"the sea was angry that day"...

Before we departed Bergen, the Captain came over the PA and said the weather had turned, and we were going to have a rough ride home. Noooooo! Once again I questioned my sanity, and this time decided I was actually mental (but I only had myself to blame).
The first 6 hours were ok as we went down the coast, and were protected by the small islands off the Norwegian coast. But after that it was night, and we were out in the ocean.
I've never been so scared in my life! The ship (bits of metal stuck together with a few rivets) was tossed every which way. One minute we're pitched forward and downward crashing into waves, and the next we're hurled upwards and left high and dry before being slammed down onto the next wave. The ship was doing enourmous belly-whackers, which caused hideous groaning sounds and for the whole ship to wobble like jelly. I lay in bed with the doona over my head, shaking like a leaf for the first 4 hours. I was utterly convinced we would need to be rescued - out of tiny life boats, in the dark, from freezing waters with huge swells. I'd packed my luggage, with my passport zipped into my ski jacket, so if my body was washed up on a shore somewhere I could be identified. Sounds dramatic, I know. This lasted for at least 20 hours and somehow I managed to get some broken sleep. It was a completely terrifying experience. I tried to find the humourous side, and all I could come up with was a Seinfeld episode where George tells Jerry a story that begins with "the sea was angry that day, my friend". Yes, yes it was.
On the up side, amazingly I didn't feel the least bit queasy and wasn't sea sick (so I've maintained my 25 year non-spew run. Phew!!)
Because of the weather we were late arriving at the British coast, and by then Newcastle was experiencing gale force 10 winds and no traffic was allowed to enter the Tyne River. So we circled out at sea for over 5 hours waiting for the winds to calm. Was I ever going to get off this feckin boat? Thankfully it was relatively calm where we were, and because of the delay we were given a free buffet dinner.
We finally docked at 9pm - 6 hours late - and I'd missed my train (all trains) back to London. While I was bobbing about at sea off Newcastle, I was able to text Anna and she organised me a hotel room for the night. I finally got home on saturday afternoon, a day late.
All in all it wasn't the most relaxing holiday (I'm not into extreme sailing!) and I'll be very happy to go back to work on monday!!

across the sea to Norway...

After an excellent day of sightseeing and shopping, I took a bus out to the North Shields ferry terminal and boarded a huge cruise ship, bound for Bergen, Norway. The m.s. Queen of Scandinavia! I had a sea view cabin on deck 5 which was larger than I expected. We left at 6.30pm, with a brass band celebrating our departure over the PA. Hilarious! The Captain assured us we had smooth sailing ahead, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief and was lulled asleep by 9. Although, there were moments when we hit a few small waves, and I questioned the sanity of my choice of holiday - was I mental? - I'm terrified of open expanses of deep water, and therefore none too fond of boats. But the distance on the map made it look so easy - it was only a 4cm trip!!

I explored the ship the next morning - well, the one cafe and an airport-style duty free shop. After that, there was...erm...nothing! There was a bar, restaurants and a casino, but I wasn't going to do those on my own. Thank goodness for my cabin, my iPod and my book (I'm currently reading a biography of Mme de Pompadour, thanks to a Dr Who episode!)

It was strangely exhausting doing nothing, but I had to stay awake til 11pm when we arrived in Bergen, as everyone had to disembark and go through immigration.

We were in Bergen overnight until 10.30am - so I had a few hours to look around in the morning. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious, cold, windy, raining and foggy - and my poor umbrella coped the brunt of my swearing. Bergen has an area on the waterfront called Bryggen (pics right), and it's shops and housing are World Heritage Listed. Quite spectacular, even in the rain. I walked around for about 2 hours, and made it back to the boat in time - although utterly soaked.

a bit of Sydney in Newcastle...

Newcastle, UK, that is. People had told me how beautiful Newcastle was, and it didn't disappoint. I got there just before sunset, in time for a wander. There are 7 bridges that cross the Tyne River (that Newcastle sits alongside), all built at different times - but I was very surprised to see one that looked like the Sydney Harbour Bridge!! The picture to the left is my first glimpse (it could have been Sydney!). In the sunset pic, you can make out another 3 bridges beyond it. They also had an amazing suspension bridge (Millennium Bridge) that's winched up when ships pass.

The city centre was enlightening. There was a Grey St, with a statue of Earl Grey - as in the tea, I assume. They had excellent shopping, a huge mall almost the size of Chadstone. Better than London - there's one mall in all of London and the locals don't like it. All that artificial light and air!

[As an aside, Westfield are building a mall near us in Shephards Bush, and everytime I go past I think of Southland!]

an imminent adventure...

A short blog. I didn't do much this weekend, again the tube was out in our area. Although we did trek into Covent Garden on saturday night for a friends birthday drinks, and Anna and I went to book club yesterday. The book was Shantaram (amazing), but I think we gossip'd more than we talked about the book...
I am about to leave on a very exciting (but cold) adventure! I have the week off, and this morning I'm taking a train to Newcastle, which is at the very top of England near Scotland, and from there I'm sailing on a boat to Bergen in southern Norway!! Hopefully it won't be a row boat... I'm very excited, and I hope I don't spend most of my time in my cabin feeling sea sick!
Strangely enough it's going to get to a top of -2 in Newcastle, and will be 6 in Bergen.
So, a better blog is forthcoming...

tuesday morning, and a celebrity sighting...

I had a very low key weekend - the tube was out at our station due to engineering works, so it was a good excuse to stay local. I checked out the Chiswick Public Library (no pun intended!), and went to Khanh's for brunch on sunday.

Today, tuesday, I went to King's Waterloo campus to attend a course (how to be a real supervisor), and I was early enough that I could take my time and walk along the Embankment and take some pics. This was my view of the Thames this morning...both St Paul's and Westminster a little fogged out....

In one of life's amazing little quirks, I sat next to a girl at the course who used to work at Melb Uni! So we had a good old natter about home, and being away.

At midday I headed back to towards work (in slow motion, as the blessed sun was out!), and just as I was about to take the stairs up to cross Waterloo Bridge, I walked past Jeremy Irons!!! A real celebrity! He had a hat low over his eyes, and a (yiky) 'tash - and I only noticed him because a young girl, obviously embarrassed, was having a feisty tug-of-war with her mother saying "muuuum....no don't"! I think her mum wanted to accost poor Jeremy - but I didn't stick around to see who won!

half a weekend...

I had to work on saturday, and it surely sucked. At least it's only one saturday a term, and the benefits are ace. The worst thing was, I woke on thursday thinking thank goodness it was friday, only to have that brief happiness crushed by not only one more working day, but two!

So. Saturday was out for doing anything exciting - but on sunday Anna and I met friends for a late brunch (mmm, pancakes with fresh berries) (I ate fruit!!) - and afterwards we went to social event no.2 which was drinks for a friends birthday at a whole foods market. Quite an odd choice of venue, but there was lots of unwholesome drinking. The party ended up at our place, but no pics to post of anyone getting untidy.

I did however, run around the King's College library on saturday before opening, and take some pictures. The Round Reading room is (quite?) famous - and is mentioned in the Da Vinci Code (where they go to do some research). Our office runs off that clinically green corridor ; there is an amazing old chapel ; and that's the outside of the library. Not a bad place to come to work every day...

Weather update : still absolutely freezing and has been for 3 months or more now. It's about 3 or 4 degrees in the mornings. I got all excited last week cos they predicted snow, but it didn't ever fall in London.... Sigh. We now have an extra hour and a half of daylight - sun up at 7.30, and dark by 5pm. And that's an improvement!