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