ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN !

Imagine the scene. It is 06:45 in the morning, it is dark and I am trying to get around the house as quietely as possible so as not to wake my sleeping husband. (He had mentioned on more than one occasion "you do make a lot of noise - could you not use the hair dryer in a the other room"). I creep out of the bedroom and attempt to descend the stairs without putting the light on (first mistake). I'm half way down the stairs and I trip up and fall. I am still not trying to make a sound (but I do - you never know Tom might hear me and pop out to help!) - he didnt. I hobble into the kitchen (still without the light on - if the fall hadnt woken Tom, then I didnt want to switch the light on !). At this stage, I feel sick, I cant eat anything (I musnt be well!). I sit on a chair for about 10 minutes then feel a bit better, I decide I to drive to work (second mistake). 45 minutes later I arrive at work. I dont feel too bad. I get out of the car - aghhhhhhh. I cant walk. I hop up the stairs (using my good leg, the one attached to my arthritic hip!) and sit on my chair. I am in a real quandry, should I go home? Should I go to the local doctor? I do neither and spend the rest of the day agony. The only way to get around the office is to use my chair and I can only go backwards ! The kitchen is out of bounds as is the toilet (its downstairs .... dont ask!). The good news - I do eventually manage to get home, hobble into the house and was greeted with '"what was all that noise this morning" , I told him I had fallen down the stairs, Tom said " can you fall down the stairs a little bit quieter next time" ! (I feel it is a little improper of me to repeat my response).

I did go to see my GP and he said "that looks painful and what a funny colour"(it was black and I do mean black). Off to the hospital for an x-ray. Good news, nothing broken, bad news, soft tissue damage, which will take longer to repair than if I had broken a bone.

Moral of the story ....... make as much noise as you like when you get up in the morning !

WALK THE WALK

Received confirmation we (joanne who I walked the marathon with a couple of years ago), have been accepted for both the London marathon in May and the Edinburgh marathon in June.

We will attempt to do some 'training' from January onwards, but I have already made a start to my training by threatening NOT to eat any chocolate until the end of the first marathon in May..... this is OK, but I have replaced the chocolate with alcohol !!!

BALTIC CRUISE 2010

We have just returned from a 12 day cruise from the Baltic - Amsterdam, Warnemunde (Germany), Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Talin (Estonia), Copenhagen and back to Amsterdam. Absolutely BRILLIANT.

www.flikr.com/photos/judeandtom/show

MEETING NEW PEOPLE:
Again we met some great people. Our 'dining partners' were Ed (known as Mr Ed) and Juanita. We didnt get off to a good start as Mr Ed insisted in calling me Judi (aghhhhhhh). Needless to say after he started to call me Jude we all got on like a house on fire ! Our 'boozing' partners were Shannon and Monika - great fun and they drank as much as we did. (Thanks, guys - you made us laugh - especially the conversations about the group of people who kept 'taking over our bar' on a regular basis!).

BEING PREPARED!
All I can say is that its best to be prepared, especially when it comes to the weather. We had friends who had been on the same cruise and told us to be prepared for some bad weather (yes, even in August). I packed sweat shirts / waterproof jacket and even an umbrella! We used all three. St. Petersburg was particularly cold. I was wearing jeans, 2 t shirts, a sweat shirt and a jacket and I was still cold !! (As the coaches left each port you could spot who had thought it was going to be warm as they were all wearing the same 'Celebrity X' sweat shirts / jackets etc).

PLANNING!
I always like to 'plan in advance' but this cruise we decided to explore some of our 'stops' on our own...... not one of my best decisions! We managed to get round Stockholm ourselves and had a great time. We arrived in Helsinki with high hopes! In a nutshell, we walked miles without actually seeing anything (well, apart from the Rock Church which was a church made out of rock!!). We left the church with a map (well 2 maps but neither of them did us any good). Our next stop was a 'monument' we had been told we must visit, we set off with both maps (!) and seemed to walk for ages we bumped into 2 gypsies who said we needed a train to find it (they were as clueless as we were), we eventually ended up at a huge cemetery !!! We decided to make our way back to the shuttle drop off point and start again - we couldnt even find that ! Helsinki was very busy at this time and tempers were a little frayed (I also needed to find a loo) ! We eventually found the shuttle drop off point and decided to return to the ship .......... (A little tip we were given, which I think was (is) very useful, is to take a photograph of the shuttle drop off point and whatever surrounds it, then all you need do is check out your camera - what a brilliant idea).

Finally in this particular area on planning, Ed and Juanita were so well prepared they set their alarm for an early start for one of their excursions and found they were a day early !!! Thats what I call organisation!

GOOD FOOD:
As always the food on the ship was excellent. There was food in abundance, I could certainly recommend the bacon, sausages, black pudding, beans and scrambled egg, because I had this most mornings, well to be honest every morning. Needless to say I am now on a diet!

HIGHLIGHTS:
Copenhagen: was a real surprise - sunny, friendly, clean, cosmopolitan!
St Petersburg: I guess this was what I had expected. Just getting into the country was a bit of a pain, passports, visas, stern looking immigraton officers checking and stamping your passports (mmmm, where have we all seen them before - yes, returning back to the UK at Manchester airport). All the street signs were in Russian (I know, I know, we were in Russa - but you would normally something in english, we didnt). Our guide said eventually there would be more signs etc. in English, but not in his lifetime (he was only in his 20s). I felt in a way priveledged to be there, but tresspassing at the same time. I could write so much but I feel it will become a visitors guide to St Petersburg....... needless to say if you get the opportunity to go, do, because I would certainly go back.
Talin: again what a surprise. The old town is really quaint. People were sat in groups painting buildings, girls (and guys) dressed in traditional outfits giving away roasted almonds - it almost felt like a christmas scene.
Warnemunde: what a beautiful place, we climbed the lighthouse which gave us a magnificent view of the place itself and the seaside - WOW what a surprise.
Amsterdam: I have been before and have seen the 'sights' as some of you may well know!. This was Tom's first time. We werent able to go into the red light district on our coach, but the coach did get stuck in traffic ..... and just to our left you could see into one of the bedrooms of the young ladies in a state of undress, and I do mean in a state of undress, needless to say Tom didnt moan!

This really was a fabulous cruise and I would recommend anyone to try it. Even the weather didnt dampen our spirits!

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Its the bank holiday weekend and its raining. I have had 1 or 2 problems with my back over the last 6 months or so. My GP decided that a steroid injection would be a good idea. Well I guess it was, but that has meant I have not been able to do anything for 48 hours! I have to stay in and 'take it easy' as he said ........ there is only so much bank holiday TV you can watch !! I was even very tempted last night to watch the Eurovision Contest .... I didnt !

Its back to work on Tuesday and only another 12 weeks or so before our next holiday (Not that I am counting). We have another couple of cruises booked for June - we are going on a "Jazz Cruise" on Windermere. We leave Bowness at 19:45 and return approx 2.5 hours later. There is a jazz band (obviously) and a buffet and plenty of alcohol. We are celebrating friends birthdays.

MORE HOLIDAYS

Yes, another cruise !

We decided to leave from Southampton (which in hindsight was an excellent decision due to the 'ash issue'). We cruised to Brest, Vigo, Bilbao and Lisbon (not necessarily in that order). The weather was absolutely gorgeous +26 most days. Lisbon and Bilbao were our favourites. We travelled around Lisbon on a trolley bus and coach and had a great day out. The highlight for me was Bilbao - what a beautiful place, so clean and people were very friendly. We went to the Guggenheim museum (http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/) it was fantastic. The actual building is a piece of art and it is situated on the river with fabulous walkways etc. etc. (I sound like the tourist information office!). Well worth a visit. Vigo was Ok - just somewhere to get off and walk around and Brest gave us the ability to drive into the french countryside which was beautiful. All in all a great holiday.

Once again we met some great people on the ship. Our dining table was shared with 4 other people, Kris and Vi (not too there if that is the correct spelling, but I'm sure she wont mind) and Mick and Phyl. We had some great laughs over dinner and most evenings we were the last out of the dining room. I am sure the waiters were rather fed up with us at the end of the week. Talking of food ...... its just was well we were only on the ship for a week as the pair of jeans I had travelled to Southampton in were rather tight on the way home !

Just one last item on the cruise ........ its always best to be punctual! If you are not back on board the ship by the time its due to sail it doesnt wait for you. It is then up to you to make your way to the next port! One unlucky couple were late back! They eventually did board, but this was via the pilot boat (which guides the ship in and out of the port). Apparently, they had to wear a sling and be 'slung' onto the ship - whilst the ship was moving and at speed! I always knew it was good to be early !!

BIRTHDAYS

Well, I have had another one ! As some of you know I do tend to celebrate my holidays as often as I can (usually starting at the beginning of the month and ending in February!). One particular night we booked to go out with our friends Joanne and Paul to try a new Thai restaurant in Kendal. It had received some particularly good reviews so we thought we should give it a go. We went to weatherspoons for pre-dinner drinks. I am not too sure if you are aware but it is cheaper to buy a bottle of wine in Weatherspoons than it is to buy two glasses, so we did (buy a bottle that is). The wine is just between the 2 girls. We then went over to the restuarant only to be told we would have to wait for our table - so we bought another bottle (just to keep us going!). 45 minutes later our table was still not ready! We decided to leave and go to the Indian restaurant just around the corner. Joanne decided that we should have another bottle of wine (this was our 3rd) - I didnt want any, I dont really drink ! Joanne had brought a birthday cake - wel it was a Jamiacan rum cake (from Jamaica) with candles. A rather drunken 'happy birthday' was sung. The people on the table next to us, decided to move - they said it was because they were in a draught (...... I dont think that was the REAL reason). Needless to say we managed to eat our Indian meal. I think they were really glad when we left as Tom decided he would start singing a Buddy Holly song which Paul wasnt familiar with. When we left they were both singing at the top of their voices .......

HOLIDAYS - CENTER PARCS

I know, I guess you think thats all we do ! We went to center parcs in Penrith. We had a great time. We booked a few events which included ten pin bowling (don't think I should have done that with my back problems !), and Archery. What a laugh - I am glad I dont have to rely on my archery skills to feed myself - I would be quite skinny by now! We also arranged to go to the aqua sauna session for a couple of hours, but that turned into rather a farce - we had been told that as we were going on the Monday we didnt need to make a booking and just go along. We did check this on more than one occasion but were always told not to worry - so we didnt. When we got there we couldnt get in because we hadnt made a booking ! As we were speaking to the young lady on reception she must have decided she had had enough of us and she jus went into the back room and ignored us !! Needless to say we didnt get our 'session' but since have had a refund and we can go back anytime we like just for a sauna session. I think we have to make a booking though !

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR

I absolutely love the snow and it had snowed just before Christmas. Natland was gorgeous - the Church and village green were covered in snow and was like a picture postcard.... until you had to travel anywhere! We spent Christmas morning with Richard (my brother) and family in Crosthwaite (fortunately for us he has a 4-wheel drive and he was able to collect and return us home). On Boxing Day we managed to escape the snow and we went to Gran Canaria for two weeks. I kept receiving text messages to say it was -14 in the UK and we were basking in +25 ! We had a great 1st week - we didnt do anything apart from soak up the sunshine. The 2nd week was slightly marred as I hurt my back. Tom spent quite a lot of time in taxis off to find the nearest chemist so he could collect my prescriptions. I was confined to the hotel, well to be a little more precise the hotel room for a couple of days then a sunbed! I could only just waddle from my room to the restaurant (well u have to make sure you get something to eat dont you!) then to my sunbed! Needless to say I read a lot of books and did get a lovely sun tan - but only on my front !!!!