We Are Back!

and what a great time we had,

we have been a tad busy since our return, so Diana has not had enough time to send me all of the photographs, so this will be a on-going post as Diana sends them, I know this is day three,

and we were in Portugal, I think!

as always we go ashore to sample the local produce, 

and start with a small coffee and breakfast,

selfie time!

and then a walk,

I am showing Diana a photograph I took of her, 

next a walk, 

before another coffee break,

we sampled the local wine, made from of all things tomatoes, it was rather nice as it happens so we bought a bottle, 

we continued sightseeing, 

so many steps, that is my daily dozen or more done for today!

climb up the steps and take a tuk-tuk down?

back to the ship, 

in the evening time for a show, and good it was too,

for 2 evenings I tried my hand at the blackjack table, both evenings I was sat next to a charming couple, whose names I regretfully did not take a note of, they gave me, a first time novice a blackjack table, so much help and encouragement, if you are reading this again many thanks I really did appreciate all of your help, but after the second night it was obvious I had absolutely no blackjack skill at all, so I called it a night for the rest of the holiday, before I lost the farm as they say!

I forget where we went, but after a day out, a drink by the pool,

a lager for myself, 

and surprisingly a pina colada for Diana, she was really getting into the holiday sprit, 

'Cheers!', as we tuck into our breakfast, I have to say the food onboard was excellent, 

I should point out that some evenings it was a black tie event,

a amuse bouche before the meal, after a starter, 

our main course, 

another 'Cheers!',

before our desserts, 

and one more during them,

then time for a late evening stroll around the deck,

with a cocktail each as the sun went down, this is the first of a few posts of our holiday, we went to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Gibraltar and Morocco, more of those in later posts, now back to good 'ole Blighty, we arrived back in Southampton after the cruise, we had booked a coach to take us back to London, but we were a few hours early for it, so we paid a extra £18.00 to change tickets to the earlier coach, 20 minutes after leaving Southampton the coach ground to a halt, the gearbox had a hissy fit and refused to go on, so we had to wait for a spare coach to be sent, it was galling to see the coach we were going to be on go sailing past! I looked at trying to claim the £18.00, but one look at the form told me that it would be a uphill struggle, so that was £18.00 down the tube, arriving home our Internet was still not working, worse still having made a appointment for when we returned for the engineer to call, he arrived 1 week into our holiday, so that was it, we than had to make another appointment for him to call back, which we did and he has now fixed the fault, before we left everyone with BT had their Internet cut, but it all came back on except ours, he plugged a bit of kit into our wall telephone socket and showed me a device that had 622 in green on it, apparently the problem was 622 metres away! soon all was well again, when everyone's Internet went off the main roadside box was the culprit, everyone was reconnected, except us! someone forgot the last two wires we were told, which is why we were the only one with no Internet, on to the next problem, our front door, 

this is our front door, and nice it is too, but, it does not conform to the latest fire regulations, so all of the flat owners are having to have a new front door fitted and the old one taken away, 

the new door looks like this, anyway having paid a deposit of 50%, well over £1,500, it was our turn to have our one fitted, but, you guessed it, the fitters would not take our door as it had a painted over sheet of asbestos on the back of it, so they packed up their tools and left, no idea what is going to happen next, but a specialist asbestos removal firm will have to be called in, on to the next problem, on the buildings fire alarm box, a yellow light was on, a battery had failed, we had notified the buildings managing agents some months ago, we had tried calling the company that fitted the alarm, but they could only take instructions from the management company, eventually the fire alarm company called round, the problem being as no one had told the fire alarm company the system decided to ignore the alarm when a new battery was fitted, so that meant that the alarm sensor had to be replaced, and the sensor? in our flat! why does this sort of always go wrong for us? a new sensor has been ordered, everything is now back to normal as far as our lives are concerned, on Diana's first day back it was a 05.00am start, so no change there then! I spent the day trying to make a slideshow for my photography website, with not a lot of success, must try harder tomorrow!

 in the evening time for my read and sherry, 

for tonight a huge tuna salad that Diana had left for me, in the evening I watched the usual Outback Opal Hunters and Deadliest Catch before a Midsomer Murder, after which Diana returned home so it was a Have I Got More News For You, so everything back to our normal routine, after Have I Got More News For You, we were both off to bed.

We Will Not Be Posting,

 until we return, the cost of the Internet on board is over £400! So we will post when we return, we will be sailing and stopping off at Spain, Portugal, Italy and Morocco, so hopefully lots of photographs when we return, onboard now and steaming out of Southampton, please call back at the beginning of July if you have time, all the best from Diana and Stan.

It Looks Like We Will Not Be Posting Before We Go,

 We have just received a message from BT repairs will take until 12th. June 

A Bit Of Bad News,

 our Internet is down, so I can not  make a post this morning, I am doing this on my telephone, but it is too difficult for me to put photographs on it. I have contacted BT a bot welcomed me and after some time sent me a message, "the problem is outside your house and will be rectified within 48 hours" by then we will be sailing the Bay of Biscay! If it comes back before we go I will make a post, but if not please call back when we return in July, best regards Stan and Diana.

It Is All Going To Happen Tomorrow,

as first thing we will be away,

off on a cruise, the last time we went on one we enjoyed it so much we said we would go on one agin, it has taken this long to save up for it, we have had over the years major expenses, Diana's visa and the maintenance of where we live the 2 major ones, anyway have done it now and are so looking forward to going, back to Monday, during the holiday I will run out of my prescription, so off to town to pick it up, out into a grey day, past the snail mail box,

past the green,

alighting at the florists that had a nice display today, 

like these cyclamen, 

and some very colourful hydrangeas, my grandmother used to like these, but today the colours are so intense, 

over the road to Boots the chemist, 

and back home, today I took a photograph of both gate houses, 

going past Foxgrove Lodge, 

these red and white flowers putting on a good show,

this is more like the hydrangeas that were available in my grandmothers time, but even these are more colourful than the ones in the garden from back in the mid 1950s, 

back past the snail mail box and home, as it happens at the end of the day I managed to finish copying all of the CDs to my computer and telephone, phew! what a time that took, next get my camera gear ready for our trip, I am going to take just 2 lenses, a 20 - 35mm and a 120mm prime lens, of course this is the drawback of not using the Lumix four thirds cameras I used to use, there is not a 'one size fits all' lens for medium format cameras, the advantage? wow! so much more detail when I enlarge the image when I print them out, the disadvantage? bigger and heaver, and of course there might be that once in a lifetime photograph that you miss, because taking individual lenses for medium format cameras means carrying a shed load of gear, but luckily having been on a cruise before and seeing what photographs I took I think these two will be fine, however if I was going to photograph birds or other wildlife I would be using a 300mm plus a 1.4 converter, all great fun! after which time for my evening meal Diana had left me a huge smoked salmon salad, in the evening Diana arrived home after visiting Kai who had just returned from Morocco with Wilma, so feet up for a coffee and a chat as we watched a Midsomer Murder, after which we decided on a film,

 Ben Hur, the new version, 

Another Short Post Today,

I spent all day the same as yesterday,

copying CDs to my computer and telephone, normally Diana does not have to work on a Sunday, but today she had to go in, arriving home Diana started packing for our up coming trip, after which it was feet before our evening meal, first a read and a sherry,

whilst Diana was preparing a superb steak evening meal,

'Cheers!',

we followed that with a cherry sponge and custard, after which we settled down to a couple of Midsomer Murders, these new for us from season 24, after which as Diana had a early start today she was off to bed, for Myself a Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.

It Will Only Be short Post Today,

as I spent all of it copying to my computer and telephone more of my CDs,

 

I had all of these to go through and many more!

right up to my evening read and sherry,

for tonight a huge ham salad that Diana had left for me, 'Cheers!', after which I had a evening of Midsomer Murder as episodes were playing back to back, when Diana arrived home it was feet up and a coffee for Diana, a spiced rum for myself, as we settled back to watch another couple of episodes of that excellent series,

Canal Boat Diaries, image BBC after which as Diana has a 05.00AM start tomorrow she was off to bed, for myself a Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.