Roboto

Good Morning!

I hope you're all well, staying safe, warm and dry. If you're in one of England's flood hit areas then know that my thoughts are with you all for a speedy solution. Right, enough of the british weather moan, on with today's card. This is for my cousin who is 9 this year (blimey where do the years go?!) and I wanted to make him something that was still fun but a bit more inkeeping with his age - so robot's it is:

This fabulous image is Roboto from Tiddly inks. I shrunk the image and scattered it randomly over a sheet of paper, printed it on to some grey check from SU to create my own backing paper. I then used various offcuts in greys/blues/reds which are all from My Mind's Eye - Blink of an Eye. I coloured this little fellow with promarkers and then finished it all off with a few star buttons from stash.

I hope he likes it, it's getting harder to make these cards now, as they need to be less cute. Oh well!

I would like to enter this into Mojo Monday's sketch challenge for this week.

Until next time, take care and happy crafting

Warmest Welcome to Warnemunde

"All the pathos and irony of leaving one's youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveller learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time" - Paul Fussell

 

Northern Germany was our destination on the second Thursday of our cruise; Warnemunde; Rostock. We awoke to a fairly grey sky, although it was far from cold and the threat of rain seemed minimal. Feeling significantly more awake than we had for the previous few days thanks to our afternoon nap the day before, we managed not to spend 20 minutes in the, until then, usual fashion of passing the buck of who got the shower first and we both speedily prepared for the day ahead before going in search of breakfast. Despite what I'd said the night before about never eating another morsel of food whilst on board, I managed to make myself eat breakfast (it was such a chore I tell you - all that fresh fruit and freshly baked pastries......) and after several cups of tea we were back in the cabin grabbing the bags and heading off ship to find our coach.

 

Now, never let it be said that I don't appreciate Germany or German's. The fact that studying the fall of the Berlin wall and the psychosomatic reasoning behind the development of WWII on the German home front bored me rigid in history at school; whilst attempting to learn their language nearly gave me a mental breakdown when it came to my GCSE's is, to be perfectly honest, a total different matter.

 

But anyway, I was glad to see a part of the country which doesn't appear extensively in the holiday brochures. As it turned out, Warnemunde is very much the German's version of Cornwall to the Brits - although, in both cases, the invasion of the visitor has probably taken over the tourist trade from the stay at home holiday maker.

 

Our guide for the day was a humorous gentleman who was happy to discuss anything that the group could throw at him, including those awkward conversations I would avoid like the plague, like the segregation of the country by the wall and politics in general (what is it with the Brits and asking questions about politics?!)

 

Anyway, we headed out to our starting point for the day which was a walk through the old town of Rostock; one of the hidden treasures of the Baltic. We started just outside of the old city walls and made our way through the winding back streets to the enclosed courtyard area which housed the Monastery of the Holy Cross.

The Monastery has a fascinating history, having being founded by the Danish Queen Margaret in 1270. According to legend, she founded the monastery in gratitude for a miraculous rescue at sea. The abbey church was completed in 1360. It had a turbulent history following the Reformation when the abbey was changed to a Nunnery, the day to day running of the site changed little but after the 30 year war, only 9 inhabitants were left and the site was handed over to the state. However, only upon the death of the last Abbess in the 1980's was the abbey renovated and it's use changed. It now holds a museum collection and is partially used by the University.

 

Sadly, we didn't get to go inside the Abbey; it's on my list of places to go back and explore properly. After this cruise the list is so long, I'm going to have to do another Baltic tour by myself! lol! 

The Monastery of the Holy Cross

In the courtyard of the Monastery

 

From the monastery complex we moved on to Old City itself, stopping to admire the old town hall, university and the trader street which, externally has changed little since it was built.

At the market square we stopped by a modern water fountain to learn about the development of Rostock; the changes affected by the world wars and current politics, trade and commerce. It was here that we were educated on the significance of Rostock as part of the Hanseatic League that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. The League was created to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges in the cities and countries and along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid. It is the power and wealth that came from being part of this league that has made Rostock so wealthy and has helped it remain relatively independent, despite all the political changes that Germany has seen in the last century.

 

Right, history lesson over.

hehe, this makes me smile!

 

To the right hand side of the market square was one of the wonders of Rostock and a highlight of the tour, The church of St Mary, remarkably unaffected by WWII for all it's size is that of a small cathedral. What makes St Mary's so remarkable is not it's impressive Gothic architecture, but rather the treasure it held inside!

Architecturally, St Mary's was as spectacular as any of the cathedrals we had visited in Russia (although distinctly less gold!) and it's history no less impressive or intriguing, but what really captured my imagination - and I suspect that of 90% of the visitors to the church - was the Astronomical Clock.

 

It is located behind the high altar on the apse and is believed to have been built c.1472 by Hans Düringer. It consists of three partitions; at the very top is a mechanism which shows the apostles crossing before Jesus for a blessing before entry into eternal bliss, however, the last figure who is supposed to represent Judas, is shut out. In the middle is the main clock face; like many astronomical clocks, this does not simply tell the time and the movement of the moon and stars. Instead it tells the reader the daily time, zodiac, moon phases, and month.  Finally, you have the main calendar, which is made up of numerous concentric circles which  have dares, months, days etc and is valid until 2017. The medieval clock is the only one of its kind still in working condition with its original clockworks.

After spending far too much time admiring the clock, we wandered around the rest of the church and were struck by the contrast of modern and historic architecture and design. I also found the design for my grave, well - it would have to be a tombstone to fit it on but hey!

I want this on my tomb! what a happy looking fellow

 

Our second stop of the day was a microbrewery. Now I'm not one for beer, I really don't like the taste but it would be rude not to try the free samples, right? so thinking positive thoughts and trying to keep an open mind I took the sample of light beer and the pretzel and said bottoms up. I finished it. I kept it down. I wasn't up for trying a second sample and I haven't since converted to beer. It was..... an experience.

With the beer in the system and the final stage of our excursion ahead of us, we made our way back to the coach and then onwards to the waterfront where we would be taking a water taxi back down the river to where the cruise ship was berthed. Upon leaving the coach we walked past an exhibition being set up on the quay side which had us stop and take a second look. It was the last thing that we expected to find and, knowing everyone would accuse of us of being drunk and seeing things when we told them what it was - we took a photo to prove we were still perfectly sane. Dinosaurs ahoy!

As we left the waterfront and headed down the Warnow River we were able to take in the skyline of Rostock and we left with the distinct impression that industry was thriving in this part of the country.

With the excursion over, we reached the ship a little after 1pm and making our way back to the cabin, we washed up and left the bags behind as we went in search of food. We finished up lunch and were debating what we wanted to do with our afternoon, as it was just too cold to sunbath. The sun was out and it was pleasant enough but the sea breeze was enough to stop all but the most insane....sorry....dedicated.....bather to strip off and we were not those people!

 

Unsure what was going on around the ship was stopped off at the cabin to take a look at the cruise news, figuring if all else failed we'd grab the books and read for a bit. With nothing grabbing our attention for the next hour, we picked up the books and headed to the slightly more sheltered seating outside of High Spirits. As we drank tea and chatted to others the air took a turn for the colder and before too long, the summer dresses were distinctly too little clothing and Claire and I decided to make a move to find some trousers. As we wandered through High Spirits we were greeted by Alistair and Dan (aka Pasty) - seriously, too many Dan's! - anyway, it was Alistair's juggling class and unable to pass up the opportunity to see how good he was at keeping his 'ball's in the air' (his words, not mine) we promised to return and annoy him for the hour and attempt to relearn how to juggle.

 

Bottom line - we were useless!  me more than Claire, every time I tried to return the third ball to my left hand I sent it flying into the middle of nowhere! a fact that entertained Alistair no end and to which Claire still has great delight in tormenting me over. Suffice to say, no I didn't relearn a skill I once had and no, I haven't picked up juggling balls since my return!

 

After an hour of utterly embarrassing myself and getting steadily more frustrated, we let Alistair escape to his other duties having arranged to meet him outside the restaurant again later that evening and  went in search of a fresh cup of tea and that day's trivia sheets. The remainder of the afternoon past in lazy conversation, messing up the Sudoku and discussing hairstyles for the next nights formal evening - it's all about the planning people!

 

Before we knew it we had to make a move to get ready for the evening and our usual evening ritual began. After 11 nights on board, we had streamlined our preparations and were masters of getting our hair dry enough with the useless hairdryer that it could be styled and not leave water dripping down our backs. Dressed and ready to go with time to spare we headed up to High Spirits for cocktail hour and once again indulged in our favourite blue cocktails - such a bad move when you realise it made you look like you had been eating blue popsicles all afternoon!  

 

We made our way to the restaurant to meet Alistair for dinner and were, sadly for us, not put in the naughty corner this time. Instead we were in the midst of other diners and that meant we had to behave ourselves - well, Alistair did and we probably should have done, but we didn't. As we ate, drank and generally had a laugh we once again drew looks from the other passengers ranging from curiosity to disapproval. Mneh! It didn't help that Claire had let Alistair look through her camera and had the two had dissolved into giggles over the snail photo's from the night before - who knew a folded towel could be so entertaining?

 

Sadly, with dinner over we once again had to let Alistair escape as we headed up the show lounge for 'Cool Britannia', a show dedicated to the greats of British Pop through the ages - everything from the Beetles to the Spice Girls.  It was a bit of a laugh, although I have to say, sadly it proves that the music from the 70's and 80's was superior in every way to that of the 90's and the Naughties. Anyhoo, show over we made our way upstairs to High Sprits to watch the game show with a cocktail or two and plan the rest of the night.

 

There was no cabaret set that night, instead it was the second night of Andy Wilkins, the comedian. Having cringed through the first set, there was no way we were heading back to see the second and so instead thought we'd hang around and have a laugh at the karaoke. However; with most the ship heading to the show lounge there was a distinct lack of takers for the karaoke and despite his best efforts, Alistair failed to persuade Claire or myself to partake either - and do you know how hard it is to say no to puppy dog eyes and a man on bended knee offering himself up......for a duet I mean (naughty people! where were your minds wandering too?) Who knows, maybe next time - or maybe we just needed more Dutch courage! lol!

 

With the show team free for the night and everything rounding off fairly early, we had the pleasure of being joined on deck for a nightcap with Alistair, Daniel and Jenny. One drink turned into two and rapidly that became three and after the fourth, which was an excessively large double whisky I own to having lost track. All I know is that a little after 2am, after a lot of laughter, we were all the worse for wear and walking in a straight line back to the cabin proved an interesting challenge.

 

Our final day in port would prove to be interesting.

 

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I'm a DT Member!

 

I just had to do a very quick message to share the news that the lovely, lovely ladies over at Crafty Catz have asked me to join their fabulous team. Of course, I've said yes! thank you so much to them all and I hope to see you all there soon!

Yay!!!!!

Two Hearts

Afternoon all,

I promised I would be back to share another design from the wedding collection. This one is called Two Hearts and was inspired by this design I did for a competition:

The final design isn't all that different, although I did discard the wired gems for cost reasons. The final design was done in pink and the complete set came out like this:

I produced an invitation, thank you card, save the date and place name. It's all plain white card stock, pearl gems, embossed card and the hearts are all cut by hand.

I really love this set, I think it could work really well in any colour combination too which makes it, in my opionin, so perfect.

Anyway, I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate any comments, good or bad.

I would like to enter this card into:
Allsorts - Inspired by a song (Phil Collins - Two Hearts)
Dream Valley - Celebration (Wedding)

Water Day Wednesday

"If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel" - Will Kommen

 

So Wednesday 11th July saw us at sea for the day and chilling out as we travelled on to Germany. Our usual morning wake up call from the cabin next door prevented any sort of lie in, although it was in dire need and I knew that before the day was out I was going to fall asleep on a chair or sun-lounger somewhere on board the ship.

 

As we rose, showered and dressed for the day ahead there was little planned besides reading, sunbathing and drinking lots and lots of tea. It was a simple plan and after breakfast we headed back to the cabin to don bikini's and grab the books. We secured two sunbeds by the side of the pool but the weather, whilst dry and clear was just a tad too nippy to loose the extra layer of clothes and so we settled back to read with a mug of tea to keep the chill of the sea air at bay.

 

Before too long, I began to doze off as a headache settled behind my eyes. Content to do nothing else but catch up on some much needed sleep the two of us caught 40 winks, but didn't settle well enough to really get any sleep and so after about an hour of being out on deck we admitted defeat and wandered back to the cabin, a fresh cup of tea in hand and got changed again before heading to the Explorers Lounge to see if the scrabble board was free. It wasn't but the days trivia sheets were out and so we settled down with them to try and get our brains crunching numbers and unravelling clues for the crosswords.

 

The remainder of the morning passed in this fashion, interspersed with conversations with crew and other passengers. At a little before 1pm we made our way to the show lounge to watch some of the entertainment team perform swing classics in an afternoon cabaret; the added bonus being that it was the first of 2 shows Alistair was in that day.

 

We vacated the lounge to find some lunch and were settling down to food just as the Aftenoon Trivia kicked off. With little inclination to take part following our appalling attempts to date, we helped, where we could the other couple who were sharing our table.

 

The weather had failed to improve through the course of the morning and with little else to do, we headed back to our cabin to watch the afternoon movie, top up the nails - which were in sad need of new varnish and in my case - fall asleep. I'm not sure what Claire got up to, I think she snoozed as well, but whatever else can be said about the fact we needed an afternoon nap - we had managed a week and a half on about 5 and half hours of sleep a night - it made us feel a whole heap better and as we prepared for the evening on board, I for one was feeling a 100% better.

 

Taking less time than usual to get ready, we decided to go and have a cocktail or two before dinner and settled on one of our favourite sparkling wine concoctions which turns your tounge blue.



With out second cocktail still in hand we headed to dinner and managed to get a table with just the two of us. Ordering our wine we suddenly realised that the reputation of being alcoholics was probably deserved when you realised our table looked like this:

oops! lol! anyway...... dinner was its usual glorious affair where we ate too much. It was the night we finally hit the food wall! Desert was a struggle and the idea of having to carry on eating for the final few days on board was enough to make my waistline expand 2 inches at the very thought!

 

Nevertheless, we finished dining and made our way to the show lounge for Revival, a show which apparently never failed to get at least one complaint from a passenger. Very much based in Eighteenth Century American in a little town on the Bible Belt it was full of songs I adore, including Walking in Memphis (if you've never heard it then go listen....now!) Anyway, it was a great show that should be taken with a pinch of salt and in good humour and Claire and I certainly laughed our way through it. My only complaint was the final song....well, not so much the team's fault because it is simply the lyrics which are at fault, so I'm going to lay the blame at the feet of one Lord Webber. 'Light at the end of the tunnel' from Starlight Express was the final song, which basically says that thanks to James Watt the steam train had made it to America - this is historically inaccurate and drives me barmy! lol.

 

Anyway, after that total loss of direction and rant, it only remains to say that the show was fabulous and Alistair's American accent was shocking. lol!

 

We made a move to High Spirits and settled in for the night and to wait out the evening until Craig's Cabaret at 11. As every cabaret before him, Craig did a fantastic job and the selection was a wonderful mix of everything from Lionel Richie to Robbie Williams. Thankfully tonight, there was no technological faults.

 

Once the set was over, we ordered in whiskey and made our way out to deck where we settled down for a gossip with Alistair and checked he was still ok for dinner the following evening. A little after 1 we made our way back downstairs and were confronted by our towel creation of the night - Mr Snail, who we had serious problems photographing and so the trilogy of images was taken that would, the following night result in much hilarity as they became dubbed....

Good Snail

Bad Snail

Sexy Snail

 

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Wedding Fair

Morning all,

How is everyone today? I hope you're all keeping well. I just wanted to share some photos from last weekend's wedding fair, which my colleague kindly took for me, as I forgot my camera! oops!

It went ok; although I've not had much response from it. You can only try though I guess!

Until next time, happy crafting!

Once in a lifetime.....

Good morning all,

How is everyone today? I do hope you're all keeping well. The weather here has turned distinctly autumnal and I got so cold at work yesterday that my lips turned blue! never good, so today it's all about the layers, and gloves, and fleece...... if I thought I could get away with having a hot drink on post too I would!

But enough of all that. I wanted to share a card with you today that I designed for the wedding fair at the weekend, but think I'll be adapting for my friends wedding card at the end of next month.

So I decided to make an easel card, because who's seen an easel wedding card to buy?! anyone - certainly not me, nor anyone I spoke to at the weekend. I kept it clean and simple and used the gorgous Clarity Stamp Set - Diamond, Horse and Carriage Set, which I stamped up and then scanned into my computer so that I could line it all up as I wanted it (after 5 attempts of not getting the horse and carriage in line!) I chose a random sentiment that I thought would work and printed the whole lot off, added a voile pinky/purple ribbon, a couple of gems and a whole lot of stickles around the edge. Meanwhile, I made the base card, using some pastel pink 12x12 paper which I was given (sorry no maker name on it) and embossed up a fab sentiment 'Always and Forever' by Sizzix.

I mounted the image and sentiment onto rose papers the mounted onto the card base, added a few more gems at the bottom for a bit more shine and there we have it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this design and I would also like to enter it for Crafty Catz design team call and Dream Valley's challenge of Celebrations.

Until next time, happy crafting!

Sweet, sweet Stockholm

"All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it" - Samuel Johnson

 

Putting the hellish time we'd had in Helsinki the day before behind us, we awoke on the second Tuesday of our cruise in Stockholm. It is a city built on 14 connecting islands, each with their own feel and story to tell (much like, I suspect, Venice!). It was a calm start to the day, as we had to take a tender to shore - Stockholm is one of those places that cruise ships will never be able to pull in a dock at - which only adds to its charm.

 

Getting up, we walked through our morning routines still half asleep and stumbled to breakfast, relative quiet and uncommunicative. The late nights were starting to catch up with us (not that we'd ever admit to that), we were more likely to blame our next door neighbours who were still insisting on turning on the TV at some inhumane hour!

 

After we'd fulled ourselves up; many, many cups of tea later, we returned to the cabin to grab our bags and headed to the show lounge as instructed, to await our tender to shore. Now tenders to shore are an experience if you've never done one - they attach a set of floating steps to the outside of the ship, which you then walk down into one of the lifeboats, which have been lowered to play taxi service to the shore. Having done this on a previous cruise, Claire and I were not bothered in the slightest, but it was clear there were a few passengers who were less than thrilled at being bounced about with little between them and the sea.

 

It took less than 3 minutes to get us to shore, where we were welcomed by our guide for the Old Town and City Hall tour.  We'd picked a leisurely mornings walking tour to visit two of the city's  highlights but before we got to either of them, we were able to take in a panoramic view over the city's skyline from Fjallgatan.....shame there was a random ship in the way ;) lol!

We left the bridge to head to the City Hall. An imposing structure, it is a colossal monument in red brick. As one of the Stockholm's leading examples of national romanticism in architecture, it is possibly the most famous silhouette of the skyline. It was designed by the architect Ragnar Östberg, and opened on Midsummer Eve in 1923. But it's fame for most of the world comes in the form of being the building which hosts the great Nobel banquet is also held in City Hall. After dinner in, the Blue Hall, Nobel Prize recipients, royalty and guests dance in the Golden Hall, with its 18 million gold mosaic tiles.  It's incredible to think I walked up the same stairs as some of the greatest minds in the world! it also made me feel incredibly dumb lol!

The gold room tells the story of Sweden's history, although you have to get passed all the gawking at the sheer splendour of the room and the incredible opulence to really take note of what story the images are telling! The hall is dominated by the ”Queen of Lake Mälaren” on the northern wall which represents Stockholm being honoured by the East and the West.

After leaving the splendour of the city hall we made our way into the centre of Stockholm to the  old town, where we walked for about an hour and a half around the area, taking in the Royal Palace and Great Square and admiring architecture from the 16th-19th century.

The Great Square has a fascinating, if gruesome, history which defined modern Stockholm, for it was the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath in November 1520, when, during three days, the Danish-Swedish king Christian II beheaded and hanged 90 people. However, the king wasn't directly responsible for the deed. The archbishop, dethroned and imprisoned by the regent Sten Sture the Elder (who died during the siege) wanted to obtain a redress. So, during the coronation of Christian II, the prominent guests were confronted with the bill of indictment of the archbishop and subsequently condemned for blasphemy. The death sentences were to be accomplished at once, so the square was cleared while a curfew forced all citizens to stay indoors. The executioners beheaded archbishops, councillors, noblemen, and city magistrates indiscriminately. All bodies were burned on the square and it ran rivers of blood. Amazingly, this didn't deter the Swedish from revolting against the Danish occupation and just three years later Gustav Vasa liberated Stockholm.

Now this is the sort of history that would have made school lesson's significantly more interesting!

From the Great Square we walked through the twisting side streets, filled with stunning architecture and which had a really provincial feel. Stockholm has this incredible mix of the old and the new and from hand in hand with each other are modern shops selling the latest wares and then next door, a traditional cobblers or old fashioned patisserie, and yet nothing felt out of place. It was a weird juxtaposition that worked here better than I had seen anywhere else in the world!

The final stop of our walking tour took us to see the statue of St George and the Dragon - a reproduction of the one inside the great Cathedral of St Nicholas, which is believed to represent Sweden's struggle against evil, and the miniature (less than one foot tall) Iron Boy sculpture. This is a favourite with Stockholm residents and tourists alike. The statue is also called Jarnpojke, and was created by Liss Eriksson in 1919. The Iron Boy is found in a small courtyard behind the Finnish Church near the Royal Palace. Nuns at a nearby convent and little old ladies knit caps and sweaters for the Iron Boy to ward off Stockholm's cold winter weather. Many people rub his head for luck or wisdom and leave candy or coins for the small boy.

After three hours of walking and a rapid lesson is Stockholm's history, we decided to head back to ship rather than carry on walking round the old town. We waited a short while for a tender back to the ship and arrived back on board a little before 1pm, in need of a cup of tea and food.

We followed our usual routine of heading to the cabin, dumping bags and heading back out for lunch and settled for lunch in the Compass Rose for a change. Sitting with another couple, we exchanged information about our excursions and discovered they had taken the panoramic Stockholm and Vasa Museum tour. Interested to know more about the Vasa museum, we talked comfortably for about 40 minutes before parting ways for the afternoon.

The story of the Vasa ship has long since fascinated me, as it's recovery and conservation lead the way for the raising and recovery of the Mary Rose in Southampton. The technique that the was perfected on the Vasa, changed the possibility of recovering and preserving wooden vessels for ever. One day I'll get back to Stockholm and pay homage to this incredible vessel, but more importantly to the team that brought her back to life.

After lunch we made our way out on to deck to take a walk around the promenade level, which afforded us a 360 degree view of Stockholm. After a wander, a gossip with various passengers and few members of staff, it was time for a cup of tea and the afternoon quiz. Which we once again, sucked at! general knowledge is not our strong suit!

 

With the weather not being quite hot enough to warrant stripping off for sunbathing, we returned to the cabin to see what the rest of the afternoon had in store. With nothing catching our attention, I told Claire I fancied trying to have a nap. I was tired and had the beginnings of a headache coming on, that I wanted to try and nip in the bud before the possibility occurred that it would evolve into a migraine. There was only one problem. Our noisy neighbours were in their cabin and had the TV on at full volume again! Earphones, smothering ourselves with pillows and banging on the cabin wall did nothing to relieve the issue and so I suggested we move somewhere else that was guaranteed to be quiet and hope that the peace along with the painkillers would see off the headache.

 

So we wandered up to the ships explorers lounge, where the library and games room were situated to search out a scrabble board. Only, the scrabble boards were all in use and neither of us are exactly ofay with the rules of chess sooooooo connect four it was! Ok, not  the quietest game around I'll admit but we did have a laugh and decided after a few rounds of 'stategic' playing that speed was the essence of the game. Don't think, just drop! goodness knows what our fellow passengers must have thought of us giggling away in the corner but no one complained so hey!

 

Having passed a happy 40 minutes in this manner, we moved out of the games room to the lounge to do the daily trivia sheet; suduko, wordsearch, crosswords etc. What we hadn't realised was that we were going to have to dodge flying beanbags, as the daily Boules tournament was underway. More time was spent watching the beanbags hit every fixture in the room and not land anywhere near the jack then was dedicated to solving the cryptic clue of the day.

 

When the game ended, and thus our entertainment had ceased. We made a move to get a fresh cup of tea and actually attempt to tackle the suduko out on deck and so passed the next hour in comfortable silence as the final passengers made their way back on board and we watched the life boats being returned to their stations. As the afternoon neared 5:00 we made our way below deck and back to the cabin to shower and begin preparations for our evening on board.

 

We finished dressing and decided to break our usual routine and seek out a cocktail or two before  dinner, which lead us to the happy hour in High Spirits, where the nightly Bingo was in full flow. We enjoyed watching the other passengers on board get excited as the numbers they wanted came up and the faces fall of those who wanted something else - people watching should be a sport, especially when watching bingo players!

 

Cocktails drunk we made a move for dinner and were seated at a table for 6 alone. Thinking little of it, we ordered our meal and wine and awaited our first course when another couple were seated with us, at the other end of the table and then a few minutes later the final 4 seats were filled. By this point we were being served our starters and were in the midst of some conversation or another and as our fellow diners had seemed unresponsive to our greetings thought little of it to carry on with our topic of choice. Our first course finished we were then made to wait as the other 6 passengers were served and ate their first course and in some cases, first 2 courses, before we received our mains. This wouldn't have bothered us if the rest of the table actually engaged in conversation but after numerous failed attempts to get any of them talking, Claire and I simply wanted to dine and dash. It was not to be.

 

When dinner was finally over, we made our way up to High Spirits for the quiz of the night, Strain the Brain and spent 40 minutes or so trying to work out what an earth was going on. Admitting defeat we made a move to get seats in the show lounge for that nights show, the second of the visiting ship's comedians, Andy Wilkins. As it turned out, we should have got their earlier as there were only a limited number of seats available right at the back. We settled in, attempting not to slide off the folding leather seats and awaited the show.

 

It wasn't worth it. As a comedian, neither Claire or I found him funny and in places I was cringing and looking for the escape route. Much of his material was the same as we'd heard the week before and what was original, lacked any real punchlines. We were sorely disappointed. But comedy is one of those things which is personal and much of the room seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 

After the show, we went to wander around the Broad Street Shops and not feeling tempted to part with money, headed back up to high spirits to watch that night's game show - Weak Link (yep, their own version of weakest link!) It was rather fun, but I'm so glad I never take part in them. Other than the fact I don't think I could keep a straight face, my general knowledge is utterly appalling.

When the game show ended and with time to kill before Robyn's cabaret, Claire and settled out on deck with wine and watched the world go by. Passing conversations with various passengers we'd gotten to know over the previous week made time go quickly and before too long we were back inside for cabaret time - musical theatre. Robyn settled in quickly, for all she was adament the night before that she was going to freak out and we passed a happy half an hour listening to some of sing some of her favourite show tunes. Sadly though, technology failed her on her final song when the backing track refused to play. It was a shame she didn't get to finish as it had been a wonderful set but that's technology for you!

With the show over and most of the passengers making their way back to their beds, we made our usual move out onto deck for a nightcap and a gossip. After telling Robyn she'd done wonderfully we settled into our usual routine and finally hit our beds about 2am, looking forward to our day at sea!

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