Neil and Selina's Weekend Update

Hello all,

Well, we have been back in the UK for two weeks now. Hard to believe. Our status hasn't yet changed, we are still living up the sweet life of well dressed "executive" vagrancy.

On the jobs front, we have both had some very promising leads, with multiple interviews lined up for next week, however England is deceptively large, and finding two jobs we both like which are close to each other will likely prove the most challenging part, but we'll get there.

Ye Olde Roade Markere

In the mean time, we are both enjoying the quiet and relaxed life of rural Shropshire. (Wait, is there a non-rural Shropshire?) Selina has found time to take up a new hobby, sewing, thanks to her birthday present from her parents. And unlike any of my hobbies, hers has quickly born fruit, in the shape of a small handbag. I, on the other hand have achieved surprisingly little in comparison, though I have finished a book, which is always a momentous occasion for me.

Amber Cat, very relaxed

Autumn Cat, equally relaxed

New sewing machine. oooh! I have put in an order for a new jacket, though that is perhaps a little ambitious.

Despite being allergic to cats, I seem to attract them.

Selina's brother and sister-in-law were up last weekend, bringing our nephew, Barnaby, with them. I have to say, all in all I thought he was a remarkably well behaved baby, though to be fair, I did have the option of just ignoring him if he was crying, safely in the knowledge that I was undoubtedly the last line of defence between Barnaby and any urgent matters he needed taking care of.

Out for a jolly

Baby Barnaby

Our stuff which we had shipped in August arrived last week, and all of it, with the exception of our dining table top, was carried up two flights of stairs to the top floor. It's funny how you quickly forget how much stuff you actually have. And now, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we will have to carry it all back down. The movers managed it in two hours; I think we might manage it in two days if we're lucky.

Stuff!

Gosh, lots of stuff

The weather has actually been better than expected, with plenty of sunny days and only occasional rain. Manys a day I have only required a light jacket to go out into town, though the heavy wool coat is on immediate standby. Alas, now the clocks go back here this weekend, so the evenings will become very dark, very quickly all of a sudden, so we'll make the most of the weather while we can.

Such signs are not commonplace back in Chicago really

Train alert! Yes, Selina's parents live not too far from the Severn Valley Railway, a preserved steam railway, which always makes for a fun day trip.

Well, have a nice weekend and fun Halloween everyone. I hope the costume ideas are excellent as ever. Next week I promise to post up some of our Mini Adventure epilogues, so stay tuned.

Photos from Sea - Part 2

Time for some deck sports!

Luckily they are all quite close range sports, so the fog wasn't a problem. (It did make for some slightly washed-out looking photos though, sorry).

Paddleball:

Similar to tennis, but on a much smaller court, with wooden paddles which give you minimal control or power on the ball.

This shot looks far more dramatic than the realities of the game, at least at our level.

Shuffleboard:

Use a long pole to shove little plastic discs back and fourth along the deck on a painted double-ended scoreboard. The discs have to be fully within a numbered box to count, so touching a line means it doesn't count. Therefore, most rounds ended in a 0-0 draw for us.

Deck Quoits:

Toss a rope ring onto the painted deck target. Fairly simple really.

Relaxing with a drink on the balcony, with a fine view of the fog

A few interior shots around the main lobby area on deck 3:

The bell gets run each day at noon (though we were never in earshot), and then followed immediately by the noon broadcast from the Captain, for our daily weather and navigational update.

One day, we were out on deck and thought our watches were 10 minutes slow when the Captain came on the intercom at 12:10. He then apologised, saying in a typically understated way that there he was enjoying a coffee in the lounge, forgetting the time, when he saw the ship's Security Officer walking over the ring the bell for noon, and quickly realising that instead of drinking coffee, he ought be in the bridge for announcements. To be fair, he had only been in the job for a couple of weeks.

On one of my wanderings around the ship, I found the ship's navigation chart with our planned route. Each marker notes our planned noon position. As you can see, we stayed a little further south than usual on the first couple of days to avoid a storm, before turning northeast for Southampton.

Could the fog be starting to lift at last so we can enjoy some sunshine for the rest of our voyage?

Eh, no....

Finally, after three days of fog, we found some sunshine, in Southampton!

Sun! The fog finally cleared and the sun emerged. Just in time for disembarkation alas.

These curvy items are bolted onto the deck on the bow in front of the bridge. They look like pretty ornamental sculptures, nicknamed the Commodore's Cuff Links. In reality, they are spare propeller blades for the ship.

QM2 backs into her parking space unassisted in the pre-dawn darkness.

And oh look, a grain elevator; it's just like being back in rural Illinois...

In a fitting tribute to our Mini Adventure, we spotted a literal boatload of brand new Minis ready for export back to America. The circle of life continues.

Who's that then?

Disembarked, luggage collected and back on dry land. We head off to Shropshire. QM2 will go to Cherbourg.

Thanks for the voyage! Maybe we'll sail with you again some time.

And a thanks to those who have been following us on our blog. We're not quite done yet however. We have a few closing epilogues on our various adventures to post. We will also keep you up to date right here on how we are getting on here in England with respect to jobs, houses, etc, so keep checking back from time to time.

Neil and Selina

Photos from Sea - Part 1

As promised, lots more photos from our crossing (in a two-part series).

Bridge alert! Crossing under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which spans the entrance to New York Harbor. Although it doesn't look as dramatic in our photos, the clearance is alarmingly close, especially when moving at speed; the bridge on just clears the ship's funnel by 9-12ft. The ship also blows its horn as the funnel passes under, which must give the car drivers on the bridge quite a fright.

Underway in the open sea. We had very nice weather the first two days, with plenty of sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures and a fairly calm sea.

One of the aft pool decks, though everyone had run off to change for dinner

The view looking forward from our stateroom balcony, which was fairly near the front of the ship.

And the view aft, looking down onto the boats suspended over the promenade deck.

From our balcony at night

Bridge Alert!

A view through the windows of the lower decks down in the hull.

Looks quite tame really. However, before we boarded her for the New York to Southampton crossing, the QM2 had made a quick run up to Quebec. On the way back down to New York, she had to go right through a tropical storm out at sea, including a Force 11 gale (that's right, all the way up to 11). The wave tops were taller than the windows at this level. Some of our passengers who experienced it said it was quite exhilarating, though several others were said to be looking a little green. 

We were also told that on that day, QM2 left at the same time as two cruise ships, both of which had to turn back because it was too rough for them to make the passage (relatively) comfortably. So if you're going to travel by sea during hurricane season, at least do it in an ocean liner. We managed to avoid them on our crossing though.

On to the entertainment:

We never ran out of things to do. Being at sea for a week, the nice people at Cunard kindly laid on a mass of shipboard entertainment for each day.

Bridge alert at 10:30am! We didn't actually play, so this was as close as we got to this bridge.

Sometimes however you just need to relax in one of the lounges and peruse the martini menu.

Note the Churchill variety of martini

Or if champagne is more your thing...

Dinner time! (No, the mini Mini didn't follow us everywhere)

Several evenings had a ball theme, such as the Ascot Ball in this case.

The ship's ballroom band played each night, giving us all a chance to practice our newly learned dancing routines.

The Ascot Ball featured a ladies hat parade. Unfortunately for Selina, we didn't know there was going to be an Ascot Ball, so she didn't have one of her fabulous hats with her!