsche, but it was mainly motor scooters and motorbikes that were deemed the best way of cutting through traffic. We walked through a market, but as the time was 1.00pm, most of the stallholders were shutting up shop for the day. It seems that the market opens around 6.00am and shuts between 1.00 and 2.00pm.
After the walk around the market, we headed for the old harbour to see the fancy yachts. They’re called yachts, but most of them are bigger than some cruise ships. It doesn’t look as if many of them sail out to see very often. Their owners get someone else to sail them in to port, then they themselves jet or helicopter in to spend a few days on them. There seemed to be a lot of parties going on in them. We, on the other hand, went looking for a bar to get a beer. We found one, an Irish bar, run by an Italian in France! Whatever, the beer was good. As usual, we didn’t want to be late back, so we headed back to get the tender out to the ship. After that, we had lunch then Scamp went sunbathing and I went for a short snooze. After an hour, I joined her on the sun deck to roast myself for a while before we went to the cabin to finish packing. Had dinner then watched a Headliners show before a drink, a hot chocolate and bed. Need to be up and out before 9.00am tomorrow, ready to return to cold Scotland. Oh well, All good thing must come to an end! It was great fun, and we’d do it again with the same itinerary, but not with P&O, despite their organisation. There are just too many flaws in their company.
Dancing on a volcano 21 June 2015
Well, not quite dancing on a volcano, but sailing pretty close to it. The it in question being Stromboli at the southern tip of Italy, but let me start at the beginning. We woke around 8.30am and went out to see the passage through the Straits of Messina again. I make no excuses for this as it is a great sight.
While we were there we saw the strange swordfish fishing boats with their enormous masts and crows nests where the pilot steers the boat to the shoals of swordfish. There is also an extremely long bowsprit from which the fish are speared. Unfortunately we never saw any actual fishing being done, but the pilots were in the crows nests steering the boats. Scary looking stuff. There was beautiful light on the coasts on both sides during the passage. Lovely dramatic skies too. We also passed the highest pylons in Europe which are now designated listed status.
Just before we went for breakfast we saw a pod of dolphins, the second we’ve seen this trip. After breakfast I went to a talk on JMW Turner and also on some bloke who’s paintings the gallery were trying to push. Strangely, when the talk was finished and the powerpoint closed, there was a message on the screen to the effect that this was not a legal version of windows 7. Pirates on a ship? How apt. A quick walk along the deck and we were at the next talk which was about ancient Rome, but couched as a port talk would be today. The speaker was obviously really interested in his subject, but maybe took it a bit too enthusiastically for most of the audience.
When that was done we had just started to get near to Stromboli. We sailed right round it and were just sailing away when I saw some rocks falling down the 
scree with clouds coming from them. I presume these were thrown out by the only active volcano in Europe. A really amazing and scary sight. I don’t think I’d like to live near it.
Time for lunch, and after that it was sunbathing time, with a short interlude to watch the start of the Austrian F1 GP. By about 
5.00pm it was getting a bit cool to sit any longer so we went back to the cabin to get ready for the last formal night of the cruise. Watched three soul singers in the early cabaret – very good entertainment. After that, it was the Crew Show, but it was mainly the Entertainment Team and a few of the staff, but very few. All in all, it was a good day at sea, well filled. I’ll probably remember it most for Stromboli and the swordfish fishing boats.
An Early Rise – 14 June 2015
Well, we did get up at 5.30am and it was worth it to see the Straits of Messina. We also got to watch the sunrise over the toe of Italy. Great start to the day. I don’t think we had realised just how close the ship would be to the coast on both sides. It certainly was a great sight to see. We couldn’t get up to the top 
deck because the wind was so strong. Probably a good thing really. We did see one girl, three sheets to the wind staggering up the stairs with a hangover in the making. If she had managed to get to the upper deck I’m sure someone would have had the chance to test the crew’s readiness for “Man Overboard”. Should that now be “Person Overboard” now in these PC days? I’m sure someone will try to get it changed. Anyway, the two blokes with her wouldn’t have been much use, but I don’t think they were as drunk as they tried to imply. Scamp went back to bed after the Straits had disappeared behind us and I stayed up. I went to reception to complain about last night’s elephant rampage, but no elephants have been reported on board. However, if we hear any elephantine noises tonight we’ve to phone 5000 to get an elephant trainer to come and calm it down. We’ll see.
It’s 8.10am just now and I’m sitting in the shadow of the Sky Deck writing this, but I think I’ll soon be grabbing a sunbed to top up my tan. It’s a strange to think that there’s a place in the world where I’ve had breakfast and am going sunbathing at this hour. More later.
Sat for an hour painting, then I woke Scamp and we went for breakfast. Second breakfast for me. After that we went looking for sunbeds. Found a few behind the golf range which acted as a windbreak and made it quite comfortable. This is definitely “taps aff” weather for me. Soaked up the sun for a couple of hours and then it was time to go to dance class. Swing Jive today. Looks so easy, but it is a lot more difficult than it seems. After that I went to a talk about art prints and what makes a limited edition. Really interesting, but the figures they were talking about were way above my pay grade.
Dancing again in the afternoon and more sunning ourselves.
Black tie dinner tonight, but I only lasted for the dinner and a walk around the deck before I had to give in and hang up the kilt. Too hot for it here. We did manage one dance. We commandeered a samba and turned it into a samba. I was knackered after that. Then Scamp wanted to do a Cha-Cha, so we did and that was it for the night.
Elephants are back again tonight. It’s coming from the restaurant, I’m sure. There really shouldn’t be rooms below it. However, as Scamp says, they have to get the kitchens cleared up for these hungry people like us to stuff our faces again the next day. Truly, you eat, drink and sleep. We like the cabin and its position near the pool, so I expect we’ll put up with the elephant. It’s on its holiday too 
. Looking forward to Dubrovnik.
Naples, home of the pizza – 13 June 2015
Today began early at around 6.45am to be a bit more precise. I got up to watch the entry into Naples, but I was an hour too late, it was meant to be 5.45am. I wasn’t bothered as it gave me a chance to see the city from on high and get some good photos with the beautiful morning light. Had breakfast out on the deck enjoying the views and the warm sun. Scamp was still sleeping – she said she was too tired to get up. Later when she did arrive we went down to get a Red B
us Tour into the city. Unfortunately, when I was photographing the monument to the unknown immigrant, I noticed that the battery was low so I had to go back to the ship which meant up two long flights of stairs, across the bridge, down two long flights of stairs on the other side, through port security, through ship security and back to the cabin. Then I found that for some lucky reason, Olympus had seen fit to make the batteries in the E-PL1 and the E-PL5 almost the same. In fact, they were so similar they are interchangeable. That meant I would still be able to use the E-PL5. Great! Now back through ship security, port security …
Eventually we got out on to the red bus, which turned out to be a shuttle that took us to the bus terminus. We went on the Red tour which looked the most interesting. The bus took us up hills, down the other side into wee side streets that looked at first to be far too narrow. We followed a trolley bus for a while. How long is it since we’ve seen trolley busses? The route, like every Red Bus Tour we’ve been on was a circular one, eventually bringing us back to where we started. I really enjoyed the bus tour.
Scamp didn’t like Naples – she never has, to be fair. We were hot and thirsty and also beginning to get hungry. We walked back along the route to the shopping area and found a pizzeria which looked ok. As soon as I walked in I felt the wash of the aircon. What a welcome feeling. My face must have been a picture as one of the Italians (all the customers were Italian) sitting at a table near the door burst into laughter and said “Is good, eh?” It was good. The pizza I had was also good. Very good in fact, as was the beer. I had a pizza Romana and Scamp had something she can pronounce, but I can’t which was a plain pizza, no cheese or tomato, just a very thin baked base with a fluffy crust. The well in the middle was then filled with tuna, chopped baby tomatoes and rocket, then sprinkled with olive oil. Multo bene.
Lazed on the deck when we got back, but the sky was clouding over now. Drank gallons of iced water. Sunbathed for an hour and then watched the sail-away. After that it was time for dinner. Relaxed dress for dinner tonight. Scamp got talking to the woman at the same table as us – Sue and the two of them were amazed at the parallel lives they’d led. Both were singers in a choir. Both had done the Big Sing. Both had run keep fit classes for older people. It was quite an astonishing evening.
After dinner we went to look at the photos we’d had taken yesterday and Scamp was not amused at them. I was not amused at the way the display on the touch screen computers kept stalling every few seconds. Eventually it hung completely and we logged out. Not impressed.
Watched the sun set then had a coffee and listened to the pianist. Went to bed, or tried to. It appears there is an elephant in the room next to ours, crashing around, which is strange on two counts.
1. We’ve not seen an elephant on board, and if it was in the pool, wouldn’t we have seen its trunks somewhere? (Joke, Scamp).
2. There’s not a room next to ours. Update. There is a room next to our’s. It’s a crew practise room, where they can practise making up beds and feeding the elephant.
Hoping to get up at 5.30 tomorrow to see the passage through the Straits of Messina, if we get any sleep.
All at Sea – 12 June 2015
Today we awoke to grey skies and just the occasional spot of rain and temperatures of around 23degrees. It didn’t stop us having breakfast outside – mainly because there were no seats inside, but that’s a common problem on ‘at sea days’. Scamp wanted to go to the ballroom class, so we trotted off to the Starlight lounge and learned the basics of Cha-Cha. We had already a good grasp of the dance because we’d I’d tried to learn it many times in the past. Quite enjoyed it, for once, and not just because there was nothing else to do but look for dolphins. No, we didn’t see any, but loads of folk were adamant they had. Captains message at 12.00 mid day said amongst other things that the ship gets 90 gallons to the mile! Incredible figures.
The afternoon continued in the same weather vein, not to be confused with a weather vane which is a totally different thing. If anything, the wind got stronger and the temperature dropped a few degrees. After lunch we went back for another dose of Cha-Cha. This time there were turny bits as well as the basics. I had had problems in the morning dancing in my sandals, but in the afternoon I danced in my shoes. No difference. I ended up dancing in my sox. Ah, that was much better, if a bit more dangerous. After 
the Cha-Cha lesson, Scamp wanted to go to a piano recital. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I went too. By the time it was over (Yes, I did enjoy it), we went for afternoon tea. Life ‘on board this iron ship’ – Tom Waits quote – is one long round of eating, snoozing and drinking. After that we sat and watched the sea. Until you’ve tried this you will have no idea just how relaxing it is. A great therapy. Took some photos of the sea as reference material for a painting. Everyone seemed to be convinced I’d seen a whale or a dolphin pod, it’s what gets photogs a bad name. There was allegedly a pod of whales spotted this morning – again I say, allegedly. Just another way to keep the gullible amused on a dull sea day.
By then it was time to get dressed for the black tie event, so it was kilts on time. Nearly met the captain which was a narrow escape for him or us, you choose. However we did speak to Olly who was a junior Second Officer and had a nice white uniform. He seemed fairly pleasant. Didn’t get much time to talk as the captain was beginning his pre-dinner speech, which for once was quite witty and interesting. Dinner was good. I had Smoked Salmon starter with a main of Duck Breast in a Cherry sauce then biscuits and cheese. Scamp had Asparagus with Egg and Parmasan wafer for starter then Lobster then Panacotta with Strawberries cooked in Prosecco. We’ve picked up another couple at our table as the first two have deserted us. Was it something we said? These two seem nicer ( I hate that word, but it’s late and it will have to do!).
After dinner we wandered round wondering what to do. Scamp wanted a formal picture taken so we did that, then went for a drink in one of the quieter areas. Listened to another pianist and then watched the dancing, ballroom dancing, not real dancing. Finally I plucked up enough courage to stumble round the floor in a semblance of a Cha-Cha. Scamp seemed pleased that I’d made the effort.
Then the strangest thing happened. We’d found our way to the place where you get late night hot chocolate. I’d just sat down when this American girl came over with her boyfriend/husband and said “Can I have my picture taken with you.” I thought, why not, so she got her photo taken with a real Scotsman from Scottishland wearing his kilt. I’m sure it’ll be on FB as I write. Strange and funny end to a long, mostly dull day with a few bright intervals. Weather was much the same.
Onward to Naples tomorrow, hoping for better weather.