"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!!