One thing that we learn early in life is that you win some and you lose some. I am not exactly certain where I am right now. Let me explain. Last week I mentioned that we had become obligated for a long eleven day cruise to the Panama Canal – although we did not go all the way through but rather made a U-turn in some big lake. The reason for this exotic cruise was that The Blonde in the house had such a voyage on her bucket list – and one does not interfere with her bucket list, particularly if a certain individual still wants rhubarb pies for his birthday (and Father’s Day). After last week’s musings, I heard from several people that I did not indicate great excitement for the above mentioned trip. I am not certain how they arrived at that conclusion, but people do put their own interpretations on matters. Possibly they arrived at their conclusion as I mentioned that I had never cruised beyond seven days and this one would have been a lo-oong eleven days.
Well, that has now all changed. (Hooray?) This is where the lose some, win some concept comes into play. We are still cruising (sigh), but in much better locations. We are taking a re-positioning cruise (purportedly a great thing) from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale. On one of our other three cruises (seven days) we covered some of the same territory. I still think that Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia is one of the prettiest places that I have ever been. Thus, comparing that to another Caribbean cruise, it looked very good to me. The Blonde indicated that she knew (she always knows) that I was not too happy with the Panama Canal caper, so she felt the new one would be more to my liking. So I smiled and indicated that I agreed.
Then, came the curve. This cruise would take “fourteen” very long days! I could not believe that. We have a globe in the house and when you look at where the ship cruises, it is obvious that most of it is downhill so it should not take so long. You won’t believe this, but it takes the stupid ship two days just to get from Norfolk to Ft. Lauderdale. I bet Henry Hudson could have done it faster in his ship, the “Half Moon”, if he hadn’t gone the other way and sailed up the Hudson River. Just think, if he had come down to Ft. Lauderdale instead, he might have had the whole country named after him instead of just one river. We could have been living in the United States of Hudson. They probably would still be making the Hudson automobile. So many missed opportunities!
I still worry that one never knows what can occur on a cruise. For example, I have some concern about the fact that it starts in Quebec. I have written several times about the notorious maple syrup cartel in Quebec. You know the one that hoards maple syrup to keep the prices up to the point us common people can’t afford the real thing and have to use Aunt Butter’s sugared substitute. I do have to make the trip from the airport to the ship, and I am certain that there are lots of ambush places along the way. I know one thing, I am going to keep my eye on adjoining and nearby cabins.
Holy Moley, fourteen days . . .
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
