My family in Hyde Park

"A WALKER is a gay man who escorts women to social occasions...

Sometimes these women are divorcees or widows,other times are  "society widows"-with husbands too busy or unwilling to attend  functions."
Cunard provides  DANCING PARTNERS   for women who want to dance and have no-one to dance with.
On FIRST DATES, a  British TV programme,there was a  94 year old millionaire  who was also  engaged by Cunard to work as a dancer.On First Dates  he was introduced to a lovely 70 something lady whom he considered  too slow for him!
The Queen Victoria has an absolutely beautiful dance hall called appropriately The Queens room.On some cruises I used to go and sit on the upper level and listen when jazz was being played. Tonight a big band gave a concert so I went to listen to them.A couple twirling,she in a beautiful long gown, he in a waistcoat.When the music stopped and he escorted the lady to her seat it was obvious he was an employee.Paid to dance. And I think it is a wonderful idea.
And then two men took to the floor.Argentinian tango resounded.The older bold man threw his leg about,then wrapped it around his partners thigh.It was not a pretty sight.
There has been talk lately about   the Strictly Dancing  bringing  in couples of the same sex to dance together. Nooooooooooo!

Warnemunde was mentioned for the very first time in a document dated to 1195

as a small fishing village.It takes its name from the river Warnow.The neighbouring town Rostock bought the  village in 1323 and since then their co-existence has been tied together,the fortunes and misfortunes of one reflecting closely on the other.A University  was built in Rostock  in 1419[I think it was the first University in Germany].By the 19th century Warnemunde  became a very fashionable bathing resort,having been connected with the rest of Germany by the  railway.In 1852 the first German sea-going,propeller -driven  steam ship was built in Rostock,by 1939 the town and the   Warnow  was  an important centre for the manufacture of armaments,U-boats and Heinkel aircraft.  In 1942 Rostock  and the surrounding area was  bombed mercilessly by the RAF  [The British Royal Air Force]  and much  of it was destroyed.On 1 May 1945 Rostock and Warnemunde  were  occupied by The Soviet Army and later became  a part of  East Germany.In 1990 Germany was re-unified.
If it was not for one thing - the  non existence  of wi-fi -  Warnemunde  would be Germany at its very best  - but  not a single coffee shop or a restaurant where I enquired  offers free wi-fi. It can be accessed at The Port only and even there it is unnecessarily complicated and once you do go through the palava, the connection is intermittent and very weak. I simply cannot comprehend the stinginess of these people.Is it like this in the whole of Germany?
I took a 5 Euro  30 minute ride on a white train, it was the most excellent way of seeing this little gem of a town.
It is immaculate, has a single graffiti - on a bench in the centre of town,coffee shops aplenty, service not offered with a smile,but this may be  the German character, rather than a reflection of low wages as all the workers seem to be German born so presumably paid more than the minimum wage.
The town has a  shoe shop called Easy  Way, I never walk out empty handed.
Passing by a  clothes shop called Feeling I  went in out of curiosity why it had been given such a name, as it looked dumpy from the outside  with nothing in the window to be proud of, and I fell in love  with two dresses I simply had to have.One should never presume anything about any-one.Or to put it differently,one should never judge a sausage by the skin.

The cornerstone of entertainment on a cruise is the ship's orchestra and the dancing and singing troupe.

The musicians  on the Queen Victoria are good.The singers are not.The choreography on the first formal night, 11 August, was pitiful,the very capable dancers were flapping about like ducks out of water.
Pete Matthews is an excellent juggler,have seen him twice  on other ships,knowing his very amusing routine would not have missed him for the world.He did not disappoint.
Davie Howes sings and  plays piano,trumpet,flugel horn. A Jack of all trades, a master of none.
Mike Boyle,a comedian, had us in the palm of his hand, utterly faultless.
Lorraine Brown of the "soulful and rich"  voice should talk less and sing more.
And last night,for the want of something better to do, went to see another performance  of The Royal Court Theatre Company.They tangoed, jump jived, lindy hopped.The choreography was good, at times lovely.

In the gym I have noticed people being given a physical once over

by a physiotherapist.Had  the most excellent massage this morning by a Bulgarian masseur,and as every engine needs an M.O.T. and there is no engine  more in need of fine tuning than a human body,  in no time  was I resplendent  on the examination table, breathing in and breathing out,being poked,probed and stretched in all directions and I am coming back for more  every day until disembarkation.And am also having anther massage by the very capable Dimitri.I  much prefer having a massage by a  man,they have so much stronger hands, even though years ago  I was superbly  massaged by a slip of a Canadian girl.

Helsinki

and I forgot to charge my mobile, so am not able to take any photographs,it is too far to go back to the ship,have had to change my plans for the day.
This  self-made misfortune has befallen upon me  twice on my travels, the first time in 2016  in  St Petersburg,I could not photograph the  inside of   the magnificent  Church Of The Saviour On The Spilled Blood, the second time  in Helsinki  two  days later! 

So  I am going to walk and walk and walk the streets of the city, enjoy the scenery and the people.
The Gods may not be smiling at me today but as long as people do, all will be well.

I do not like taking organized excursions.

They have their place, of course,are invaluable to many and I myself have taken quite a number of them over the years,but given a choice I always prefer to make my own way wherever  the way  may take me.Some cruise companies offer the most wonderful way to get to know  this glorious city by providing transport  that takes one to the centre, you do your own thing for 2-3 hours,then  are collected   at an agreed spot and Bob's your uncle, an independent traveller is as happy as an Easter bunny,Not Cunard. So unless you have your own visa - I did try to get one when I came to St. Petersburg for the very first time on the  Celebrity Eclipse, but it was such a palava,I was completely turned off the whole process - you either join the tours provided or you stay on the ship.I have seen most of what the city has to offer but have not been able to photograph the inside  of the mot breathtakingly  beautiful church I have ever been to - The Church of The Saviour on the Spilled Blood[and the Bolsheviks  had wanted to blow it to pieces] - the battery of  my camera  had given up on me - so jumped at the chance to do so on a  PICTURESQUE St PETERSBURG  excursion. It was mainly a  boat cruise [more like  a rickety  old uncomfortable  barge]  on The River  Neva with this one stop  on dry land.We sailed past The Cruiser Aurora,whose gun signalled with blank  shot  the beginning of the Revolution in 1917 and the onslaught on the Winter Palace.It is docked near the  Peter and Paul Fortress, the cornerstone of the city,  erected  in 1703, and practically next  to  the old KGB building. We took photos of the Michael's Palace,The Hermitage,The Winter Palace and other ostentatious  residences  built for the nobility.There was even a small house  just for drinking coffee.For drinking coffee.The utter obscenity of the riches of the few in profound contrast  with the abject poverty of the majority of Russians.[The Winter Palace has 1000 rooms.]That was yesterday.Today I walked the walk.What I saw from the boat yesterday, I saw on foot today.There were six buses in all of like-minded people.

Today has been the most wonderful day to date,

after the most excellent  freshly pressed orange juice  and coffee  I  walked and walked and walked, then  went to my favourite clothes shop to see if they had a white linen dress  similar  to the ones I bought six years ago.No, completely sold out after the hot summer they have been having.But I was determined to find something equally nice and that I did  in  BAGGYS.And a super duper bag.There was an utterly lovely souvenir shop with the nicest things,they had  warm insoles and I so wanted to get some for my god-children, but the queue was long and I do not like queuing.That is an English  characteristic  for better or for worse. Simon would have queued without a murmur.So I retraced my steps and returned to the restaurant for some lunch.I was lucky to get a table by the window. Heaven.Tomato soup the best I have ever had. The best. Spiced sprats  on a homemade rye bread with hemp seeds, homemade butter,Pilsner beer,yes, beer, I could not think of anything better to go with the food. Lunch fit for a queen.Then a cup of that excellent coffee,the lovely waitress knew how to make it for me, strong.I talked to an Australian couple sitting next to me, the lady said she had to have the tomato soup after hearing my eulogy.She said she never heard any-one talking like that about  soup!Well, when I fall in love, I fall in love.
And back to the ship, at 16.30 we are leaving  for St Petersburg.

Vana Wiru

a restaurant  where I am sitting  enjoying a freshly squeezed orange , a cup of latte I am yet to taste, is the most wonderful  immaculately clean place and the  waitress is lovely, charming, smiling. Not all look so happy, but  today I am lucky. The plates are being left completely cleared  by happy patrons and the cakes on display, my goodness, so irresistible,just when I have decided to stop indulging!Not in Vana Wiru!Tallinn,you are my cup of town.

This morning the Queen Victoria docked at Standsgarden 167,Stockholm.

There is a limited  shuttle  bus service  transfer from the ship to the City Centre. I boarded one of those buses and was greeted by a smiling blonde lady bus driver.Soon we drove off.The drop off point being the square where the Opera house is situated.All went very well until we almost reached our destination,  then a female  voice speaking Spanish resounded from the very front of the bus to the very back, getting louder and louder, more and more irritated.It was the woman driver talking with her Spanish speaking dispatcher.We turned into the  Jakobsgatan Square.And could go no further.No room for the bus to manoeuvre.And then the real fun began.The voice of the woman reached a fever pitch as did that of her dispatcher.She tried to reverse. All around ONE way streets.  To the credit of the Swedish drivers there was not one single hoot.They all sat there,queues everywhere, waiting for the show to come to a conclusion.We halted. Some Cunarders decide to abandon the bus.
Not me. I was staying to the end whatever the end was going to be.And slowly but surely the situation went  from  ridiculous to sublime. The driver began to cry. Yes, the driver burst into  tears.Some men went to give her advice and I wish they did not,they  made her feel even worse and she was sobbing her heart out.And then a knight in shining armour got up and spoke with her and went out  and stopped all the incoming traffic in one of the one way streets   and she was able to drive through that street  into a wide boulevard. Our rescuer was an English gentleman, very handsome. Sitting  alone.Why would an intelligent, capable, and  good-looking man travel by himself, I cannot understand. Maybe he is alone, because he IS sensible.
My husband used to say whenever he was asked to give a speech at a wedding, which was always, because he was very witty - if you want to stay happy,do not get married.He said it jokingly,of course,or did he, come to think of it,he was never laughing when he said it!
Even when the merciless Alzheimer's was raging, he retained his sense of humour and would say to every-one in a restaurant or on a bus,conspiratorially- I love my wife very much. I have to, she has all the money!

The entertainment on the Queen Victoria.

This morning  Lord  Digby Jones gave us  a sixty minute  talk about how  great he is.
Last night a juggler Pete Matthews showed us how great he is.
On Saturday the ship's own troupe demonstrated  that they have nights when they cannot hold a tune or keep in step.There were times when I would have done a better job of it with my two left feet.
Today the lovely Marilyn Monroe showed  in the River Of No Return that she has no equal on screen and I have come to a conclusion that however many times I may see Lily James in Cinderella, I will not grow any fonder of her.

I love chicken curry, prawn curry, prawn biryani,tarka dhal

and whenever either is on the menu I always order it.Today at lunch a spanner was thrown in the works, so to speak.    Paneer biryani was offered  and as I do not recall ever tasting panir,I chose the dish.After the meal my lovely waiter, who was today serving the lucky Cunarders  in the Queens grill,came to say hello.As he is from India and an expert on all things Indian, he told me all he knew  abut the  cheese,because that is what panir is, hard cheese.     I said-perfect for any kind of cooking, remains well put together.        If I may say - well put together  like yourself- he replied with  a huge smile.  He is a charmer.

And talking about ditties.

My late husband was full of them.The first one he ever told me was:
There was a young man from Sydenham,
who lost his trousers with quid in 'em,
he found them again down  Petticoat lane,
not with a quid in'em
but with a yid in'em.

My husband was Jewish, very proud of his heritage, but of the opinion   religion had always been at the root   of all the world's problems and he had always been  able to laugh when jokes about the Jewish people were told rather than take offence.

There has been so much publicity recently about the sexual abuse by clergy.

I have come across a witty ditty by Chesterton,G.K. that implies the problem is centuries old:
John Grubby,who was short and stout
and troubled  with religious doubt,
refused about the age of three
to sit upon the curate's knee.

Alongside the Queen Victoria my old enemy, Columbus, a flagship of Cruise and Maritime

was docked this morning. In had spent 45 nights on the vessel last autumn. Never again. Ever.

I took a bus No 26 back to the port

and from the window  I saw a sight as rare in Copenhagen as a big bottom on a Danish woman-graffiti.

Good-bye Tivoli Gardens

the coffee was just as bad as it looked,but when I was asked by the lovely server if I liked it I gave her a big smile and said - lovely. There is nothing wrong with telling a little white lie so that feelings are not hurt. We say so many big  untruths  where only truth should be spoken and not enough little unimportant ones that would  make people happy.

Copenhagen.

Have been here several times. Have walked the breadth and length of the city twice at least. It never rained. Today all morning  it poured.And just when I thought I would not set a foot outside the Queen Victoria the sky had began to clear.Walked to the bus stop  26, I even ran to catch the bus and I never run for a bus.As the weather  looks  unpredictable  I  decided to stay on the bus  until the last stop and turn back again to the port on the same bus. And then we passed the Tivoli Gardens.Wonderful. So here I am nursing a so so cup cup of latte in a glass.I hate coffee served in a glass.A cup, a mug, a cooking pot, but never a glass, please.Have been here as a part of a city tour.I knew then what I know now, that it is a perfect place for children.And a perfect place to while away hours when it is spitting outside.The bus fare was 24 krone, the entrance to Tivoli 120, the coffee 44.  1£ - 8.38 DK.

Yes, am cruising to Scandinavia and Russia

and Kristiansund,Norway,was our first stop.Voyage V 825,10-24 August 2018.I love this itinerary,I sailed there for  the very first time on the Celebrity Eclipse and loved it so much, have done it  on two  other ships since, this  being the third-Cunard's Queen Victoria. Originally,some six months ago,I booked a Britannia Club Cabin,this particular grade has the least number of cabins and sells out fast.I was in a Club cabin for the first time last Christmas and loved it unreservedly and when I knew I wanted to sail to St Petersburg again, I made a reservation immediately.Only once on board last Friday did I realize that I had been upgraded to a Princess Grill cabin 4094.There is only one grade higher, the Queens Grill.The Grills have own dining room and lounge, terrace adjoining the lunge  and a sun-bathing  area,all on the 11th floor.An elevator that  goes there is operated with a special key.The nicest surprise  was Eduardo,a Colombian maitre d', who was so wonderfully nice to me  at Christmas, and who is  now in The Princes Grill restaurant.We greeted each other like  friends I hope we are going to become.He is a no nonsense man, who came to appreciate my sense of humour and I his kindness.

If it is a Sunday,it must be Kristiansand,Norway

And I wish it was anything but. The town comes into the category you have seen one,you have seen them all.It is neat, it is tidy,it is clean. And that is all it has going for it on this  Sunday morning. There was a "city train" waiting in the port, 14$ return, or 100 krone, to take us to the centre.There  not even  a coffee shop was open.A ship docks with at least 1000 passengers and the Norwegians do not even think it would be the right  and the nice thing to do to welcome us in some way other than expecting  the unsuspecting traveller to spend money on a ride to nowhere and to  nothing. Now that IS being taken for a ride.There was a church in the square with two obligatory  gypsy women  beggars  in front of it, free entrance,thank God for small mercies, I went  inside,sat down, prayed for something to happen, it did not.Took the next train back to the port.So if you ever come to Kristiansand on a Sunday, stay on the ship.

The wise men say that after a bereavement one should wait a year, two,

before making any important decisions.I have waited 8 years and several weeks ago have set in motion a chain of events that would change my life for ever.
Several days ago boom bara boom, something very unexpected  came into my life that may have  taken me in the  completely different direction I am planning now, but  potentially change my future in the most wonderful way imaginable. And I said no because there is one thing,one thing only, so very important to me that has stopped me from taking the chance,one thing,that may not  matter at all in the long run, but at the moment seems to be insurmountable.
And I am  sitting here and asking myself - have I made a mistake?

"We buttoned-up Brits need to chill about nudity"

says the very likeable and  sensible Esther Rantzen. Ms Rantzen, I concur.

Yes, Mr Harvey Weinstein should be prosecuted

for exercising the poorest of the poor judgements  for  sleeping with trout pouts and inflated balloons, who after years of trying to make it big, small,or anything in the show business  and failing miserably, are now crawling out of the woodwork finally having their  five minutes of fame and if not that, at least a pound of flesh. He had the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, the talented  Georgina Chapman,at home. Why on earth would his inflated ego want to jeopardise  his  marriage? And then there is the risk of venereal disease.Harvey, you  really are  an idiot.

"Ottolenghi's Midas touch..."

as the very likeable restaurant critic Fay Maschler refers to Yotam Ottolenghi's  magic in the kitchen.Mr Kipling may make exceedingly good cakes, but no-one makes a cheesecake the way  the very handsome Yotam makes.In summer it is topped with strawberries, in winter with  caramel and  nuts.I am not a fan of caramel,but in this combination it is utterly scrumptious.