The Curse of the Cruise

Those of you who have followed my blog in the past will know that at times I have come home to a small domestic situation such as a kaput fridge, a knackered washing machine a banjaxxed shower and other little items usually as a result of the adventures of my friendly cat/flat sitter "Nunnsy". Since Loulabella passed away this was the first cruise that I could just lock the front door and not have to worry about anything back home. wrong. Arrived home yesterday midday, got my washing done, put in a Tesco online order to be delivered in the morning, made contact with family to let them know "The Eagle has Landed" This morning a lovely long shower without having to do your contortionist act and reversing onto taps, only to hear the sound of water running even after I have turned off the shower, stepped out of the shower only to be confronted with another cold shower coming through the ceiling of the bathroom and quickly forming a lake on the bathroom floor. So I go ice skating across the floor manage to locate and turn off the stop cock, and electrical water heating, lay down a swathe of towels, get a bowl from the kitchen and all before I have had my Cornflakes, now to find a plumber on a Bank Holiday weekend. The Curse of the Cruise Strikes. Part two, I eventually got the leak sorted out, thinking everything was back to normal, wrong, the thermostat on the immersion heater has just been and blown so no hot water, happy days. I must go down to the sea again.

Miserable old Sod

Heading for home now and we have been told to brace ourselves for a rough crossing over the Bay of Biscay, following the coat tails of an Atlantic Storm so it could be strap into a barstool time and ride it out with with alcohol. It has been a strange cruise with many long faces, couples bickering (even more than usual) lots of glum faces a lack of laughter, not I may add from the crew who as usual have been brilliant. There has also been a lack of characters, some who  I thought might be candidates turn out to be a few heartbeats away from being sectioned. To give you an idea of the general mental state, I am sat in Costa writing this and I am surrounded with couples going through their interim onboard accounts with a fine tooth comb and then using the calculator on their mobile to check that it’s right then checking the bank account at home to see if they have got enough to cover it, I don’t think the crew are going to do very well for tips. I feel like getting up and shouting YOUR ARE ON HOLIDAY, FORGET YOU ARE ENGLISH, STOP BEING SO ANNALY RETENTIVE. Perhaps the sea gods will be getting there revenge in the next 24 hours. Sorry to finish on a negative note, let’s hope that this cruise was just a blip and I am being a finickity old bugger. I will add some photos when I am back home and have a decent internet connection. Thanks for reading this rubbish I have been writing, hope you have enjoyed it and I have managed to make you smile, see you on the next one.

The air that I breathe

Usually I am writing about someone’s catastrophe or accident, this time it’s my turn, now before you start thinking he’s been on the bottle again (steady on Bet and Social Secretary) what happened was after some strolling around Lanzarote or more accurately being  blown around, I returned to the ship and after having a skinny latte, I decided to have 20 minutes in my cabin before getting ready for the helter skelter of a rich and varied evening. I woke up 2 hours later with a thumping headache,sinuses working overtime, sore throat and feeling nauseous. There was a smell of fresh paint everywhere in the cabin, which I correctly guessed was the cause of my problems. I did not know that the air con had been turned off to allow painters to paint all around the air con intake, one deck up directly over my cabin. I tried going out for fresh air which helped a bit, I reported the problem and they got the system back on to clear the fumes and file a report incident. I tried to go for a meal but managed to only get a couple of mouthfuls down before it threatened to reverse the journey, so I beat a hasty retreat to the cabin to lay down and be close to the loo, which I did for most of a sleepless night. Today is a sea day as we make our way to our last stop La Coruna in Spain, I have spent most of the day in my cabin catching up on sleep, re-hydrating and trying to get rid of my headache in preparation for a run ashore in a couple of days time. My last point is that if it had been someone with more serious health considerations could the outcome been more serious if it had been, Asthma, Emphysema, COPD or one of many more medical conditions. I feel a letter coming on to the CEO of P&O, and it’s not a script for Murder on the Ventura. I will point out the failings on the H&S front, no risk assessment, although each painter had personal protective equipment and safety breathing masks, they also failed in their duty of care to their passengers, namely moi.