Friday 13/3/2015 Day 66 Sea Day 1 of 2 Shanghai to Hong Kong

We don’t have our passports at the moment because the ship’s officers collected them after Sydney for the ease of organising the group visas for Indonesia, Borneo and the Phillipines.  We do however have a bar coded cruise card with photo and all our details on it, and each country issues different documents – Indonesia and the Phillipines for China we also have to carry a photocopy of the passport on a sheet of paper with a bar code on it which when read at immigration produced our passport and photo on screen, with multiple entry Chinese visa.

Sector four of our grand voyage will be starting when we arrive in Hong Kong.  This sector takes in Sanya on Hainan Island and then we leave China for Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and the Malaysian Peninsular.  We have full day excursions booked until Thailand.  Then we get our passports back.

After Port Kelang the cruise then sails up the west side on the Indian Ocean on to Mumbai, then on to Abu Dhabi, but we will instead be enjoying our own adventure from Port Kelang to Abu Dhabi via the Siam Care Biannual Seminar and Family Camp in Bangkok. We are staying in Bangkok for 7 nights and then flying to Abu Dhabi on 2/4/2015, rejoining the ship for the fifth and final sector.  This means we will miss Mumbai and 6 sea days (i.e. 6 art lessons!).  We must ask Easa if we can take some art homework with us to Thailand!  So all in all we are delighted to have found this impromptu way to be both on the world cruise AND at the Siam Care Seminar J.  I hadn’t missed one since 2002, so we are both thrilled at the way it has worked out.  This has all been organised while we have been on the ship and since we left the UK, for this we would like to thank Gary Manners.

Today we have been sailing back down the East China Sea, a comparatively busy stretch of sea where we’ve see so many fishing vessels, freight ships, cruise liners on both sides of ours, more signs of activity than any other ocean so far.  The sea has been really peaceful and smooth with a very beautiful pale turquoise colour.  The clouds have all disappeared and the air temperature is rising up again to 15C today, predicted to be 18C in Hong Kong and then after Sanya entering the tropics again.  Khachik and I have had our winter coats on for the deck walking today, but still only 6 laps, so we finished off in the relative comfort of the gym using headphones so we could be entertained at the same time. We tread-milled, arm-cycled and recumbent cycled for an hour before my yoga practice.  Good work!  The gym is on deck 9 at the front of the ship and the treadmills are positioned so that you get a panoramic view of the sea in the direction we are sailing.  It’s awesome.

After all that virtuous activity we broke the mould after coffee and went to listened to a talk by Bernard Purrier in the Palladium about whales, dolphins and porpoises and the many theories about Cetacean strandings.  This was fascinating, really informative and immediately raising our awareness of how little we know about so much.  We missed the first 2 of these as they clashed with other things, but I would like to hear the last about the future of the world’s fish in a talk called “Empty Seas, Empty Nets?” 

Some talks do end up on the telly in our cabins for example the music talks Chris Walker has been doing about some favourite performers from the last century.  At the moment there’s a talk about Frank Sinatra on a loop.

Anyway, to get back to our sea day activities – the whale talk, lunch, a look at excursions, crosswords and art (challenging watercolour of a leopard!), dinner (another chance to choose from Marco Pierre White’s special menu) , and back “home” in the cabin. The excitement builds at the end of each sector.

Tomorrow is our end of sector art exhibition, and the culmination concert for the Arcadia Vocalists.  The talent shows and strictly come dancing competitions happened today.  So I will say bye for now, and will be back here about this time again tomorrow. xx 

Tuesday 10/3/2015 Day 63 on the ship, on the sea towards Shanghai, jumpers on and hold tight!

We’ve had a lovely sea day, pretty inactive for us but it was stormy all day and the waves were coming over deck three so we weren’t able to walk around outside.  The sea state is the type my dad would have absolutely loved – as choppy as anything with huge waves, and several feet of swell.  The breeze has kept everywhere cooler today.  The outside temperature was 22C at the hottest, and we expect it to fall right down tomorrow as we sail towards Shanghai.  But like San Francisco we are only travelling north for a day or two.  As soon as we leave Shanghai we head for Hong Kong, the final port in sector three,  and then we start sector 4 which is going to include an impromptu surprise visit for us (more about this nearer 26/3/2015 but it’s very good news)

So today took it even more easy! We had a lovely breakfast just before 9, started to walk but had to come in when the decks were all closed, went for a coffee.  As P and O are having a huge launch event with HM Queen Elizabeth naming the new ship Britannia, the Arcadia held a “Summer Fair” next to one of the pools, with tombolas and slapstick deck games, so we went and sat down with two friends, one of whom is a retired nurse.  I ended up sharing life stories.  We covered more life ground this morning than we have in the whole of the previous 2 months and it was absolutely fantastic. We shared our nursing stories, our family and relationships stories, our family pride, health and everything important emotionally and spiritually.  Our conversation even included reference to voices that touch your heart like Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran! And musical theatre like Les Miserables   And then it was lunchtime!

With time on our hands after lunch I set out to organise the cruise photo folder on my laptop, creating a back up for the tablets and 2 phones on their too. Good job done.  Then at 3 we enjoyed a surprisingly satisfying art class using charcoal pencils for the first time to draw a very hairy goat.  We are both very happy with our goats J and especially knowing that we can use a new medium.  I am so glad I have kept this blog and taken photos every day.  I will spend a lot of time looking at them and reminding myself of these times.  It seems that more and more people are viewing it too, which is very good to know.

And finally this evening after dinner we went up to the pool to the round-the-worlders’ reception with the Captain, and after the captain’s speech we decided not to go to the entertainment tonight as (thinks “how can I put this kindly?”) let’s try “the quality of the comedy can’t be accurately predicted”, yes that does it nicely and so we are back in the cabin.  It’s just after 10 p.m. Nearly my bedtime so I will say bye for now. Love to you all x

Friday 20/2/2015 Day 45 Fourth Sea Day to Sydney – Art Exhibition for Sector 2

The high spot today (and reason for today's blog)  was preparing for and taking part in the art exhibition, and all the expressions of gratitude from a large group of people to a wonderful, good humoured man, Easa, for encouraging us  very light heartedly to produce things we could previously only have dreamed of.  The walls were full and viewers plentiful too.  When we get to Sydney we are going to renew some of our paints ready for sectors 3,4 and 5, and more really precious and really joyful moments.

 

So next up Sydney! Back tomorrow.

Wednesday 18/2/2015 Day 43 Second Sea Day to Sydney a rainy and windy one and 23C

 We have learned today that there are almost 1000 miles to Sydney, and the weather forecast is unsettled. The ship is moving from side to side quite a lot. The wind is force 6, heavy rain, massive waves, those Passenger Discomfort Bags have appeared again at various spots around the ship and there were a few spaces at the dinner tables this evening.

I am finding that when it’s really rough I just feel like lying down, and that works as there are no obligations to do anything. 

You will all be relieved to know that immigration procedures for Australia worked well and we’re both allowed in. No queues and all went like clockwork. We have registered our interest in a trip to jumping crocs in Darwin, otherwise it’s just as I mentioned yesterday i.e. “independent” trips in Sydney, Brisbane and Airlie Beach.  We will be 10 days all together in and around Australia from 20^th Feb. Sector 2 of the cruise ends in Sydney, Sector 3 begins in Brisbane and goes as far as Hong Kong.

Activities on board today were a little different – 6 laps round deck three with random rough sea zig zagging, immigration procedures followed by us opting out of learning the Paso Doble (mainly because we are unlikely to remember it, but also because we are unsteady on our feet).  This meant we had more time to chat with new people in the restaurant and also have a little rest before art. Art was actually quite hard today and neither of us are happy with our “sunset against cloudy sky with reflection in sea” – I shall describe mine as hideous, so I doubt it will be making an outing after today.

Painting this meant we missed the Chocoholics Buffet again! We must have a word with ourselves about this.  Three more sectors, three more chances at Chocoholics Buffet.

We haven’t been going to Palladium as much recently, but because the two violinists performing as Elektra got such wonderful reviews after their first performance 2 days ago, we decided to go tonight and enjoyed them very much. Popular classical pieces performed with attitude, and a finale of traditional Irish fiddle. Great stuff.

Much effort is being made to keep everyone occupied, comfortable and happy indoors. New films are showing twice a day in the Screening Room, 5 or 6 different styles of music and performance in the bars and theatres, three different visiting guest speakers, Arcadia TV (a chat show), a Port Talk, Arcadia Radio, talks about art and health, “sales” in the shops, two daily crosswords and a Sudoku. As I said yesterday there’s also food 24 hours a day.

That’s it for today. Back again tomorrow. xx

Tuesday 17/2/2015 Day 42 First of 4 Sea Days to Sidney, Australia

The sea swell has increased a bit since we set sail, so the ship has started the rocking and rolling action that sometimes results in the appearance of “passenger discomfort bags” around the busy areas. The sky has become partly cloudy and there’s a gentle breeze, so the temperature is lower, and now its fine again walking out on the deck during the day, and lying on the sunbeds or generally hanging around the pool. J I know, what a light-weight! Still using SPF30 too!

It’s hard to imagine what 15,000 miles looks like, but it feels tremendous. The world is big isn’t it.

We have become creatures of habit on board, with our own rituals, within which we get lots of opportunity to engage in different activities, but we appear to have found our niches.  We have a choice of 6 different types of restaurant: buffet, waiter, sandwich bar, fast food, two different Michelin Star (added £’s) restaurants, one called Ocean Grill and the other called East.  Our preference is for buffet breakfast and lunch in a place called the Belvedere on deck 9, high up with great views in all directions, no particular dress code and 24 hour service.  We generally take breakfast between 7:30 and 8, and then take our coffees outside by the pool, and around 9 set off for our first walk.  Even though we could have 10 different breakfast menus we don’t. I, for example, have settled on the home mixed muesli with figs, prunes and coconut, and with one exception only so far in 5 weeks (it was poached eggs on that day ;))

Lunches could be salads, cold meats, fish, cheeses, curry with rice, veggie options, roasts with potatoes and hot veg, followed by fresh fruit, cheese and biscuits, and several different cakes and puddings including comfort staples like sponge or crumble and custard. I have found and stuck with salads and fresh fruit, with the “occasional” chocolate cake or tart.  There are also special diets catered for, so Khachik feels very comfortable with the diabetic options (removed sugar, fat and alcohol from the puddings), and there are dairy free and gluten free options.

The evening meal is in 2 sittings, 6:30 and 8:30, different table sizes, a sit down 5-courser, (starter, soup, main, dessert, cheese, coffee and sweets. There are 2 options.  Option 1 you stay with the same passengers for the whole cruise and go to the same table every night.  Option 2 is Freedom dining, you have a set time and the same set menu, but you are allocated a table on arrival and change table mates every night.  On the menu are items with jus and coulis, food is arranged in towers and the mains have names like seafood rendezvous and pithiviers of courgettes mornay, if you get my meaning ;).  ALL lovely food, with the sweetest of names. Small portions but lots of courses, with sorbet between soup and main on special (Marco Pierre White) nights.   Every 3-4 days it’s very formal involving black tie/cocktail wear, and on the other nights it’s either smart (men wear jacket and tie) or casual (anything except shorts and exposed flesh). I don’t notice the difference too much, as my capsule wardrobe of separates and scarves is as versatile as can be,  but at our table none of the men like the black tie nights (not enough dissent for mutiny yet though – I must add that if I objected as much as they do I would be taking non-violent-direct-action!)

The art lesson of the mountainous landscape is finished, photos of both efforts to follow in Sydney. The dance of the day was a fairly fast sequence dance, the Cindy Swing, which if you don’t know already, feels to me like a combination of the Charleston and cha cha cha.  We managed it for 45 minutes, and took an early lunch for knees sake.

Sydney marks the end of “Sector 2” of 5, so while we are having our 4 sea days it’s time for our next art exhibition, time to watch a passenger Strictly (6 good dancing couples taking part), and a choir performance (about 100 passengers singing on stage).

And now it’s time to get ready again for a smart night. Bye for now. Back tomorrow. xx

Tuesday 10/2/2015 Day 36 A visit by the great sea god Neptune ;)

Well, today we cross the Equator on our way down under on sea day 4 from Hawaii.  That Neptune gets around a bit – he came onto our Hurtigruten ship when we crossed the Arctic Circle in 2011, to be part of an ice baptism ritual and he was there again at the Equator when we cruised on the Costa Pacifica to Rio last year, and rather sportingly became part of a slapstick event involving flour and blue dye. And today we will be partying with the great sea god at 2 p.m. He must be a laugh a minute to spend time with in the sea!

My word it’s hot out there this morning. We had our morning coffee out on the deck and almost melted.  Glad to come inside for a Rumba lesson, lunch and then art (a beautiful quite calm seascape, with frothy waves breaking on the shore). 

I had an extra art lesson at breakfast, as Easa joined us – all about the eyes. I am so happy. Today I learned about highlighting eyelids to create the impression of roundness and softness.  I have had a go at this in pencil for now, and will ask Khachik to sit for me later.

There’s one more sea day after today before we reach Samoa and set about learning some more about Polynesian Village life, and a trip to parts of the islands which are believed to be the inspiration behind one of the most famous characters from South Pacific the old much loved movie from my childhood, Bloody Mary.  Remember “HappyTalk”, and “Balihai” (spelling?).  I can too.

Anyway for now bye. Much love to you all. x

Monday 9/2/2015 Day 35 - We are both well.

We are fine! This is just to reassure you, if you are worried, that although the national press seem to have published reports about the whole ship Arcadia being sick, the great majority of us have only had mild URTI’s, coughs and colds, or nothing at all.  Khachik had one that lasted a week on the first sector. I have only had really mild symptoms.  Sadly a few people became very ill on the first leg and as I mentioned before some very frail people cruise and for these the URTI has meant that after they were in the medical centre here, they were too ill to stay on board and have had to leave the ship, some have gone to hospital and one has died.

"January 31, 2015 - P&O Arcadia - Beryl Robinson, 84, from the United Kingdom, became ill on a 24-night cruise from Southampton, UK to San Francisco, California to celebrate her 62nd wedding anniversary. The family was medically disembarked by the cruise line while in Mexico. Then, while traveling home, Mrs. Robinson passed away."

This is very sad. I know it happens at home and off the ship, and it is always the very old and very young who suffer most in the winter but imagine building yourself up to this huge adventure and it coming to this kind of  end. I feel very sorry for everyone affected, and especially the family of the person who died in Mexico.

The sea is so smooth now, I love the way it changes in an instant, how the colours vary and melt into each other, how shadows and reflections manifest themselves in the water. Loving the sunrises and sunsets, clear night skies and star gazing opportunities.

Pictures from around the ship will be the next uploads as I realise we haven’t let you have inside pictures of restaurants, leisure activities and our infamous dance and art sessions.  So prepare for this, if we can get wi-fi in Samoa in 3 days time (2 more sea days ahead).

We have been advised to have “realistic expectations” about development in Samoa.

Our on board activities today have included hearty eating at every opportunity, 9 walking laps (3 miles) so far, maybe 3 more laps after dinner, a revision of 5 dances: foxtrot, jive, waltz, cha cha cha and quickstep, and then a longer art class, where we were given a black and white portrait and asked by Easa to paint it with skin tones and colour.  Khachik has painted a young Elizabeth Taylor. I need to learn how to paint realistic eyes.

 Finished off the activities in the hot tub stretching in every direction.

It’s nearly dinner time so I will finish there and get back tomorrow. Bye for now x

Sunday 8/2/2015 Day 34 Pacific Bliss and Captain’s Coffee Morning for the World Cruisers!

I haven’t mentioned the cruise speakers recently, so this second of 5 sea days might be a good opportunity.  Nick Owen came on for about a week and spoke about his years presenting a.m. telly with Ann Diamond.  He also did an interview on the P and O chat show. We both enjoyed listening and found him more interesting than we had imagined, very open about the warts an’ all, and quite humble.

“Marlene” from Only Fools and Green Green Grass, spoke twice too once with her bio and a lot of clips from the various series she has performed in, and once just about Only Fools. We didn’t realise how much she’d achieved in her career, apart from Marlene.  There are other speakers we haven’t listened to because the promotional info sounded a bit tedious – e.g. one of the Queen’s former butlers talking about Royal food and life, someone else was more than “mentioning the war” actually detailing it every day for a week,  and Ken Joy was talking about entertainment in the last century.

As for passenger participation there’s a talent contest in the making, also a Strictly-style competition, and a brand new passenger choir. None of the above for us, for now at least ;)

You want to hear about yesterday’s art? Erm, so much laughter ++ it hurt. The monkey picture this sector is going to be like last sector’s koala bear for micky taking.  Strange faces and hair, sad looks, arrogant looks, interpretations quite unique and absolutely hilarious!!!!! Easa our art teacher said he’d go to his GP at the end of the cruise for a referral for counselling – he was only joking, at least I think he was. Next up a Pelican.

And dancing the Quickstep?  Not as bad as first time.  It’s all about the repetition. Maybe by sector 5 we’ll be able to do it without support, or maybe not.  We’ll enjoy watching P and O Strictly in any case on 18^th of this month.

Now for the Captain’s Coffee morning…. The 500+ world cruisers got another chance to meet the Captain and senior officers over coffee and cookies.  We were also on something like a “blind date” – there’s a story if you would bear with us.  Last December we were on the Costa Pacifica to Rio and two of our then dinner mates, Pam and Domenic, also became good cruise mates. When we mentioned we were going on a world cruise next Pam said so were her sister and partner. We knew their names but nothing else, so we wrote them a letter, passed it to reception and waited for a reply. This morning there was a voicemail from them on our cabin phone – describing their clothes and distinguishing marks!  Success. I found the couple no problem at the coffee morning and made contact.  Still finding there are hundreds of faces I don’t feel I’ve seen before, and we’re already into the 5^th week, and have cruised 11,600 miles. 

With love until tomorrow from the Pacific, heading south west to Pago Pago, in American Samoa X

Wednesday 4/2/2015 Day 30 One day left at sea before Hawaii, calm sea and sun out.

Phew, the rain we had yesterday stopped overnight and now the sun is out, the waves are a lot smaller and the wind has dropped from force 8 to force 5. Temperature at 3.30 p.m was 27C.   Deck activity has started again, and the factor 30 has come back into play J.  We are back to all outside activities and feel good. We noticed “motion discomfort bags” had been strategically placed around the corridors overnight, but not a great deal of uptake. One of our dinner mates suffers terribly. I told her about covering one eye, and she is going to give it a whirl.

All is well as we approach Hawaii for our 2 day stay, one long day in Oahu from early a.m. until 11 p.m. tomorrow, then sailing overnight to the second island Maui for next day. We are going whale watching in Oahu on a catamaran, lunch out and then time for a good look around.

Today we have revisited the cha cha cha in our dance class and will be going out  again to the Retreat later to practice, after Cabaret.  This is a special venue set up like a night club with candles on the tables and hosted by the dance teachers for people like us, just getting up the courage to take the dances out. I have started to enjoy this.

And our art subject was a paradise island landscape with sun sea palm trees, rocks. I am not as proud of this as I was of yesterday’s whale, but it’s all good fun.

KHACHIK'S PALM TREES

So now it’s time for dinner, back again tomorrow. x

Tuesday 3/2/2015 Day 29 - 4 absolutely wonderful and fascinating weeks at sea

What a night, and a day. Even though the temperature outside has risen to 20C again, there are some very strong winds (ship’s info reports force 7 overnight and force 8 now, sea state rough, swell short and moderate) and really heavy rain. These have meant nobody is allowed out on the decks, doors are locked and we are advised to keep the balcony doors closed.  Everyone holding on to the rails when walking, and, for my yogi friends, standing postures all very unstable, nearly lost it in my wide leg forward folds, and my practice had to be split into two today.

There are going to be few doctor consultations for sea sickness I think. Not for me though I have three contingency arrangements.  If gazing at the horizon doesn’t work, I am going to try the one eye closed technique, and if that doesn’t do it the Stugeron will be out of its packet for the first time. An early night anyway as lying down and feeling the ship rock and roll feels lovely.

Last night was the Captain’s Gala dinner and we had the best dinner yet (five courses from Marco Pierre White’s menu, the main course of which consisted of the most delicious lobster EVER, and the puddings were extremely chocolatey and decadent). Photo opportunity with the Captain duly taken J.  Then we went to the Black Tie Ball and danced our three favourites – foxtrot, jive and waltz. Getting a little bit more brave by the day.

Because of the near gale force winds today there was no deck walking, so for tonight there’ll be no pudding for me! Enough said. There’s always the 10 flights of stairs, walking the corridors, potentially the jogging, rowing, cross training machines and lots of different exercise classes in the gym. Potentially I say, because apart from yoga and Pilates I don’t fancy anything else at the moment.  So instead I joined a craft class and came back to the cabin with a fabulous card making kit.  See what I mean about something for everyone all of the time.

At our dance class with Jeffrey and Brenda today we danced the waltz, in every direction with a lot of attention on posture, arms and transferring the weight more positively. I would go so far as saying we wouldn’t be worried at all if we were invited to dance this one without our teachers. As long as the lights are low, and nobody looks for too long!

Now today’s art was something else. A water colour of a whale’s tail above the sea, and its shadow on the sea’s surface. I cannot believe how life like mine looks. I showed it to my dinner mates tonight and they said it looked like a photo! Is this just a one off I wonder, or a turning point?  Khachik’s is wonderful as always, with a different interpretation of the sea state. We are both very happy.

KHACHIK'S

MINE

So, another 2 sea days to Hawaii, where rumour has it the temperature is 28C. We are assured this storm will have passed and we will all be feeling comfortable again soon.  

I will be back to confirm! x

Day 2 7/1/2015 Post Card from the Bay of Biscay (Living up to its rock and roll reputation)

Well after the months of excitement, planning, visa hunting, pessimism, optimism, disbelief and complete and utter gratefulness, we set off at 6 a.m. from Glossop yesterday (6/1/2015) classed as day one of our  our 106 day extravaganza, as we set sail in the evening. Talene dropped us at junction 18/19 Knutsford M6 service station where we were really surprised to be picked up by a Southampton FC Corporate Entertainment Coach (!) used by P&O for transfers. Five hours and 2 stops later we were at the Cruise Terminal in Southampton. 

With 1,500 guests to check in and embark it took us a while, but by 3 p.m. we were through security and in our lovely cabin, D130 on deck 5, soon watching the sun set beautifully in a cool blue sky over a very calm sea.  Everything falling into place.  Capsule wardrobes and home comforts unpacked, there we were comfortably, breathing, relaxing, it was really happening at last.  Facebooking, texting and phoning followed before we lost our regular mobile contact, as we knew there would be a 12 hour wait for our internet access to become active.  We have been warned that contact might not be what we are used to and so we are advised not to use it to upload and download photos until we have access to higher speeds (e.g 2 days to Vigo).

Internet Access comes in various packages, so we have bought a package of 1100 minutes for £200  – which means about ten minutes a day if it lasts us for the cruise. This is quite a tough ask for someone who has instant access normally, 24 hour a day.  It might be a good thing. But nobody wants to be paying more than that for the net on board.

Apparently, as we left Southampton there was a firework display and a band playing at the port just for our cruise,  we missed both.  We did however pass the ship that ran aground on the sand on the Isle of Wight. :(  Below is our cabin and our route.



Then our lovely cruising activities began -  so far these have included the walk on the deck, the exploration of the decks (some of the 11 anyway), getting familiar with the directions, the deck names. 


Then it was time to have a look at the gym and spa, book 6 yoga classes, enjoy one, book painting classes (therein lies a story!!!!! worthy of its own paragraph below), and everything that goes with restaurants – gorgeous food with lots of choice, and meet lovely new and fascinating people at every meal time, at the tables, in the queues, everywhere. There was a compulsory emergency drill and how to put on your life jacket, but nothing too onerous.  We have a muster station in one of the restaurants near the big gangways on deck 3. On one of the deck 3 walking pictures you can see the lifeboats hanging above our heads, some take 100, some fewer, but there are plenty of life boats.

The Wash (spectacular and very loud)

The view is the sea, and we are travelling South Westerly at 11 nautical miles an hour.  We’ve done around 200 and just left the comparatively calm English Channel, into the more robust nature of Bay of Biscay.  Some passengers have already found the choppiness and sway a bit much and are seasick.  So far we are ok, but the rolling movement makes us zigzag around. We still have 500 to go till Vigo

Now, its 47 years since Khachik was a student at Manchester University and all who know him well will have heard the anecdotes (the sheep and an A35 van for example).  What’s this got to do with cruising?  Well this.  We were queuing for our artist’s packs today ready for our first painting lesson tomorrow and Khachik asked the teacher a few personal (I thought impertinent) questions.  Were you a flat mate of Ali at Manchester? Can you remember me and Saeed? The poor man didn’t know what was going on.  He said “How do you know all these things about me?” So then Khachik introduced himself and there was an amazing moment. Khachik quickly laughed and said “Remember the sheep and the van?”  What a reunion! Recognising him after all those years, and being here at the same time!  Details of the Sheep story can be obtained directly from Khachik if you need to know them or be reminded of the feckless behaviour of students in the 1960’s ;). As for the reunion, it’s to be continued…

Khachik on left of the photo, Easa on the right

Just a bit of insight into the holidaying antics of a committed DIYer, Can I just ask if anyone else’s husband takes a screwdriver with them on holiday? Didn’t think so, but Khachik has brought one and has already used it to rearrange the wardrobe shelving so his box of red wine will fit. 

Signing off for today. May or may not be sharing our efforts as artists.