HaPpY NeW YeAr 2012
from MaRtIn!
Well another year has gone round and here’s my annual newsletter.
The year began in the Caribbean Sea and will end in the Tasman Sea.
In the Caribbean I had my first visits to four new ports on the islands and six new ports in Central America. I went back to the last six of these in March on my second cruise as a port lecturer.
Also in March I had a fine weekend in London staying with Mark in Dulwich and visiting Greenwich and Woolwich (all the –wiches!).
In April I cruised to the Canaries and made my first visits to Agadir & Casablanca in Morocco. The highlight of the cruise was the all day tour of Seville.
In May I cruised to the Med visiting Edam, Vigo, Motril, Ibiza and Estoril for the first time. The high point of the trip was, literally, the old town of Ibiza.
In June I was a port lecturer on the Balmoral taking my brother to the North Cape of Norway. In July I cruised to the Faeroes. The high point of the cruise was the tour to the National Botanic Gardens of Wales. The Norman Foster domed greenhouse was spectacular if somewhat hot! On the way back from Dover I picked up my father from Clacton and took him down to Poole for his annual fortnight with me. We saw the Red Arrows three times at Weymouth, Bournemouth and from my back garden but missed the tragic crash.
At the end of August I went on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth for the first time cruising along the English Channel. My first visit to Zeebrugge included a day trip to Brussels as a tour escort. I was admiring the courtyard of the City Hall in the Grande Place when one of my ex-students, Wing Cdr Mark Simpson RAAF, came up to me to say hello. I'm surprised he recognised me after 23 years!
In September I had 16 photo-voltaic (PV) solar panels fitted to my roof to take advantage of the now halved government subsidy. I also had a glorious week staying with my old college friend Dr Kim Veltman in Maastricht. Undoubtedly one of my best holidays ever! I got home to find that my father had been admitted to Colchester General Hospital so I drove over to Essex for 3 days before going on a month’s long cruise to the Black Sea. This was my first cruise as a Senior Dance Host in a team of four.
In November I cruised to North Africa. There was no dance instructor on board, so for the first time on a Saga cruise, I taught both the Line dancing and Ballroom / Latin American dance classes. The tour to Ancient Segesta on Sicily from the port of Trapani was exceptional.
In December Saga will be flying me out to Sydney to join the Spirit of Adventure for the first time. We will be calling at Eden, Geelong, Melbourne, Burnie, Hobart, Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington and Tauranga before flying home from Auckland in the New Year. Next year I already have 10 cruises booked as a dance host and one as a port lecturer!