As you might gather from the title, June has been a real mixed bag of a month. It has had its really high spots…such as our cruise at the beginning and then its very low spots too towards the end of the month. And in between there have also been ups and downs too. Let’s start with a high spot.
We departed for our cruise on the 29th May, if you remember from the last blog. We got to Carlisle station with our huge case, got on the specially booked through train to Liverpool Lime Street station and settled in for a smooth ride. All was well until Penrith, when an announcement informed us that because of signalling problems between Lancaster and Preston, the train would be terminating at Lancaster and going back to Glasgow! A later announcement told us that there were further problems at Preston. So faced with the prospect of all this commotion, hauling the case on and off probably packed trains and no real guarantee of actually getting to Liverpool in time to check in for the cruise, we decided to cut our losses and take a taxi from Lancaster to Liverpool. It cost us a lot of money but at least it kept my stress levels down and we arrived in good time at the embarkation terminal fairly serene, if a bit poorer! We got onto the ship without any problems and found our cabin before going up top to eat in the self-service restaurant while we waited for our mammoth case to be delivered to our cabin. We also soon made use of the swimming pool, which we had all to ourselves at this point!
We enjoyed seeing the boat leave Liverpool before going down for dinner and meeting our table companions, who we seemed to get on with right from the start…and that continued throughout the whole cruise. We found plenty to do during the two days at sea and really enjoyed sailing through all the Scottish islands, eating, drinking coffee, swimming, talking to other passengers and doing quizzes, so the time passed very quickly. Geoff even discovered a pickleball court and equipment on the sport deck and soon rounded up a few like-minded players for a few games. I give up!
Of course, I also had my birthday during this first part of the cruise (complete with huge cake and singing waiters at the table) and we had the first formal night, both of which passed off very well and we had a lovely time getting all dressed up again for those occasions 
Norway did not disappoint at all…the scenery was fantastic. Our only disappointment was that we sailed up the first fjord during the night in order to arrive at Andalsnes early in the morning. I did get up early that day to marvel at the scenery before we docked and some people had been up since 3am in order not to miss it, but that was a bit too early for me! We enjoyed a day looking around the little town and I conquered my fear of heights to take the (very expensive) gondola cable car ride up the mountain which overlooks the town, where we were rewarded with the most fantastic views in every direction. We decided that night, not to go down for dinner and instead to stay up in the self-service restaurant to see the scenery as we sailed back down the fjord. It was a good decision and one we repeated, for the same reasons, the next night too 
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We enjoyed the next two ports too, taking a “petit train” ride further up the valley in Olden, and exploring Bergen which we really liked very much especially the funicular railway ride and the old town. Geoff went off to look at the art gallery there whilst I just enjoyed all the shops and the fish market area. We had expected to like Norway…and it came up to all our expectations in easy style. On leaving Bergen however, we hit the first of our “downs” as the weather deteriorated in grand style. As well as a lot of ups and downs on the boat itself because we hit a huge storm and weather depression, it was announced that we would be unable to go to Lerwick in the Shetlands, which I had been really looking forward to, due to my love of all the “Shetland” thrillers I have read, as the weather was so bad and it would be unsafe to proceed with going there. I was very disappointed…and worse than that, we were informed that we would be going to Douglas in the Isle of Man instead! Now, I happen to hate the IOM following a disastrous holiday spent there once, at the end of which I had said I’d never set foot there again! It rained every day! Plus, we knew it was TT week and the place would be full of motorbikes. Quelle horreur! I was not a happy bunny! Not even winning the quiz that night with our lovely new friends, Hazel and Paul, could cheer me up! However, the IOM it was…and yes, it rained, and yes, it was full of motorbikes! Geoff insisted on walking the length of the prom, reliving family holidays with his parents and brothers, while I waited in a bus shelter trying to keep dry!
The rest of the cruise went well and we soon found ourselves saying goodbye to all our new friends, our table companions, Hazel and Paul our quiz team mates, and the various pickleball players Geoff had found! I had spent a few hours up in the artist studio I’d found on the ship and had re-discovered my love of painting, and so I had painted them all a small watercolour as a little gift to say thank you for their company during the cruise. They all appreciated that…& Paul has already sent me a photo of it framed which is lovely .
The cruise over, it was back to the usual routines at home. Another “down” this month has been the number of appointments I seem to have had for various things. The first was at the eye clinic, where I think that at last the injections are beginning to make progress with my eye condition, as I only needed a jab in my left eye this time…youpi! Then came the annual diabetic review which included a bit of foot stamping at my GP surgery, where once again I had a run-in with an HCA, resulting in my making a formal complaint this time. The actual review went well though and once again everything seems stable which is good news too. The third one was at Specsavers to have a peripheral vision test to renew my driving licence for another three years. Happily, again all was well and I now have that licence in my hot little hand for the next three years at least. The joys of getting old eh?
Church has continued to fill our lives as we were straight back into reading, serving coffee after the service, and doing café church again! We had two baptisms just after we got back which was lovely, especially as one of them was for a Ghanaian family who come to our church regularly and they all turned up in their traditional dress. It was a very colourful occasion…and an international one too, as the other baby`s parents are from South Africa!
We have been out and about a bit for our lunches on Wednesdays as usual and met up with our cruise friends (an earlier cruise this time) Jean and Ewen in Hawick one week. It was lovely to see them again and to catch up with their news. We have also been swimming too…me with my pal Linda and also as a family at one of the lovely outdoor pools near here, at Greystoke. We all loved this and seeing how much progress our little granddaughter has made recently was a joy to see. She can now actually swim a short distance without any float…and she is only four years old remember. We really like this pool…it is well organised and the people there are very friendly. Also, it is lovely to be able to swim outdoors again…we really have missed doing that since we came back to the UK.
And finally, we come to the biggest “down” of them all this month. We received the sad news that Geoff’s brother, Frank, had died suddenly from a massive heart attack. These sudden deaths run in Geoff’s family…his grandfather died aged 57 and his dad aged 67 in the same way. It has hit Geoff quite hard as Frank was younger than him. Also, it is complicated by the fact that they still live in France, in a very large house which they have been trying to sell for ages and my sister-in-law is going to need a lot of help to try and return to the UK now. Geoff’s ability to speak French fluently has already been put into play as no-one in their family has enough French to make telephone calls etc to sort things out. Frank has already been cremated (we had forgotten how quickly this needs to be done in France) and at the moment my sister-in-law is in the UK staying with our niece. I suspect there is going to have to be a lot of things to be done in the near future, as the family try to sort out all the inheritance details. We were reminded that it was for all those reasons that we decided to sell our French house and move back to the UK when we did. We realised that all this would be a nightmare if one of us had died and we are so pleased that our family will not have had to sort it all out. French law and administration are very complicated to say the least.
And so, into July we go then. I am hoping that we might get to see and benefit from some of this hot weather everyone keeps telling me about, soon. The heat wave seems so far, to have passed Cumbria by. At the moment our calendar looks fairly empty for this next month but I suspect that will change soon! We do have one weekend planned…a trip to Cambridge for a family day at Geoff’s college, but I’ll tell you all about that next time. And of course…it is Wimbledon next week…the sporting highlight of my year! Also, I won’t have to fight with Geoff wanting to watch Le Tour this year, as there is only highlight coverage of that on terrestrial TV in the UK now! Oh boo…I have just been informed that that is not the case this year, it starts next year. Bring on the arguments then 
Until next time then…
A bientot mes amis…
