Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 107 Groaner and Tribute...

A play on words, cleverly executed each week.

A complicated, interesting story,

kept the readers guessing.

They wondered what would happen,

Unable to second guess,

until the very last line,

when their response was usually

“Oh no, another groaner!” being the collective reply.

But comments confirmed the readers absolutely loved

Dr. John’s Flash Fiction 55’s.

This is a tribute to Dr John (Dr. John's Fortress & Dragon's Lair) and his wonderful Flash 55s.   Dr. John passed away on Monday February 15th 2010 and I for one will miss him so much.  I was so honoured when he said I had inspired him to start writing 55s.   He was a wonderful writer but don't take my word for it, if you haven't already, go and check out his blogs.   My thoughts are with his wife Betty and the family.  

Goodbye Dr. John you'll be missed more than you know. xxxx

If you were a reader of Dr. John's work and would like to sign a memorial guest book for him please go here where Thom (Thom's Place 4 Well Whatever) has one set up.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Cruise - Antigua #6

Look what greeted us on the dockside when we arrived in Antigua, the 'island with a beach in the middle'!   What's more it was SUNNY!!!!!

We berthed in St. John's Harbour and after breakfast we disembarked and went to the taxi dispatch centre on the quay, where we joined one of the many tour buses for a trip round the island.

Our bus headed to Antigua's National Park and Shirley Heights.   This military complex, within a short distance of the Dockyard, is not named after the fairer sex, but after Sir Thomas Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands, who strengthened Antigua's defences in 1781.  Britain had lost all her West Indian colonies (including North America) at the time, except for Antigua and Barbados.  Much effort, therefore, was put into Antigua's defences, mainly because of the island's great sugar producing value and the important Dockyard.  Shirley Heights may be divided into three sections:

1. The Ridge and Artillery Quarters, which we saw but did not stop.

2. Blockhouse, our first stop.  This is the easternmost part of the military complex of Nelson's Dockyard, with the most magnificent views looking over the south-east coast, which you can see in the slide show below.  It was designed as a place of last refuge, which is the meaning of the word.  A moat opposing the vertical cliffs was originally planned but was never started.  The Officer's Quarters is in ruin as are the out buildings, servants quarters, married quarters and stables.

3. The Lookout with views of English and Falmouth Harbours - this was our second stop.

Here's a little slide show of the views from Blockhouse.

Our guide pointed out two houses on the headland - Eric Clapton's and Whitney Houston's!

You will notice how Eric's house blends into it's surroundings, that's because he had it built that way.  The guide also told us that Eric has built two drug rehabilitation centres on the island, for which celebrities pay a small fortune to use whereas the facility is free for native Antiguans - how comendable is that?

Our next stop was The Lookout from where we had excellent views of Nelson's Dockyard.

Nelson's Dockyard is the only remaining naval dockyard in the world designed to maintain wooden sailing warships of olden times.   It was started as early as 1725, though it had been used as shelter from the mid 17th century.  The first recorded ship at English Harbour, anchored to survive a hurricane, was a yacht.  It was a naval ship chartered to the King for the use of his Governor of the Leeward Islands.

Nelson - the famous British hero of Trafalgar (1805), was here as Senior Captain (27 years old) in 1784.  As a zealous Naval Officer, he enforced the Navigation Act, which stated only British ships could trade with British Islands.  America had become independent, so Nelson severely upset the Antiguan merchants by suppressing their long standing trade with the former British American colonies.  At one time, if he had left his ship ('Boreas'), he would have been arrested because the merchants were attempting to sue him.  The Dockyard's main function was to maintain ships, thus saving the long voyage to America for docking.   The yard was abandoned in 1889, then in 1930 restoration was half-heartedly started and it 1951 it went full ahead.  The National Parks Authority took over from the Friends of English Harbour in 1984.   It is a beautiful place with lots to see and plenty of private yachts moored there.   I've put together a little slide show for you below.

We followed the coast road back to the boat and, although we didn't have time to stop at any, we saw some of the most beautiful beaches imaginable.   On the way back our guide pointed out Antigua's highest point - Boggy Peak, which had been renamed Mount Obama  for President Obama's birthday on 4th August 2009 - a much nicer name than Boggy Peak don't you think?

We'd had a wonderful day, especially as it was sunny, and had time to sunbathe on the balcony and a little snooze before getting ready for dinner.    We didn't watch the show that evening but we did go to Connexions to watch the comedian Rudi Lickwood twice that evening he was just so funny.  If you click on his name it will take you to Youtube where you can watch some clips.  It was a bit annoying because in the ship's newspaper his act was billed as being aimed at an adult audience, but that didn't stop some irresponsible parents bringing their young children to watch, which meant he really had to tone it down.

Join me for our next stop - Dominica.

Cruise - St. Kitts #5.....

It took Captain Charlie three attempts to dock at Basseterre Harbour, St. Kitts, not because he's not very good but because the weather was atrocious! Yep, you've guessed, it was raining! We had booked a trip leaving at 9 a.m. but because we didn't actually dock until 10 a.m. we were booked onto the later one, after lunch.

We had breakfast and spent the morning reading in our cabin, except for when we nipped to the onboard shop to buy raincoats. Up to now it had rained almost every day so we thought it might be prudent to have raincoats ready! After lunch we disembarked to meet the bus to take us on our trip to St. Kitts Railway for a trip round the island. The bus driver, Joseph, was very friendly and informative, pointing out places of interest on the one hour bus trip to the other side of the island where we were to board the train.   Joseph told us he used to be a firefighter but because he was 60 years old they had retired him, but he still needed to work so had taken a job as a tour guide and was really enjoying meeting so many different people from other countries.

Joseph

 We arrived at the point where we met the train, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and then we heard it trundling down the track.  It was very colourful and we were allocated carriages according to our bus number, ours was number 3.    We sat up top in the observation car, which thankfully had plastic sheeting to protect us from the wind.    It had stopped raining by this point but the skies were dull.   The train was an experience - very noisy and rattly (is that a word?) as it trundled through what had once been sugar cane plantations, now no longer because sugar became too expensive to process.    The main source of income of St. Kitts now is tourism though Joseph told us that the people of St Kitts were really hoping for someone to invest and really do something with the vast expanse of sugar plantations.     

There was a conductor on the train who very kindly allowed me to take his photograph and there was also a lovely lady who distributed soft drinks or rum punch if that's what you wanted.   We had the rum punch which was delicious!    There was also a trio, consisting of a man, a woman and a young girl, going from carriage to carriage singing a couple of songs to entertain the tourists.

I took some photos, which I've put in this little slide show, so you can see just how green St. Kitts is and the dismal weather didn't detract from the beauty of the place.

Whilst getting showered and changed for dinner we listened to O(cean)V(illage) Radio each night from 5 pm - 7 pm and sometimes they had competions where you could enter by ringing them from your cabin.   This particular evening the competition was 'guess what programme this is the music for'.   Right away I knew it was 'Dynasty'!   I phoned my answer through and guess what - I won!    The prize wasn't another cruise or anything like that it was just a 'Mega Share-Me Cocktail' which I have to tell you were like goldfish bowls!   Tom, a member of the events team that was broadcasting that evening, wondered if we had a balcony when he realised we were on A deck so he said over air "I'm coming to deliver this prize, can I see your balcony?".   Five minutes later he was knocking on the door of our cabin and I invited him in for a tour.  He was so enthusiastic and asked if he could report back on air, "Of course" I said.     A few minutes after he left he was raving on air about our spacious cabin, the balcony, the bath - "I thought only the Captain had a bath" he said.  

That evening we ate at The Bistro again and a gastronomical delight it was.  Just to tickle your tastebuds here's what we had:

Me: Spicy Crab and saffron linguini with chilli oil/Fillet of beef with buttered spinach and pommes Anna and a selection of vegetable/Iced lemongrass parfait with mango and chilli.

MWM:Spicy Crab and saffron linguini with chili oil/Rack of lamb with Procencal vegetables and chateau potatoes/ Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and vanilla bean ice cream.

The show that evening was a local Reggae Band who were so very good lots of people got up dancing in the Marquee, including MWM and I.    The party carried on in the Bayside Club later so we went along and boogied the night away.

Our next stop was Antiqua, I  hope you'll join me.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 106 New Van

"I'll drive".

"No, I'll drive said Sid.

They argued until Bob snatched the keys.

Sid's fist caught Bob in the eye.

"What's going on here?" demanded the Police Sergeant.

"I want to drive the new van" said Bob.

"That's ridiculous" said the Sergeant

"Two police officers fighting over who gets to drive the new van!" 

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Help me celebrate..........

My third blogversary.

Have a piece of cake.

I can't believe I've been blogging for three years but it's been an absolute pleasure.

Cruise - St Maarten - #4...

There are two sides to St Maarten Dutch and French, sitting on our balacony at 6.30 a.m with a cup of green tea I watched our arrival at Philipsburg on the Dutch side of the island.

It was raining again.

The Carnival Victory was already docked as we approached so I took a photo for you Empress Bee of the High Seas.  Not sure if you've been on this one Bee?

Undeterred by the weather, we showered and went to breakfast then went to explore Philipsburg which is a duty free haven with lots of expensive shops.   Apparently in 1648 the Dutch and French joined forces to push out the Spanish from the island and agreed to divide the island and that's how it's stayed.  The currency on the island is the Netherlands Antilles Flori (or Guilder) and Euros on the French side, though American dollars are accepted on both sides - luckily we had some.    The only thing I bought was this gorgeous little elephant for my collection and 400 cigarettes for my Dad which were incredibly cheap at $30!!

We stopped at a little cafe for a cool drink, it was very warm even though it was raining.  I snapped MWM filming the surroundings.

We decided to explore some more around the quaint streets.

We found the beach, so we took off our sandals and went for a paddle.

It looks a bit grey but in fact the skies were clearing by this time.

How's this for a bargain?

We didn't partake though.


We'd had quite a long walk and decided to go back to the ship by which time the skies had cleared and here's the view from  the ship of where we'd just walked.

We had lunch and then sunbathed at the Splash Pool for a while.  I went for a swim but MWM doesn't so he just sat on the steps whilst I took his photo.

It got rather hot so we went back to our suite where we read for a while, had a glass of wine and promptly fell asleep!

The show that evening consisted of a singer called Jayne Middleton who did a tribute to Annie Lennox and she was just fantastic - she looked and sounded just like Annie of whom I'm a big fan.  We ended the evening in the Connexions Bar where the events team were running a take on the game show 'The Generation Game'.      Three couples volunteered to take part and it was hilarious.    Their first game was to make towel animals, then the men got to put make-up on their wives and do their hair - you can imagine the mess they made of that.  The wives got their own back though because they got to use face-paints on their husbands to make them look like a puppy dog!    I'm so glad I didn't volunteer MWM and myself - there's no way I'd trust him to put make-up on me or do my hair!


Did you know we appeared on the Generation game in 1981 - you can read about it here if you're interested.

By the time we'd stopped laughing it was late, again, so we took ourselves off to bed.

Join me again for our next stop - St. Kitts.

Cruise - Tortola - #3..

This is the sight that greeted us as the ship was docking in Tortola.

it was raining!

Pouring down in fact.

I didn't care though because today I was about to fulfil one of my dreams.

We had breakfast at 7 a.m. and by 8 a.m. the ship had docked and we were allowed to disembark.  I had to meet for the trip I'd booked on the dockside at 8.50 a.m., so I kissed MWM farewell saying 'see you at lunchtime' and walked down the gangplank.  MWM went up onto deck 14 to wave me off.

MWM didn't want to share my adventure as it involved water - he doesn't swim, so he was quite happy for me to go without him whilst he read his book.   My adventure was just a short bus ride away and I sat next to a lovely lady called Pushpa, who was just as excited as I was.

We arrived at our destination and were given instructions on what would be happening, then we were given a life jacket before being led to the water, where we entered in single file waiting to be introduced to 'Galileo'.

Have you guessed yet?

Galileo is a dolphin!

Here's a short video of me fulfilling my dream of swimming with a dolphin.

I cried each time I touched Galileo, he was just so beautiful, his skin was velvety to the touch and he talked to us.   We were in the water with him for over an hour and it was the most magical time, I could have stayed there forever, unfortunately our time was up and we had to return to the ship.

MWM was waiting for me when I got back and I told him all about it during lunch, unfortunately he had to wait until we got home to see what I'd experienced.    MWM copied and edited the DVD I'd bought to what you see above.

After lunch we took the umbrella from our suite and took a walk into Road Town (the port at Tortola).  It was such a grey day that we didn't take any photos - besides I'd had my excitement for the day.   At least the rain was warm.

By the time we got back onboard it was time for the general knowledge quiz in Connexions where we scored 130/200, which wasn't bad considering there were only two of us and the other teams were all teams of 4 and 6.

We set sail around 5 p.m. and the ship was rockin'n'rollin let me tell you.  It was funny watching people at dinner (including us) starting off with a full bowl of soup only to find most of it on the tray by the time we got to our table!

That night's show was an Abba tribute, which was excellent - everyone joined in singing, then we watched the comedian at Connexions.     We retired to our cabin to sleep and looked forward to our next stop on the cruise.   The rockin'n'rollin didn't bother us and I think I dreamed of dolphins!

PS Did I mention that the ship's captain, Charlie Carr, was born in Wigan, Lancashire, about 20 miles from where I live?

Join me next time for St. Maarten.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #105 Down to Earth....

Back from a fabulous cruise, a dream realised.

Tanned, relaxed, happy.

Looking forward to retirement.

No pressure, no stress.

The doctor calls - "I need to see you".

Take this tablet, take that tablet, more blood tests

You have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure.

"What?"

Thanks doc.

My medication is free, so that’s good news!

 
 
This is not fiction.   I should point out that I have absolutely no symptoms or ill effects and it was purely intuition that made me ask the doctor for a cholesterol test, which uncovered the problems.  I am thankful for my intuition.


Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Cruise Sea Day #2 ....

After a great night's sleep we awoke at 6 a.m. and sat on the balcony with a cup of tea watching the sunrise.  We read the ship's daily newspaper 'Out and About', to discover what was going on throughout our first day at sea, then went for breakfast in the Plantation Restaurant.

There were four restaurants onboard - the Plantation (self service and open 24 hours per day), the Waterfront (open for breakfast and dinner also self service), La Luna on deck (open lunch and dinner with an extra charge) and The Bistro for which James Martin the TV Chef creates the menu (open for dinner only with an extra charge, silver service).    We booked a table in The Bistro for 7 p.m. to celebrate the first day of our holiday.

There were numerous bars on the ship too - Blue Bar (5 p.m. - 1 a.m), Connexions (4 p.m. - 1p.m.), The Oval (10 a.m. - 1 a.m.), Splash (on deck 9 a.m. - close), Sunweaver Ice Cream Parlour (10 a.m. - midnight), Plantations Bar (11.30 a.m. - midnight) and Bayside Club ( 10 p.m. - until late).

There was also a theatre - The Marquee - which put on shows twice nightly, as well as entertainment in Connexions Bar and The Oval.

So you can see from the above we were never short of entertainment or somewhere to eat and drink - which is why we both gained in excess of 7lbs each!

We spent some time exploring the ship for which we needed a map.   Even by the end of the cruise I still managed to walk round in circles!

One of the swimming pools on Deck 12 taken from Deck 14.

We found a lounger on deck and did a little sunbathing until lunchtime, not too much as we didn't want to get burned the first day, then went for some lunch.  There was a great selection of food and we ate far too much.   We then made our way up to deck 12 and found a table where we had a drink and watched the Strong Man competition and Champagne Hoopla which was great fun.  I tried to persuade MWM to take part but he wasn't feeling very energetic!

By this time we were tired so we went back to our suite and sat on the loungers on the balcony watching the sea and had a little nap.   By the time we awoke it was time to shower and change for our meal at The Bistro.  

Our friends had been on this cruise and recommended The Bistro and their description of it and the food was spot on.

From an extensive menu we chose the following:

Me: Sliced Parma Ham, pecorino cheese and Savoy cabbage salad with truffle oil/ Line caught cod with braised puy lentils, pancetta, Parmentier potatoes and noilly prat shallots with a selection of vegetables/ Pineapple and rosemary tart tatin with vanilla bean ice cream.

MWM: Deep fried smoked haddock fishcakes with hollandaise sauce/Roast breast of corn-fed chicken with creamed leeks and pancetta and a selection of vegetables/Iced caramel parfait with peppermint crisp.

Does that sound delicious?   It was, and guess what - it only cost us £12.50 each!

You're not allowed to take your own alcohol on board, so we had ordered a pack of wine - six bottles of a mixture of White, Red and a sparkling Rose to keep in our cabin fridge, which you are allowed to take to the restaurants to enjoy with your meal.  You can also take them into the bars.  The wine wasn't being delivered to our cabin until the following day so we ordered one off the menu at The Bistro - very nice it was too!

After dinner we went to the Marquee where we saw a magician/comedian called Manuel Martinez who was extremely funny. Click on his name to watch him on Youtube.  He was Cuban but spoke very good English but somehow his accent made everything he said funny.   He flew back to England a few days later to appear on 'Britain's Got Talent' and apparently got through to the next round, so we should see him again when the show airs.

The Connexions Bar was our next stop as there was another comedian on - Martin Beaumont, he was so good we stayed after his performance and took part in the quiz until he did his second show at 11 p.m., which was totally different to the first one.

By the time the show had finished we were ready for bed - well it was 12.30 a.m. and we'd been up since 6 a.m., so that's where we went next.

Join me again for our first stop - Tortola.

Going to Barbados #1.......

Right here we go......

Our friend (who is a taxi driver) arrived at 6.45 a.m. on the 13th January to take us to the airport.  Unfortuntately we were still snowed in, so it was impossible for him to pick us up at our front door, we had to 'slide' the suitcases up the Grove to meet him.    Thankfully it wasn't snowing and our journey to the airport was without mishap or delay.    Our flight was on time until we boarded the plane, it had started snowing so the plane had to be de-iced, which meant a 90 minute delay.  This wasn't as bad as the flight from Gatwick which was delayed by about 6 hours!

We had paid for Premier seats on the flight and they were well worth the extra - loads of leg room and very comfortable.    Also complimentary drinks throughout the flight were included! It was a really nice flight, which we spent reading and watching films and we arrived in Barbados at approximately 4.15 pm local time.   We were taken straight from the plane to minibuses to be transported to the ship - no customs, no collecting baggage - fantastic!

We alighted from the bus and were ushered into a 'hanger' where we had our photographs taken, registered my credit card and were given our cruise cards, which we used to charge all purchases on board and which were scanned each time we left or boarded the ship.

Then we got our first glimpse of the Ocean Village.  Here she is!

Once aboard we were directed to our cabin, after being given numerous leaflets and information about the ship.   We had booked a suite with a balcony and were thrilled with it, when we eventually found it - the ship was huge!  I had booked a little treat for us as a surprise for MWM which was waiting for us when we got to our suite.

Beautiful exotic flowers, fruit and a box of delicious chocolates.

Here are some views of our suite.

Our beds

Our lounge area

Walk in wardrobe

(with iron/ironing board and trouser press - not that we used them)

Dressing table, tea/coffee making facilities and TV.

You will notice that it was dark so here's two photos taken the following morning from our balcony.

We had to attend an evacuation drill at 6.30 pm, then we were free to settle in.   We unpacked all the clothes that needed to be hung, then went to one of the four restaurants for something to eat before returning to our suite to finish unpacking.   By this time we were totally worn out so decided to go to bed - it was 9.30 p.m. local time but bearing in mind Barbados is four hours behind the UK it was actually 1.30 a.m. and we'd been up since 4 a.m. the previous day.

There had been an announcement that the Gatwick flight was late which mean that instead of sailing at 8 p.m. we wouldn't actually be sailing until about 2 a.m.  We woke up at 1.30 a.m. as the ship set sail and went out on the balcony to wave goodbye to Barbados until the following Wednesday.   We then went back to bed and slept soundly, being rocked gently by the sea, until 8.30 a.m.

Join me again for our first day at sea.