Dry January

 Not for me though, life seems to carry on regardless. After returning from Disneyland Paris, the next task was to store all the Christmas decorations in the loft. It is a task which seems to get harder each year. This is due to my lack of the flexibility needed to navigate the roof space, and the reluctance of SWMBO to discard some of the decorations which have been superceeded by new purchases. Who knows, this might be the last Christmas in Hillhouse at which point a good clear out can take place.

The first major event of the year was the meeting to identify the new Captain of the golf club. those of you who have seen Enclave, the movie about the appointing of a new Pope, will have an idea of what we have just been through. A good candidate was identified and I am sure he is in for a cracking 2026.

Other than that, I had a variety of 'Well Man' checks, shingles jabs, and asthma assessments which all seemed to go well, and played the usual golf competitions where I hit the bar a few times but no cigar.

Finally SWMBO and I booked a cruise for later in the year when we fly to Seattle and then visit Alaska, something which has been on our bucket list for some time. We are travelling with Virgin Voyage so it will be interesting to see if we fit the demographic given we hear report of the ships being party boats.

There might still be life in the old dog yet1! 

All at sea

Not  the strap line I was going to use, but the cruising part of the trip has not quite gone to plan. We left San Francisco with the words of captain Nash ringing in our ears. It’s going to be rough he said in his Cornish burr, so he could have added ‘me lovers’ or ‘proper job’ at the end of the sentence.

Well, rough it was, and for three days most of the 3000 passengers were confined to barracks, with the demand for the full English in short supply. SWMBO is not good with motion but she had been a martyr to the cause and we have represented the UK with fortitude. We were rewarded on day 4 with a calmer sea and sunbathing weather which put everybody in a good frame of mind for our first landfall on Wednesday.

Seems something upset Poseidon though as we awoke to the news than the winds were too strong to allow the ship to dock at Nawiliwili on the Hawaiian island of Kuala. Instead we spent the day circling it before starting out for Honolulu. We did see several silverback whales on our travels and are promised many more when we get to Maui on Friday. Up to 10000 come down from Alaska to sporn ever Winter so that should be exciting.

The ship has very little to occupy us as most of its clientele are overweight slothful Americans. We have probably brought the average age down somewhat. Nonetheless we are battling on with a trip to Pearl Harbour on schedule for tomorrow. Then its snorkelling and a volcano tour before we head back with another four days at sea. Our course back is further South so should miss the wind and be set fair to top up our tan.

If not it will be bingo, play your cards right, and ballroom dancing, can’t wait!