Lai lady lai

So, final day on the islands with a visit to the Hawaii volcano national park. the Kilauea Caldera which we primarily visited is active and was steaming. It last erupted in 1986 and is one of four active volcano's on Hawaii. Mauna Kea is the tallest at about 14000 feet above sea level, but from its ocean base it is higher then Mount Everest.

We also went through a lava tube and visited a couple of craters in the caldera. All interesting and good to see.

The town of Hilo where the ship moored is a throw back in time to the 1950's. It has many art deco buildings most of which are run down, and there is the usual passenger oriented craft market.  All in all a slow old place.

So now we are off into the Pacific for four days, hoping for fine weather and some better entertainment than was the case coming over. While the ship cannot legislate for the weather it can for the entertainment. the comedian and hypnotist were second rate, the piano singer can play but not sing and the Machida band are well liked by the Japanese but there are more Brits on board than them.
The sports bar is a smoking bar and is disgusting, more so now that such an environment is a rarity at home. Still ESPN show rugby and footie as well as the cricket world cup in the cabin so all not gloom and doom.

We now have our sea legs screwed back on and it's off we go back to San Fran.

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!

Old Year reflections

SWMBO and I reverted to our traditional date night in for New Years Eve. I get the privilege of cooking, and we reminisce the year past. My speciality this time was weeping lamb with boulangere potatoes with French onion soup to start, and it was all yummy.

So what did we see as the years highs and lows?

Starting on the family front, we were blessed with our fifth grandchild, Alexander, who has now maintained the continuity of the Weathers line, blending a bit of Bulgarian into the Irish and English gene pool. A welcome surprise on Monday was the news that my cousin Mike and his long suffering partner Valerie, has finally tied the knot and were officially Mr and Mrs Weathers. SWMBO's mum also got over a major health scare which we were all delighted about.
SWMBO and I both lost relations towards the end of the year. SWMBO's Uncle Kevin died after a troubled few years, in his early sixties, and my Auntie Betty passed away on Christmas Day morning after a short illness. She was 92 so had had a fair old innings.

Domestically, the years highlight was the redesign and construction of a new bedroom for SWMBO, in less than two weeks while she was in Tanzania. We had a good family barbeque and both Tim and Kieran moved into new homes in the later part of the year. Kieran's move left us rattling around on our own in Chateau Weathers. Maxine survived a full year without working!

It was good to be involved in Wally's stag 'do' in Portugal and to be visited by friends and family from London, on a regular basis, but an acrimonious holiday in Turkey meant we have lost Lou, one of SWMBO's long term work colleagues, as a friend.  They say love is blind, and in her case she is the only one to be able to see any good in her new partner, Martin. Pity.

On the sporting front, I was delighted to break 80 on the golf course for the first time. I also fired a 82 around Southport and Ainsdale which was pretty special, and I am chuffed to be Chairman elect of the Seniors section at Wallasey next year.

We saw the year as routine when we started discussing it, but as you can see a lot happened.

So now we are into 2015 and I have 23 blog entries to try to beat to allow me to reversze the downward publishing trend. what can you look forward to then?

We are off to the States for a month in March going from Las Vegas to Hawaii and back to New York. There are two trips to Ireland, one for the Causeway Classic golf festival and one to coincide with the rugby world cup. I will be attending some of the world cup games too.

I end the blog as I started, with news of grandchild number six which should arrive sometime in February. So do stay tuned it will be another exciting year.