Sheila drove us to the train station yesterday at 10:15 a.m. We have had a wonderful time visiting her and I will be posting separately about our day trips whilst there. In many ways it was just the same as it always is when visiting her, her house hasn’t changed, Eddie the cat is still around, as is Dixie the dog. Actually Dixie is much friendlier and sweeter than the last time we stayed. Her antics made us miss Mitzi very much.
And Burnham is still the same. A slightly rundown coastal town, full of charity shops. Drivers that go way too fast on the narrow roads. But as I walked down the streets this time, I remembered ten years ago and my summer in England. How full of energy I was and how close we all were—Sheila, Dave, Sandy—how much fun we had. And my times of exploring the UK too. We are all a little more tired now, a little more conscious of aging and all that. The stairs in Sheila’s house get more difficult to negotiate at the end of a long day, the creaks and groans of the body in the early morning.... Still as I have written before on this trip, I am so thankful we could still enjoy it. Still negotiate it all. Just really grateful too that we have a home in Arizona with no stairs, two bathrooms....
Anyway, back to our leavetaking of England for this year. We caught the train from Burnham to Bristol Temple Meads with no problem and we also caught the next one to Southampton. It was crowded and there was no “first class”—making us very glad we’d eaten a good breakfast before we left Sheila’s—but we had good seats and it was a lovely journey. English country scenery and an interesting seat companion for me. A woman from Harare, Zimbabwe whose stories of what life is like in Zimbabwe right now once again made me very glad to be living in Arizona. I think this trip has been a lot about gratitude actually.
We arrived in Southampton and the Novotel was indeed only a 10-minute walk from the station. Very modern, very European. We dumped our cases in the room and, very hungry, set off to find a restaurant. There is a sleek, huge, mall near the hotel, near the cruise terminal, called West Quay, that was filled with wonderful shops and restaurants. We ate at a Thai-type restaurant and afterward went around the shops. R has been very focused this trip on finding me some new, “elegant”, clothes. Don’t know where that came from, I always think I dress neatly, but anyway it’s sweet. We went to a store called John Lewis and saw a lovely dress on a mannequin. I tried it on and golly I felt pretty in it. I don’t often feel pretty so it was a special moment for me. So, a new dress :)
We then went back to the hotel, I watched a series on my iPad called The Last Tycoon while also worrying that all was well with Mitzi and the house. My pet sitter isn’t very communicative and somehow Thursday night I got myself into a state catastrophising that she had taken off and left Mitzi, taking half the contents of the house with her. Really silly but there you are, I couldn’t sleep. Finally I texted (bless hotel WiFi) a friend in Winterhaven and she contacted Kathy-the-sitter and confirmed that all was well and that Mitzi was fine. My friend Marilyn (who sadly is moving from Winterhaven in a couple of weeks) also confirmed that she and Rick have been walking by the house every day and checking that the sitter’s car is there.
So worrying for nothing but all’s well. Friday morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel—nice breakfast—and wandered around back at West Quay (new shoes, boy am I spoiled) and then waited until 12:45 and walking to the dock.
Check-in at Southampton took longer than in New York. I was glad that they had plenty of seating because we sat for half an hour before they called our group although we had arrived at the stated 1:30 pm. We met some people later on the ship who said they always arrive earlier than their group time and they always get through early. Something to remember for next time. I also heard about a couple who had left their passports behind in Birmingham and were making a mad dash back to get them. Birmingham is a good 2 hours from London, let alone Southampton, I doubt they will make it back in time. Again, gratitude for our passports safely tucked in my bag, next to my wallet.
I noted that next year the European countries will be requiring the same kind of visa of U.S. residents that the U.S. require of them now. Makes sense really. So if we cruise again I will have to figure out what will be required of Canadians.
The ship hasn’t changed, still looks the same. We thought we were getting the same cabin we had going out but it turned out we have the one on the opposite side of the ship from our former one. So we have a different room steward and everything is flopped over to the other side. We went to get something to eat at the cafe as we were so hungry; we hadn’t got on the ship until 3 pm and breakfast had been at 7. Good selection of food and, feeling much better, we went back to the cabin. I unpacked immediately—something that I like to do—then checked what was happening the rest of the day/night. The requisite life jacket drill at 4:30. I went on deck and sat on a deck chair and watched us pull away from Southampton. Goodbye England, don’t know when I will be back. As I looked down at the empty pier I remembered scenes from years gone by of crowds of people standing on the pier waving goodbye, people on the ship throwing streamers.... But today the pier was empty, there was no one to say goodbye. And of course because of security, no visitors are permitted on ship before it sails anyway.
We were too full from our late lunch to go to our formal dining room so we had another buffet dinner a little later back at the King’s Court. I went to the ship’s library and found a couple of books, a Kate Ellis for me and a Charles Todd for R. Read for a bit and then went to a fantastic flute concert. The flautist was a woman named Suzanne Godfrey. Backed by the Cunard band, she played a range of classic Henry Mancini tunes—Moon River, Pink Panther theme, theme from Thornbirds—as well as some James Galway favorites of mine. Excellent, excellent. Afterward I wandered to the Grand Lobby and listened to a string trio for awhile. And then up at the Carinthia lounge I listened to a harpist.
By then it was 10:30 and I headed to our cabin where R was asleep. Read for awhile and then tried to sleep. I don’t sleep well but at least I was in bed and comfortable.
On to today where I have mapped out a very full schedule!!
Comments
Post a Comment