Sailing into the Sunset (Again)

Well if it's not in the suitcase now it isn't going with us!!

Yes it is time for us to be off again. I know it seems like we have only just got back (it's actually 6 weeks since we returned from Norway) but tomorrow we are heading south again and Saturday afternoon we shall be sailing off into the sunset... yet again.

This time our destination is the Mediterranean on the good ship Oceana. First port Barcelona, then Monte Carlo, Elba, Rome, Naples (we are visiting Capri from here), Cartagena and Gibraltar. We have been to most of them before but this will give us an opportunity to explore a little more and see some of the sights we missed the first time.. can you belive we went to Rome and never even glimpsed the Collesseum!!

It has been a bit rushed, having to work up right up to leaving, but I did manage to get the majority of the packing done on Sunday. Since then I have just been throwing bits and pieces into the cases as I find them.

Today Erin and I went food shopping to make sure they have at least some food in the house while we are away. I also bought a new small digital camera as I broke our other one when I was on Emma's hen weekend a few weeks ago, I think someone stood on my handbag because both the camera and my mobile phone had cracked screens.

There is little else to report I am afraid, life has involved working, sleeping and more working. We did go to Druidstone on Tuesday for their "Greek feast" which was very nice, but other than that we have been saving ourselves for our holiday. Try not to miss me too much whilst I am gone (I am sure you won't seeing as my blogging has become so hit and miss) and I shall see you all in October (we get back on the 3rd)... and then I suppose it will be time to think about Christmas!!!

Morning Wonders

I think I may have mentioned before that working nights can have its advantages.

This morning just as I was starting to really flag after a very long and very busy night, the dawn was just breaking and the sky was a beautiful orange colour. Suddenly out of the west flew a skein of geese in a perfect V shape right past the window of Port Control at eye level.

It was a wonderful sight, there must have been at least 20 of them and they flew east into the sun rise where they were sillouhetted against the orange sky as they made their way up the Haven. It was the perfect antidote to a tiring night and lifted my soul.

Anniversary

This blog seems to be becoming a weekly event now. I really must make an effort to do more.

Tuesday was our Silver Wedding Anniversary... 25 years of married bliss (allegedly!!). We have never particularly celebrated our anniversaries, the date seems to come and go with the odd card, usually from our parents. This year however, the cards started to mount up a day or so before hand and by the actual date we had quite a little pile to open.

We also had presents.. a very rare occurrence. Three variously sized silver photo frames, a bottle of Southern Comfort, 2 bottles of wine and a bouquet of flowers... not a bad haul really.

We decided to celebrate quietly on our own and went to Stone Hall (see pic) for dinner. It was really nice, if a little quiet (only us and another table of 4, but then it was Tuesday night).

I had a warm smoked duck salad with basalmic dressing to start while Noel went for the escargot (that's snails you know!!) which were lovely with a really rich garlic butter. For mains I had a rack of Preseli lamb with a garlic crust and Noel had a fillet of beef with pink peppercorn sauce. The vegetables were braised fennel, green beans, carrots and new potatoes and everything was superb. Dessert was a creme brulee for me and a hazelnut meringue with fresh raspberries and whipped cream which looked absolutely delicious and from the small spoonful he let me have tasted as good as it looked.

Unfortunately we had had to drive so only a small amount of wine was consumed (with soda in my case as I had volunteered to drive) but it was a really pleasant evening.

I was back to work yesterday and today and it was pretty hectic and stressful (today isn't quite so bad). The weather has suddenly decided to improve greatly, typical when I go back to work, but I am now counting down to the next Cruise which is a week on Saturday. I shall endeavour to blog again before we go.