Queen Mary 2

Now I know our friends Hazel and Deb will be disappointed with us, but we didn't much like the Queen Mary 2.  I suppose that's to some extent because we had nearly 8 weeks on board the Queen Victoria and found it so much more friendly.  A better chance to meet and maintain contact with shipmates would be one reason.

However we weren't alone in thinking that way.  Lots of people could be heard saying they preferred the QVic.  Somehow the staff were happier, more efficient.  And the layout was much better.   The Wintergarden on the QM2 was very dark, and to get from Aft to Fwd was extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, we had a chance to relax after the driving around England, and read some books.  John was crook for over 48 hours, some infection or other, but recovered in time for our Halifax visit.

Luckily our local GP had prescribed antibiotics for him in case of such an eventuality.  Seemed to do the trick.  I was just happy to de-stress after all that driving - I never did get the feel for driving a five geared van.  But no scratches or bumps at least.

You are probably wondering why no photos in this post or the preceding one.  I have to own up that on our last night in the UK, I trod on my laptop screen and cracked it.  So it got sent home with all the extra stuff we could do without on the Amtrak leg of our trip.  I haven't yet had the time to sit down with John's Windows 8 laptop and figure it out.  This is being written on my iPad.

We made do with our 4 hour free allocation of Slow satellite internet on the ship, but I am now using the hotel's free wifi, and it's FAST!  Hallelujah.

What we've seen of New York so far is exciting.  The poverty amongst many of the citizens around the bus station on 8th Av and West 40 th street is on full display.  I'm looking forward to seeing the lights around the theatre district at night.  But we are currently experiencing a thunderstorm and John has gone to bed (6 pm).

We have a bit of rearranging the furniture in our room - had to get the bed lowered.  First attempt was useless, I sat on the bed and the mattress sank right through the bed frame.  So the men brought the bed base back and took away the frame - now manageable but now too low.  Will need to use the old pillow under the mattress trick to help John transfer.  Always something.  Never ever straightforward, however much planning goes into the design of a room and the fit out.  Mind you, the fit out and placement of furniture is usually done without considering wheelchair access.  I have a bedside table and reading lamp, but John doesn't.

I sent a chair away, it was too big to fit by the bed as a bedside table for John's CPAP machine and other odds and sods. However it was quickly replaced with another thinner chair.  Service is good, but the poor fellows were run off their feet fixing things for guests.

It's only at times like this, reorganising things, that we say " in some ways it would be good to be home", where everything is in the right place and we can go to bed and rise the next morning without drama.

Oh well, hopefully tomorrow our routines will be sorted, at least for 5 days and we can get on with exploring.