Am still in the horrible process of unpacking from our cruise.
We boarded the Oriana on Monday 2nd Oct. I had been away for a dance weekend (at Pontin’s- has to be done once in your life) and as soon as Jenny and I had located our cabin, I set about attending to my dancing injuries. Cuts, blisters and bruises everywhere, and mild concussion as I had attempted the ‘advanced aeriels’ class on the last day.
Great fun though – the highlight had been a pole-dancing class with Julia and Alison at 11am the Sunday morning; when we should have been at church!!!!
Settled in well on the cruise. Days at sea were spent learning to ballroom dance (despite a distinct lack of spare men) and going to soft toy-making classes. I made a dalmation for my niece, but at the moment he only has one eye and his head is not attached to his body. Perhaps I will give it to her as it is and tell her its about time she learnt to sew! (Only joking Missa if you’re reading this!!!!)
Port stops were wonderful – from Katakolon we visited Olympia and got a picture of the quartet on the original starting line of the first Olympic track. Natalia won the 200metres, but the rest of us wearing flip-flops possibly put her at an advantage.
Some officers on the ship took me to a gorgeous bar in Dubrovnik, cut out of the side of a cliff. Absolutely stunning view. Especially of the officers having a macho competition of who can jump off the highest rock (!). I slid off the smallest rock on my bottom into the sea, then discovered that getting out again was not that easy!! Had to be hauled out by a sailor, taking several mussels with me along the way!
To end out lovely day in Venice, we had been invited by the Captain to his suite to watch the sailaway. There was a masked ball afterwards and we were able to parade the masks we had bought in Venice.
The other three had beautiful eye masks, but I always have to go that one step too far (see picture). It was pink, made out of manuscript paper and had peacock feathers; I couldn’t NOT buy it! Also persuaded the guy in the shop to sell it for half price of 25 euros – he was probably keen to get rid of it as it was taking up most of his shop.
In Korcula, we went snorkeling – a sight to behold (us not the fish) Returned to the Oriana with a badly sun-burned back. Unfortunately we were playing a room where the audience sits all around you, so felt I had to explain the redness before I was attacked by caring grandmothers armed with moisturiser. Luckily, I could make a joke out of it because we were playing the Dvorak ‘American’ Quartet and I always mention how Dvorak wrote a bird call into the 3rd movement - a bird aptly named the ‘red-backed tanegar’!
When we returned, we went straight into rehearsals with Elaine Paige, for her UK tour. We are her support act, and also play in her backing band in the 2nd half. I have had to turn down a trip to Australia to do this tour. I had bought a ticket to see Kylie in Sydney. Such a dedicated fan. Could NOT believe what happened after our first rehearsal with Elaine; I came out of the rehearsal room and Bryony was flapping like a demented woman at someone standing behind me. I turned round and just saw a really big man with a beard. I mouthed to Bry, ‘who’s that? Is he famous?’. She replied ‘Kylie! Kylie!’ and the first thought that entered my blonde head was that I don’t know any men called Kylie. Then the light dawned and I realized the delicate creature at about the height of his knee was Miss. Minogue HERSELF about to rehearse for her homecoming tour!!!! Shock set in and I now realize I will be totally hopeless in an emergency. All I could do was stand there like a rabbit in the headlights, hands clasped by my side, breathing in for about a minute, forgetting to breathe out. I was vaguely aware of Jenny hopping from one foot to the other not knowing what to do, and Natalia trying to push me towards Kylie to start a conversation. I could have told her I was going to fly half way across the world to see her gig, even had a backstage pass and was bitterly disappointed that I wasn’t going to meet her, but ha ha how funny that I’ve met her know anyway, and the reason I’m here is because we’re rehearsing for our tour, which is the reason I had to miss her concert in the first place. And that I once threw a Kylie party, where everyone had to sing a Kylie song before they were allowed to come in, and even the pizza delivery man had stood in the street and sung ‘I Should Be So Lucky’. Most importantly I could have given her our CD and offered our services as a backing string quartet. But all I did was hyper-ventilate.
We boarded the Oriana on Monday 2nd Oct. I had been away for a dance weekend (at Pontin’s- has to be done once in your life) and as soon as Jenny and I had located our cabin, I set about attending to my dancing injuries. Cuts, blisters and bruises everywhere, and mild concussion as I had attempted the ‘advanced aeriels’ class on the last day.
Great fun though – the highlight had been a pole-dancing class with Julia and Alison at 11am the Sunday morning; when we should have been at church!!!!
Settled in well on the cruise. Days at sea were spent learning to ballroom dance (despite a distinct lack of spare men) and going to soft toy-making classes. I made a dalmation for my niece, but at the moment he only has one eye and his head is not attached to his body. Perhaps I will give it to her as it is and tell her its about time she learnt to sew! (Only joking Missa if you’re reading this!!!!)
Port stops were wonderful – from Katakolon we visited Olympia and got a picture of the quartet on the original starting line of the first Olympic track. Natalia won the 200metres, but the rest of us wearing flip-flops possibly put her at an advantage.
Some officers on the ship took me to a gorgeous bar in Dubrovnik, cut out of the side of a cliff. Absolutely stunning view. Especially of the officers having a macho competition of who can jump off the highest rock (!). I slid off the smallest rock on my bottom into the sea, then discovered that getting out again was not that easy!! Had to be hauled out by a sailor, taking several mussels with me along the way!
To end out lovely day in Venice, we had been invited by the Captain to his suite to watch the sailaway. There was a masked ball afterwards and we were able to parade the masks we had bought in Venice.
The other three had beautiful eye masks, but I always have to go that one step too far (see picture). It was pink, made out of manuscript paper and had peacock feathers; I couldn’t NOT buy it! Also persuaded the guy in the shop to sell it for half price of 25 euros – he was probably keen to get rid of it as it was taking up most of his shop.In Korcula, we went snorkeling – a sight to behold (us not the fish) Returned to the Oriana with a badly sun-burned back. Unfortunately we were playing a room where the audience sits all around you, so felt I had to explain the redness before I was attacked by caring grandmothers armed with moisturiser. Luckily, I could make a joke out of it because we were playing the Dvorak ‘American’ Quartet and I always mention how Dvorak wrote a bird call into the 3rd movement - a bird aptly named the ‘red-backed tanegar’!
When we returned, we went straight into rehearsals with Elaine Paige, for her UK tour. We are her support act, and also play in her backing band in the 2nd half. I have had to turn down a trip to Australia to do this tour. I had bought a ticket to see Kylie in Sydney. Such a dedicated fan. Could NOT believe what happened after our first rehearsal with Elaine; I came out of the rehearsal room and Bryony was flapping like a demented woman at someone standing behind me. I turned round and just saw a really big man with a beard. I mouthed to Bry, ‘who’s that? Is he famous?’. She replied ‘Kylie! Kylie!’ and the first thought that entered my blonde head was that I don’t know any men called Kylie. Then the light dawned and I realized the delicate creature at about the height of his knee was Miss. Minogue HERSELF about to rehearse for her homecoming tour!!!! Shock set in and I now realize I will be totally hopeless in an emergency. All I could do was stand there like a rabbit in the headlights, hands clasped by my side, breathing in for about a minute, forgetting to breathe out. I was vaguely aware of Jenny hopping from one foot to the other not knowing what to do, and Natalia trying to push me towards Kylie to start a conversation. I could have told her I was going to fly half way across the world to see her gig, even had a backstage pass and was bitterly disappointed that I wasn’t going to meet her, but ha ha how funny that I’ve met her know anyway, and the reason I’m here is because we’re rehearsing for our tour, which is the reason I had to miss her concert in the first place. And that I once threw a Kylie party, where everyone had to sing a Kylie song before they were allowed to come in, and even the pizza delivery man had stood in the street and sung ‘I Should Be So Lucky’. Most importantly I could have given her our CD and offered our services as a backing string quartet. But all I did was hyper-ventilate.
