CHOCKS AWAY

It was nice not to have to set the alarm for stupid-o’clock for once. The Marco Polo wouldn’t be embarking passengers until 4pm, meaning I could take a relatively leisurely drive south.

For the most part, the journey was just that; traffic was fluid for most of the way, only stodging up on a couple of occasions due to a slow, wide load and two escort vehicles. Once past them, I put as many miles between them and me as I could before stopping at some services for a wee break. Annoyingly; no matter how speedily I went about my business, I still, mysteriously found myself behind the slow, wide load again… this happened to me twice – on the second occasion, it was to buy some lunch – I swear they were putting their foot down the minute I pulled into a services…

I made it to Tilbury in good time; So good, in fact, that the passengers from the previous cruise were still embarking. It seemed they were running a little late, although we did manage to get everyone on board, emergency-drilled and chocks away by the appointed time of 8pm.

So; now we’re heading towards Amsterdam, where we are due to arrive at 1pm tomorrow. There are three craft tutors on board; myself, Peter (The Wood) Counsill and Krystina someone-or-other, who I haven’t met yet, who I think does some sort of embroidery-type-thingy. Unfortunately; three craft lecturers into one craft room doesn’t go; and a little gentle persuasion from myself and the other Peter was needed to convince the Cruise Director to allow Peter to do his wood crafts in the palm Garden (which is where he’s always done them), so that Krystina and I can divvy-up the Craft Room equally – she can do her embroidering-or-whatever in the mornings and I can have it for watercolour in the afternoons… all agreed and job done… tomorrow, we’re going to hold a presentation of our crafts in the reception area, to advertise our wares, so that classes can start promptly on Wednesday.

It’s nice to see a few familiar faces, along with many not so familiar ones. It’s a little weird having the cabin all to myself, and knowing that I’ll have it all to myself for the whole journey. Sadly, my partner in crime, Tracey, has had to give this one a miss, in favour of joining me on a couple of other trips planned for later in the year. The scary thing is; she’s going to decorate my studio while I’m away….

It’s been a long, tiring day. We lose one hour tonight, with the clocks going forward (although, we do get it back tomorrow night, on our return journey down the English Channel).