HaPpY NeW YeAr 2014
from MaRtIn!
Well another year has sped by and here's my annual newsletter.
The year began in the Med on dear old Saggy Booby (Saga Ruby), the first of my 13 cruises in 2013!
Nine of these cruises were on the lovely Quest for a Denture (Quest for Adventure) with Cunard, Saga and the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines making up the rest.
You can read about all of them at: My Cruises
My father died aged 95 in March and you can read his obituaries towards the bottom of this page: My Family
Also in March I traded in my five year old Hyundai Getz 1100 cc for a new Hyundai i10 1250 cc car.
In April I bought a new Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 mobile phone to replace not only my old Samsung phone but also my Apple iPod Touch too. I like the way it automatically downloads my emails as I walk down any high street. I'm a real sucker for South Korean technology!
Over the summer I took great advantage of my free Arts Fund Pass given out by the Daily Telegraphy. After attending an Open University briefing for my new course T802 in Milton Keynes, I visited Audley End House in Essex and Hall Place & Eltham Palace in Kent. Staying with my friend Mark in Dulwich, I visited the Courtauld Institute, Kensington Palace, the Brunel Museum, the Ranger's House and the Dickens museum, all in London. On the way home, I called in to Clandon House in Surrey and the Watts Gallery & Chapel in Hampshire. Later dog sitting at my brother's place for the last time, I visited Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire and Ickworth House in Suffolk. I twice called in to the Old Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham en route to Dover.
Over my 60th birthday weekend at the beginning of September, I hosted a luncheon party for some of my walking group members in my garden. The next day my friend Mike from Southampton took me out to a lovely lunch with a cracking cake with a model cruise ship on the top! In the evening I hosted a little do at Brian and Carol's line dance class.
Having done a Baltic cruise in the summer as reconnaisance, my final cruise of the year was as a Port Lecturer on Fred. Olsen's Black Watch visiting the Christmas Markets around the Baltic.
Also having done a Southern Africa cruise in the spring as reconnaisance, my first cruise of 2014 will be as a Desinations Lecturer on Cunard's Queen Mary 2's world voyage first leg from Southampton to Cape Town!
Visitors to my place during the year included Ruth & Steve from Milngavie, Philip from Maida Vale and Mark from Dulwich. I stayed with the latter a couple of times, as I did with Brian in Ealing en route to Heathrow.