Days 449 – 455 – David's Cruise

Day 449, Saturday 19th June

Last night, before going to bed at midnight, I had misplaced a package containing three items of railway memorabilia that had arrived by post earlier that day. “You know how it is,” you cannot sleep until said package has been found, which it was….an hour later…another 1am late night then! I went straight to sleep, but the light of the early morning sunrise then kept me awake from around 5am. Any momentary slumber later on was disturbed by weird and unsettling dreams, and I was thankful to be back in the land of normality somewhere around 9am.

We were supposed to be coming out of lock-down on Monday, but, I am not sorry the (revered) government has decided to hang on for another four weeks to allow more people to be fully vaccinated. It could be argued that border restrictions have been and remain “sloppy”, causing the unnecessarily dubious situation we find ourselves in today. But, today feels almost normal; shops and cafés are open, but with social distancing, not operating to their intended capacity. I have not yet travelled on a U.K. train yet. But, I expect to, before the year is out. And boy! do I look forward to travelling from Macclesfield to Euston, and Paddington to Heathrow prior to being “teleported” to Tokyo, courtesy, I presume, of British Airways. Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of the U.K., but so far, I cannot ascertain the likely time I would need to be at Heathrow. I was never a big fan of flying, but an elevated view of Mt. Fuji is a rare occurrence that B.A. emphasises in its on-line publicity. The package allows two full days in Japan’s capital to explore, before around two weeks cruising its islands, as well as docking for the day in South Korea. Not many people go to South Korea for the day!

Sunday 20th June

I was reminded of my increasingly advancing years as one of my great-nephews was celebrating his 18th Birthday, and that I had overlooked another great-nephew’s 18th birthday the previous year! My sister and brother-in-law travelled north to join their children and grandchildren, and I was “suitably kept in the loop”. For the first time (and rather late in the day) I have a list of the birthdays of all my immediate and fairly immediate family/relatives and have instigated a belated new years’ resolution to remember them all!

As usual, I attended Sung Eucharist at St. John’s, and then joined a colleague for coffee. Afterwards, I joined Roger, for lunch at the Bull I ‘ Thorn, once a fine eatery in a 15th Century inn, but now, a most attractive cafe in what was once a small ballroom, a much more recent extension. From there we would walk to Monyash (for more tea!) and back via a slightly different route along ancient and sometimes narrow farm tracks. Sorry, but I took no photographs this time.

The rest of the week was pleasant but uneventful, except for having to go for a blood test on Wednesday. Thankfully, I have not been contacted urgently by the Doctor and thus hope nothing untoward has been detected.

My revised travel arrangements for next year are now in place, apart from the small matter of how to make the most of 24 days in North America. My original plan was (and maybe still is) to cover as much of the continent by train as possible. However, it would be a great pity to not visit Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon. There, also, maybe, the opportunity to revisit the Durango – Silverton Railway which I last travelled over as a 20 year old, 52 years ago. Ye Gods! Amazingly, the Silverton line thrives to this day, now (I think) privately owned and no longer running under the “Rio Grande” banner, but, in the same livery as in 1969. Eventually, I have to end up in New York for the now routine, but still looked forward to eastbound crossing on QM2. Once again, covid permitting, I shall have travelled around the world.

Thursday 24th June

Yesterday, after being joined by Roger for lunch, we returned to a very leafy Macclesfield Forest, where, in the event of my seeing the Japanese cherry blossoms and Yellowstone National Park is not happening next year, Macc Forest will deputise very nicely!