Cruising

Cruising, on ships, not in cars, is an interesting pastime. You fall asleep in one part of the world and, hopefully with only a gentle rocking motion in between, you awake the next morning in another. On the way you are fed and watered in a fairly grand style and sleep in a real bed, not a bunk or a reclining chair.

Pixie and I have recently completed our second outing on the briny; the first, some years ago, was from Vancouver to Alaska and back. This time, so that the eastern seaboard of North America did not feel neglected, we travelled from Quebec to New York.

Thankfully this sort of itinerary does not attract the young trendsetters or the multi-child family. It would be fair to say that Pixie and I were firmly entrenched in the lowest five per cent of the age range aboard (crew excepted). The ship was festooned with those for whom the concept of ‘spending the kids’ inheritance’ is a way of life. The folks on board had been everywhere, often very slowly. At times this could be a little trying; some of the corridors below deck were a bit narrow and being at the back of a ‘Procession of the Oldies’ could be frustrating. Still it come to us all if we live out our allotted span; my knees are already developing their own protest movement, egged on by support, or lack of it, from my left ankle.

I’m not going to wear you down with a blow-by-blow account of the voyage. The colours in Quebec were on the change and looked magnificent, even in the full dull that was a common fixture of the earlier part of the trip. Sydney, Nova Scotia, was a gem, Halifax, interesting but it’s a city, Saint John, New Brunswick, wet but captivating - leaning over the side of the ship listening to a lone piper bid us farewell in a steady downpour will be a lasting memory for us both.

We thrust our way south into the USA, landing at Bar Harbor, Maine (sunny and a good walk), Boston (another city, enough said) and Newport, Rhode Island – also sunny and an excellent exposition of what can be achieved by obscene wealth.

New York, past the Statue of Liberty lit up against the night sky, or what passes for it in these parts was followed by an impressive view of Manhattan and an unimpressive view of city traffic. We walked a few of NY’s famous streets, looked at a lot of handbags and headed for the airport. Another city crossed off the list – now show me some more villages.

(I apologise for not replying to comments at the moment but I’m using a very expensive internet connection so I need to keep it short)