And the Winner is...

This afternoon we went to the presentation of the best picture awards for the art class. The winners were announced in reverse order with seven joint fourths and then the top three. After the second prize was awarded I was getting quite upset because most of Janet's pictures were better than the prize winners. Then guess what? Janet won the first prize with her painting of the Red Arrows practising over the Norfolk Broads.

Monday 31st October 2011

Our last day of the cruise. The disembarkation instructions have been delivered to our cabins, along with the envelopes in which to place our tips! We're currently sailing through the Bay of Biscay, with rain lashing the windows and the ship's fog horn occasionally blasting through the gloom. The seas aren't too bad, though yesterday as we sailed up past Portugal we had enormous swells which some found uncomfortable.

Harold and I attended our final painting class yesterday afternoon. We painted a view of a beach with some fishing boats moored on the shingle. And this morning we've been to the display of some of the paintings that all the class have produced over the last couple of weeks. It was quite interesting to see everyone's work. Dave had difficulty picking out my three paintings from those displayed, until he realised that they all had masked edges which had 'bled'. Here's a photo of some of the display, with two of mine marked with red spots (not 'Sold' stickers, merely digitally added markers to show you which are mine!).

I keep nagging Julie to blog about her 'Pinafore' experience, but to no avail so far. Maybe this afternoon she'll get round to it!

All for now

xx
Janet
xx

Beverages

The worst part of Aurora is the Orangery which is the self service restaurant on deck 12. Combatants enter the servery from dining rooms on both sides and circle around a series of isolated counters. Inevitably queues form at each end of these counters creating central war zones where collateral damage is unavoidable. The worst part of the Orangery are the small circles of hell where you can make your own beverages. These have been carefully designed by P&O to encourage passengers to give up and buy their drinks from the waiters.

I have to admit that, when I was younger and lived in Manchester, I occasionally drove too close to the car in front. Now I have retired to St Annes I don't do it any more. I'm older and wiser and anyway it's impossible to intimidate old ladies who haven't looked in their mirrors for the last 20 years. Standing in the beverages queue takes me back to those nose to tailgate, testosterone fuelled, journeys on the M60. Everyone in the queue is shuffling forwards and straining their necks to discover the source of the delay. “Oh for God's sake” is the unspoken cry “ how long does it take someone with a walking frame to make a cup of tea?”

After picking up your cup and saucer the first thing you encounter is a set of eight drawers each labelled with the name of a different exotic tea. In accordance with P&O rules only four randomly selected drawers are allowed to contain tea bags. The octogenarian couple in front of me, who have spent the last five minutes discussing their aliments, have now arrived at the drawers. “What sort of tea would you like today Arthur?” - time stands still - “ Er, Peppermint” - “Oh Ethel likes that, get yours whilst I see if she wants one”. As his wife limps away to the far end of the dinning room' Arthur opens the empty drawer marked Peppermint. This time the “ Oh for God's sake” is audible.

At last it's my turn. I've selected Janet's tea bag from a prioritised list of options and I've remembered to pick up the spoons with the cups. I'm conscious of the pressure behind me but, so far, everything is going well. The coffee comes in those little tubes and I tear off the end and squeeze. The tube remains stubbornly sealed so I tear off some more and try to force the grains of coffee through the small hole that I've now made. As I throw the tube away and start again, I hear a tutting noise from the man behind. At randomised intervals the boiling water dispenser fails to deliver a full cup. Without thinking I press the button again and fail to drag the cup away before the water cascades into the saucer. As I pour the excess coffee into the drip tray I hear more tutting.

The dispenser works fine for Janet's tea and I quickly mash the tea bag and fish it out with a spoon. The tutter behind has impatiently started to make his drinks and is now standing smugly in front of the waste bin, which P&O have thoughtfully provided at the beginning rather than the end of the preparation area. I raise the tea bag on its spoon of boiling water to the level of his nose and give him my best “come on punk make my day” look. Startled, he takes a quick step backwards and a series of nose to tail collisions ripples back down the queue. Now that the man behind has become the focus of the queue's anger I leisurely add milk to the drinks and give them one final, triumphant, stir.

Dave C

Saturday, 29th October 2011

The mixed weather has continued. Thursday was spent in Palermo, with sunshine all day. Yesterday, as we steamed down the Adriatic, persistent rain once more set in – postponing the ship building competition for a second time. Late in the afternoon, the Cap-tain made an announcement informing us that there was bad weather ahead, and because of this he had decided to cancel our planned stop in Oporto on Sunday. Instead, he had arranged for us to visit Malaga today, where the weather forecast was good.

Sure enough, we woke to clear blue skies and all went off the ship to explore Malaga again. A lovely day, culminating in the Ship Building competition in one of the pools, with lots of spectators due to the brilliant weather.

Only four 'ships' had been entered into the competition, two of which were pretty basic. Our octopus caused a great deal of amusement, and passed all the tests, but was beaten into second place by a lovely yacht made from water bottles, bin bags and yellow & black safety tape. A satisfactory result, and best of all – we've left the octopus upstairs by the pool so now have a more spacious cabin again!

And the winner...

We're sailing towards Gibraltar now – rough seas tomorrow and Monday, and then we're home.

xx

Janet

xx

Wet in Venice

I've always believed that the most important thing to do before you die is to live for a long time but sailing into Venice in the morning mist probably comes second on the list. Just after 7.00, I met room service at the door to intercept the breakfast tray. I'd decided that, in the dimly lit cabin, a meeting between a sleepy waiter and the large octopus draped over our table might not end well. By 7.30 we were on a little used balcony that runs right across the front of the ship just under the bridge. Fortunately someone had hidden the “access for crew only” sign under the door mat and so once the safety locks had been removed on the outer steel door there was nothing to stop us enjoying the best vantage point on the ship.

Looking on the positive side, this was the first time we had watched the approach to Venice through driving rain. The view was still breathtaking although part of that effect may have been due to the wind. The bad weather and the feeling of water water everywhere seemed to emphasise the fragility of the place. There are various engineering schemes going on to “save” Venice but it's hard to believe that a sad end is not inevitable. Venice is sinking on its timber piled foundations by about 25mm a decade which is bad news when sea levels are rising. Obviously if there are billions of Euros on offer, someone is bound to come up with a rescue plan to dump loads and loads of rock into the sea, particularly if they own a quarry. However, I suspect that in the long term, the main benefit of the current civil engineering schemes will be to enable a significant proportion of the population to get rich enough to buy a house on dry land.

On previous trips to Venice we have done most of the main tourist things like marvelling at the cost of a cup of coffee in St Mark's Square. This time we decided to explore the Santa Groce area which gave us the opportunity to visit Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the largest church in Venice and also Ca'Pesaro, the modern art gallery. It also gave us the opportunity to use the new People Carrier. I suppose an underground would have been out of the question even for the Canute school of Venetian engineers, so they have opted for an elevated light railway. This runs from the cruise terminal to the edge of the old city which isn't very far but it's an interesting way to save a bit of walking. It is a driver-less which in Italy is probably considered a safety feature.

The church was amazing. Apart from being very large, the building is not that special but it is full of beautiful artwork including paintings and sculptures by Titian, Donatello and Bellini and a fantastic pyramidal monument by and to Canova. I can't show you because there were signs everywhere saying no photographs. I tried to sneak some but I only succeeded in getting one shot of the main altar and two of my fingers. The modern art museum was also well worth the visit. It was founded to exhibit the work of local artists but paintings and sculptures by more famous artists have been added to create an interesting cross section of 19^th and 20^th century art.

On the floor above there was an exhibition of modern sculpture. Black carpets hung in twisted shapes on on the walls. A number of the works featured copper tubes bent into abstract shapes and connected to the working parts of fridges. These sat forlornly in puddles of water on plastic sheets on the floor. The frozen tubes were covered in ice and it was difficult to know where the plumbing stopped and the art began. My favourite was a slab like sculpture that rose from a glass tank containing a single large white fish. I wondered if the piece would work with any type of fish and, if not, what would happen to its value when the white fish died? Did the artist offer a replacement service and if you used your own fish would it become a forgery? All Canova had to do was to design an angel that is so beautiful it makes people want to cry. Modern art is much more complicated.

Dave C

Wednesday, 26th October2011

At sea somewhere off the southern tip of Italy.

To say weather has been mixed would be an understatement. Dubrovnik two days ago was sunny and hot – Venice yesterday was cold and wet. Today, we've had cloudy and sunny spells, but the strong winds have kept us all indoors.

Harold has been kept very busy on this cruise. He went to a classical concert this morning at11:00am and a piano and violin recital this afternoon, and in between the two concerts managed to fit in lunch and the painting class. The rest of us have been a bit less active. Dave & I had breakfast late again this morning, at Cafe Bordeaux (the civilised option – we avoid the scrum of self-service buffet whenever possible). We then went up to the Crows Nest lounge with our books and the laptop. There are comfy chairs up there, fabulous views of the sea, and usually a very quiet atmosphere, though not this morning as a musical quiz was in progress. We stayed for an hour or so, until I remembered that I'd not done my 'homework' for this afternoon's painting class. So back to the cabin for a while. Then the painting class for me, followed by very late lunch (3:30) and a cuppa. We then watched a bit of the fashion show, until Dave got bored and we returned to the cabin so that he could continue building a miniature ship to go in the octopus's tentacles. The ship-building competition has been postponed until the 28^th October, so we've managed to hang the octopus (and,yes Rob, it does have 8 legs) from one of the pictures in our cabin, as life is cramped enough without sharing our space with a 6 foot seamonster.

Not much more to report at the moment. Dave is currently writing about our day in Venice, and I hope one of the others will also get blogging soon.

love

Janet

xx

Sunday 23rd October

We've been working on the octopus this afternoon - here's the latest photo...

Heaven knows where we're going to keep it for the next two days -and our cabin steward is in for a surprise this evening when he comes to 'do' our cabin while we're at dinner!

xx
Janet
xx

Sunday 23^rd October

Cloudy all day yesterday, so the ship (octopus) building commenced in our cabin.

We arrived in Corfu early this morning. It's cold and raining, so not sure whether we'll get off the ship. It may just be a day in which to catch up on the reading, eating and drinking!

Maybe more later.

love

Janet

xx

Friday, 21st October2011

At Sea

After the cloudy day in Palma, we woke to find the sun was once more shining in a clear blue sky. Sadly for some, our balconies were in the shade for the whole day, as we are on the port side and steaming eastwards. So some of the gang (no prizes for guessing but their surnames begin with 'S') spent most of the day on the sun decks. Dave C also ventured up there for a while, but couldn't get away from the general hubbub that people on sunbeds seem to create, so returned to our shady balcony for a bit of piece and quiet! I stayed on the balcony until it was time for the painting class, reading, watching the sea, and doing a bit of embroidery. Then after the painting class I went, alone, to the cinema to watch the new Woody Allen film, 'Midnight in Paris' which I very much enjoyed. Julie's also been to her rehearsal for Pinafore, which we're all looking forward to watching later in the cruise.

We've been planning our entry for the ship-building contest, which will be held on the afternoon of 26^th October. At a brain-storming session, Julie suggested we should build an octopus... and so that's what we're aiming to do. It's going to be quite big – and may be disqualified, as it's not really a ship – but hey-ho, it should cause a few laughs. The legs are going to be made from plastic bottles and empty cans, wrapped in the black plastic bin-liners that we eventually tracked down in a back-street supermarket in Palma yesterday. Dave and Julie also brought a Barbie beach ball back from Palma, which will be used as part of the head of the octopus. Our chief Procurement Officer, Dave Smith, has been incredibly successful in chatting up various crew members, and we've amassed a variety of gaffer tapes, string, ribbons and cardboard boxes. We saw him chasing after a feather-clad showgirl last night, and thought for a moment we were going to have to build a duck instead of an octopus, but no... it was another roll of tape he returned with.

Elaine, if you're reading this, I finished Miss Garnet's Angel a couple of days ago, and have passed it on to Julie – Venice in 4 day's time, so I hope she can get through it quickly! I shall certainly be trying to persuade Dave to search out the Angelo Raffaele church – we've been to that district before, but didn't do anything more than wander round aimlessly.

Right, time to get dressed for dinner now. Hope you're all well.

Love

Janet

xx

Valencia - Wednesday 19th October

Staggering bleary eyed on to our balcony it seemed like the Aurora had been met by more taxis than usual. We counted about 2,500 Ford cars of various types not including the rows of vans in the distance. I don't know if they were coming or going or were stuck there as a result of Spain's economic woes. At cruise ports we've looked out on the Blue Mosque at Istanbul and rusting sheds at Gibraltar but this was our first car park.

The City of Valencia developed on opposite banks of the Rio Turia which has now been filled in to create a beautiful linear park. This is the sort of town planning project that gives urban designers wet dreams, but it is almost impossible to achieve unless you have a fascist dictator or a major disaster. Fortunately, as it has now turned out, serious flooding in 1957 meant that Valencia ticked both boxes. The old river was diverted and the opportunity for a range of public projects was created.

Within the parkland, a couple of miles from the old city centre, is the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencais. This a complex of six civic buildings which is almost but not quite complete. The architectural styles range from silly to very, very silly. This is not necessarily a criticism and silly architecture can occasionally be serious art. If you take talented architects, and tell them that cost, longevity, maintenance and functional content are irrelevant, wonderful things can and sometimes do happen. This way of commissioning buildings carries a serious health warning so remember “do not try this at home”

In this case, thanks mainly to the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the result is glorious and I walked around with my mouth open like a kid in a sweet shop. Viewed together the buildings look like every science fiction fans image of an alien planet. You keep counting the numbers of suns in the sky just to make sure there is still only one.

We only had time to go inside one building and we chose the Museo de la Ciencais Principe Felipe - the Science Museum. Not surprisingly, the museum's content could not live with the impact of the building. Think “Millennium Dome” or on a smaller scale “Urbis” in Manchester. The cathedral like, over glazed, spaces were totally unsuitable for the displays they contained and the exhibition designers had simply given up and built a town of little boxes to shelter their exhibits. Sadly the result looked just like a trade fair. So - if buildings succeed brilliantly as art but cost a fortune and don't work - is that OK? You can decide - I'm on holiday.

Dave C

Thursday 20th October 2011

Julie's Update

Well, three lovely sea days with calm seas and sunny weather – some wind, but manageable.

We have Auntie Lil, Uncle Ken, Janice and Ian aboard with us which was a lovely surprise, although I did have a sneaking suspicion.

Valencia was lovely and we woke to the sun on our balcony. Dave Dad and I went off into the city and enjoyed an hour's tour around on the hop on hop off bus. Temperature was 26, so we enjoyed a dip in the pool when we got back onboard. We loved the 'feel' of the place and would definitely go back there.

Days are spent relaxing, reading and eating. There are plenty of activities to keep us busy. Dad and Janet have been to painting classes and Ian and I have joined the chorus of HMS Pinafore which is to be performed on Jane McMinn's birthday - Jane I think that you would love it ! It is however VERY SERIOUS !!!!

We have been joint first in a quiz, and lost on the tie break question – How many days was Ronnie Biggs free before his recapture in 2001 – surely everyone knows that !

Today we are at Palma and it is much cooler – they had a storm last night, but we have been dry all day, but did need a jacket. We had a trip out to Inca and the large market there which was mainly handbags and scarves, but an interesting ride out there.

The Captain – or Cap-it-aine as he calls himself is Neil Turnbull – a Lancastrian since the age of 7, and a very personable and friendly chap.

Tonight we have opened the balcony divider between us and the Currans as were hoping to invite the rest of the gangfor drinks, but it is cool and rather blowy, so we will wait for better weather I think.

Well, must get off now ready for sailaway and another delicious meal. Two sea days ahead before Corfu on Sunday

More another day

Julie Dave and Harold

Monday 17th October

At sea, somewhere off Portugal.

Well, after the dreadful queues and lack of sleep on Day One, things have definitely got better. We've been really lucky with the weather, with sunshine and very calm seas ever since we left Southampton. We've already seen dolphins, and this morning saw two fully rigged tall ships sailing close by, a magnificent sight with the sun glinting on their sails.

Dave didn't mention the highlight of our journey to the port on Saturday. The coach driver made really good time, so by 10am we pulled into Warwick Services for lunch. We ate our sandwiches and were just about to mooch round WH Smiths, when Julie's mobile rang... “Nooooo” she's saying, “Where are you?” Bemused, I followed her back to where we'd left the chaps, and there we found Julie's Aunty Lil, Uncle Ken, cousin Janice and Janice's husband Ian – all travelling by Eavesway to join the same cruise as us! They'd been keeping it a secret for months, hoping to surprise the Smith & Spence family on-board. Janice is insanely funny, so we look forward to a lorra lorra laughs.

Harold & I have attended the first two watercolour painting classes, and Julie & Ian are also joining in a group activity on-board – but I'll leave her to elaborate, maybe tomorrow.

We've also enlisted our team for the shipbuilding contest. The idea is that over the next 10-12 days we have to accumulate building materials – cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, paper cups, etc. – and make a ship that will float in the swimming pool. It has to float upright in both calm and rough seas ( a tsunami is provided by two of the Entertainments team 'bombing' it in the pool) and then, if it passes these two stages in one piece, it has to carry 6 'passengers' – these passengers being represented by 6 cans of coke! So our brains are working overtime looking for materials that we an beg borrow or steal! Nothing is being thrown away, as extra points are awarded for design and ingenuity, so we're saving sweet wrappers, cocktails sticks and stirrers, and actively debating the legality of stealing the ships lifebelts.

Our first formal night is tonight, preceded by the Captain's Cocktail Party, but we've decided to give that a miss as it's usually rather crowded as it's free drinks. Instead we're heading for the sophisticated and hopefully quieter Anderson's Bar for pre dinner drinks. Then to the Naughty Corner to be pampered by our lovely waiters, Francis and Jason. (probably not their real names!)

OK, that's it for now. Another sea day tomorrow with no doubt another shockingly poor Internet connection, and then we'll reach our first port,Valencia.

Love

Janet

xx

Saturday 15th October 2011

Getting Started

Another excellent journey to Southampton was provided by Eavesway. It has to be said that their swish new glass coaches are not very comfortable because of someone's curious decision to make the seats out of solid granite covered with carpet. However, the adjustable foot rests do allow you to choose which part of your lower body goes numb next and you have the consolation of knowing that you are being uncomfortable in style. We arrived at the cruise terminal just before one o'clock which unfortunately appeared to be the time of choice for most of the other 2000 passengers. The enormous queue stretched out of the terminal door and snaked backwards and forwards along the pavement. It was two hours before we got the “smile please” from the ship's photographer who had drawn the short straw for the “happy passengers boarding” picture and was having a very bad day indeed.

It wasn't long before we discovered that the work experience lad had done the table plan and that the five of us, despite our joint booking, had been allocated to three different tables. With heavy hearts we joined another queue to see the restaurant manger. This queue was moving with glacial speed at the entrance to the dining room which was being guarded by an increasingly nervous waiter. Foolishly P&O did not triage the queue for serious problems and so we were held up by passengers who wanted their own table in the best window with a guaranteed view of dolphins and probably their own gypsy orchestras. After the best part of an hour we made it through the door to be informed by the restaurant manager that he could not deal with any more queries because he had to close for the lifeboat drill which was, he assured us, the law of the sea.

Sometimes the veneer of civilisation can be worn very thin. To be fair to the restaurant manager, he did realise immediately that not upholding the law of the sea for another couple of minutes was definitely the safest option and he rapidly agreed to sort out our problem. As we left the restaurant in triumph the nervous waiter on the door was calling for backup. Later that night we arrived for dinner to discover that we had indeed been our given our very own table. It was surrounded by other tables with odd numbers of occupants in what we concluded was probably the “naughty corner” but I'm glad to report that the waiters, the food and the wine were all excellent. The psycho and his wife on the next table will just give me something else to blog about.

Dave C

ps (from Janet) Internet connection is dire - more later xx