As The Other Professor Sanders wanted to come on this cruise too (criteria: more port days than sea days, new places to see, and definitely not the Caribbean which she says is boring) , we needed to sort out the dog and cats which normally costs hundreds of Euros, but this time TOPS advertised on the website Trusted Housesitters and got more than 90 expressions of interest from all over the world. And so it came to pass on the evening before we left a Scottish couple, now resident in Australia, turned up to look after the house and animals. Fingers crossed.
For the first time, we used the Cherbourg to Poole fast ferry, and what a mistake that was. Absolutely no facilities at the port. Getting the car on board took a while as the chap in front couldn’t reverse his very small car into a quite large space so one of the crew had to turn the wheel for him. Worryingly, the crew lashed our car to the deck. Then up to the passenger area – a bit like inside a wide-bodied jet but with the pervasive smell of chips and the dulcet sound of screaming toddlers. Won’t do that again, and it was really expensive.
However, safely to Paul Stickler’s place in Romsey and off for a curry with him and Jo, his wife. She’s not joining us on the cruise, and a friend of Paul’s kindly took the three us to Heathrow next morning – flight to Oslo, then on to Narvik. Collected at the airport and taken to a reasonable hotel (together with an Australian tenor, a mind reader and a comedian) from where we were again collected next morning to go to the ship. However, en route the driver announced that of the six of us, the other four were to go straight to the ship while the two professors were to be taken to the police station…and no-one knew why. Bit worrying.
Turned out that the police didn’t know either, but after 45 minutes of confusion and calls to the port agent a senior officer arrived with a suitcase full of immigration stamps, and used one to confirm we’d left Norway by ship. She helpfully added that if we waved our passports about, the ink would dry quicker. Eventually we got on board Arcadia and found our inside cabin while Paul bragged about his porthole.
Couple more Norwegian ports before the first talk and TOPS went off to the North Cape on a tour. I usually get a job as a tour escort but the lady on the Shore Excursions desk was a bit pessimistic about my getting any so I didn’t bother. Stickler did and got three.
First presentation was the illusions talk, and the theatre was pretty full, so that’s OK. Gio, the Entertainment Manager, was very welcoming as always, and got my name right – he once introduced me as Adam Sandler. Subsequent talks were OK – I’d describe the audience as quietly appreciative and the numbers held up, and that’s P&O’s main measure of success I imagine. Paul got a bit miserable as one of his talks was cancelled because of the women’s football, but was looking forward to Liverpool as the highlight of his cruise (sic).
Strangest question of the cruise; “Do the French really use a lot of suppositories?” Usual observation: “Loved your talk on the Krays”. To me, that is, not Paul. Interesting psychologically how people confuse a hairy psychologist with a bald policeman.
Iceland was very special – we booked a tour on the internet really quite cheaply, but I guess you get what you pay for as the guide received a phone call halfway into a six hour tour to say he’d left someone behind at the first stop. So we had to go back and start again. Fabulous place to visit though – the active hot springs were spectacular and the weather perfect.
On to Liverpool – TOPS went to the Tate and an artist’s materials shop as she’s taking up oils, and Paul went to the Cavern Club as it’s apparently International Beatles Week. Later he rang his wife to tell her he’d had the best day of his life and she responded by reminding him of their first wedding anniversary next week. Hey ho.
No real issues on the way back, though the drive from Caen was a bit dark and miserable – no cats’ eyes in France. However the good news was the house was still there, the dog was happy and the cats as ever indifferent. Result.
Back on board in five weeks, Aurora to the Med, again with Paul. This time two ports and six sea days – we’ll do our double act and I might try and do a new talk on conspiracy theories. But it’s nice to be home for a while. Being spoken to in English for fifteen days took some getting used to.
thehairypsychologist 