It is going to be a bumper ride all the way to the Caribbean on the Queen Elizabeth in Nov 2015

Woke up at 2 with the most excruciating pain in the left shoulder and stabbing pains in my stomach.With the speed of lightning I sprang into the bathroom,just barely made it when the previous days food, the little that there was, went out faster than it went it.I threw up time and time again.The cheese and mushroom omelette,most of which I left, as it was too hard and too greasy, the brown toast,the black coffee, the freshly squeezed orange juice at an extra payment.Lunch, the sorry affair of the over embellished gnocchi,Dinner...what was it,oh yes, a sausage and some mash,no, it was lunch I caught just gone three,was starving. And then nothing at all as my desire to eat had deserted me.this is a rare occurrence.I like my food.I took paracetamol, ibuprofen,and rubbed the sore shoulder with cream, it heated up quite nicely and for a while gave some relief.I love listening to soothing music when I cant sleep.At home it is Santana.What is soothing about Santana, you may ask.I love them.I love Dean Martin too but I only have him on cds,Santana still plays in the old fashioned radio on the old fashioned tape.I love classical music,jazz, but now have those on cds and the cd player is in the sitting room.But I digress.Could not settle for good two hours.Luckily the clocks went back again,had an extra hour to sleep.Woke up at 8.30,breakfast in the Britannia.Fresh orange,porridge, little black coffee.To the left of me there was a middle aged couple bickering.There was nothing they could agree on-you say tomato, I say tomato...She reminded me of Sally, the psychic, but slimmer and less pretty.To the right of me another middle aged couple, a joy to listen to.She a little plump pudding,nice to look at.the waiter came with another tray of pastry saying to her-you have the loveliest smile in the restaurant,please have another.What a cheek, said the husband indignantly when the waiter left.It was lovely knowing he was a little jealous after probably good twenty five years together.The woman was loved,her face glowing,the extra kilos didn't matter to him and they didn't matter to her.I miss so much being loved.I miss my husband's face glowing with pride when he introduced me-this is my wife, I am so proud of her,I love her, I adore her...I miss not having any-one to dress up for.I have wardrobes full of beautiful clothes I never take out any-more.On cruises I take the same things time and time again with little variation-everything is practical,easily packed, little ironing if at all.I do pick up pieces on my travels,usually silk or linen.Linen from Tallin, silk blouses from Livorno, adorable Italian leather shoes from Livorno,too, a black leather bag, simplicity itself,I have the bag and one pair of shoes with me on this trip.But my most favourite pair of heels came from Clarks,nude, highish wedge,peep toe, strap,very comfy,matching bag, go with everything.I picked up an identical pair in a deep burgundy at Heathrow , these are in my holiday home and there they stay, even though often I move items from home to home. The intention was to give you a typical day on a cruise ship,but as this is not a typical day,I typically do not drink contaminated water in a gym and am consequently as sick as the proverbial dog.Or is it a parrot?I want to be fair to the QE in my judgement. and feeling out of sorts is not conducive to impartiality.And no, to date no staff member has asked me how I was. No-one.Outside the sun is shining and a large amount of people taking a walk,some quickly, some at a more measured pace.We have passed Madeira, so the sun should be shining daily now. The next port of call- Barbados.Have I told you I am going to Canary Islands on 21st December for 14 nights?On my most favourite ship of all, little Oceana.