Cruising, schmozing and relaxing.

The last 2 weeks I have done no work. None whatsoever. Unless you count sitting on a deckchair complaing of the heat or getting my ass kicked at cards, work. Its been strange. I've had holidays before and been offline, but this was the longest time offline and away with Mammy2 I've ever had. We survived and didn't kill each other ;) It was great. A break was just what we both needed, she has been so sick for the last couple of months and I've been slightly busy. Websites ahoy. The kid was great, the difference in her is amazing. I mean, she's voluntarily going to therapy. She emails her therapist and arranges when to meet up. Its mad.

The cruise was great, although not something I would do again in a hurry. I am into more active things then lying around in the sun, but at this time it was perfect. A break from the madness and the kid. We set sail from Dover and headed to Le harve, France. There were excursions organised at every port we docked at, but we weren't bothered as we prefereed to explore ourselves. However, we were wrecked from all the travelling the previous day so we took it easy. From there we sailed for Cobh and Dublin. No surprises for us, but listening to the people comment on Ireland was interesting. Cobh was so picturesque that pulling into Dublin Port after that could only be a disappointment.
Glasgow was another let down we felt, we sailed into a small port called Grennock and we got the train into the city. Compare to Edinburgh, its like the city that Soctland forgot. The little port of Grennock was great though, the people were so nice, delighted to have the ship in obviously. As we pulled out of port, they had a full pipe band and lots of people waving scotish flags. It was great. Its strange that people wave at the ship as it pulls out, some of the people on the top deck waved back. Belfast next and we did the open tour which takes you through the Shankill road and the Falls road. It was scary. The americans all got off on the Shankill road. We stayed on the bus as it continued its tou. I've never seen so many Union Jacks in my life, hanging from every building and on bunting crossing the street. Belfast is a beautiful city and with so much development its easy to forget the troubles. Our tour guide was great though.

He didn't gloss over any of the history unlike some of the excursions organised by the cruise ships. We spoke to a couple who did another tour and they didn't go anywhere near that area.

We left Belfast and set sail for the fjords of Norway. There is no way to describe this place. You just have to see it.

It was breakttaking. I slept through docking so when I woke up and walked out onto the balcony, the view that greeted me was breathtaking. We visited 2 other Norwegian ports and they were equally impressive. Final port of call, Copenhagen. Another beautiful city. We were docked overnight there so it was an opportunity to check out the nightlife. And check it out we did. We tried finding the gay area but without much success so ended up in some terrace bar sipping Carlsberg as the sun set. Even though we were away from her, most of our conversations were centered around her. Her and the fact that Mammy2 was a VIP guest on the ship. We got invited to the senior officers party. Free champagne and mingling. Mammy2 had to schmooze some with the events guy who she had interviewed that morning. It was worth it though. The best part of her being a VIP guest because she was press was getting to the navigational bridge and checking out the ships controls. I was disappointed to see there was no big wheel. But it was impressive though. And there was a female officer. In uniform. Enough said.

The holiday was great and even though I missed stuff and home , I managed to survive 2 weeks on a break! The kid managed brilliantly. R, the mate , dropped around a few times to check on her, feed her and take her to movies. The kid thinks R is a legend, I have yet to get out of her why. She compares her to Karen Walker. A high compliment indeed. The place was clean when we got home, she didn't look like she had lost weight implying she had eaten so we were happy. All the noodles are gone as are all the pizzas. She didn't starve. She has a new 'crew'. They have regular names. Liam, Ste, Limp or Mulp or Lump, I'm unsure of his name, Ness, not Nessie the Loch ness monster and someone called War. They are in her band as well, some of them are. I've managed to find out where some of them are from, what they work at and if they have girlfriends or not. I'm not a paranoid parent I swear ;)

The boyfriend is gone. And we were just beginning to like him. He lasted well over 7 months. Then again we liked most of the people she dated. She's not seeing anyone at the moment. She's having random kissage with Ste I think or Liam or maybe Nessie. She's not 'into' a relationship right now. Well, she is 17.