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– I can’t exactly say that I woke up this morning!  I did get snatches of sleep and had a few weird dreams!   But when I decided there was no more sleep to be had, I opened my curtains to look across vast flat plains stretching as far as the eye can see. I was…

I am usually fairly sad to leave a hotel, and this one here in the leafy suburbs of Washington is certainly no exception.  Inadvertently, I arrived hungry, and, out of hours, a delicious substantial Caesar salad was produced.  Unusually for America, breakfast was part of the deal, and reception kept me supplied with much needed…

I was so pleased that David, Tabitha (my niece), and their remaining three almost grown-up children were able to join me for breakfast on would be their final day in the U.S.A.  Their flight back home is at something like 5.20 this afternoon.  The happy couple are making their way up to an island off…

I’m not quite sure when my brother-in-law suggested that I could meet up with my great nephew Reuben during my one full day in Washington, almost at the end of a monumental journey by sea from Southampton to Vancouver via Alaska, and then by bus and mainly train back to New York via Seattle, Chicago,…

Meeting Reuben and Ainsley a couple of years ago was an occasion of great enjoyment that I shall never forget.  Tomorrow, they become man and wife. This morning, I awoke determined to at least see the Capitol Building and anything else I might remember.  On the way, I came across this (I think) 27 bell…

Written Saturday 3rd August. I wasn’t expecting to feel quite so rejuvenated and lively when I awoke yesterday morning.  It’s rare for breakfast to be part of the deal, especially at big corporate luxury hotels.  My room, 481, offered obscured but an interesting view towards the main road on which it situated.  As I write…

Forgive the “take” on the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral.  There was a small degree of reluctance on my part, leaving behind what had, at long last, become a very pleasant summer.  Of course, it’s not going to last, but I imagine where I am going, I shall be glad of some coolness. Some…

I was asked a few days ago how Buxton Festival had evolved since its establishment in 1979.  On the spot, I could think of handful of differences from the early days, a time before my fairly long-term involvement between c 1992 and 2017 when the lengthy effects of open heart surgery encouraged me to resign…

This final blog (re-my voyages on Queen Anne) has been a long time coming.  I don’t think that I have ever continued writing about a journey four weeks after arriving home and unpacking.   I hope that Blogs 0094 to this one, 0126, provides a fair recollection of my time on this brand new passenger ship. …

In compiling these “Queen Anne in Pictures” blogs, l realise that my collection of photographs which I have taken is by no means comprehensive.  Watching various YouTube accounts, many of which are fabulous, even in the five weeks i was on board, there are public parts of the ship I didn’t get to, or if…