Cruising

[William R]

Hi Alan, My last cruise was round the World at the expense of the taxpayer, leaving Southampton en route for the Med with many stops to pick up service personnel who were changing duties. The Suez Canal was no problem except for the native traders, "bum-boats" to the uninitiated. Taking in the Indian Ocean and visits to the sub-continent provided light relief on a tedious voyage. Further through the Malay peninsula and the Java Sea to the Pacific Islands, picking and dropping some of our American cousins, finally making it to the Panama Canal and Miami and onwards up the eastern seaboard to New York, where we didn`t have time to visit. A brief trip to Ireland (as was) and finally home to Southampton. Not as romantic as yours, but a very satisfying manner in which to serve one`s mother country, many thanks to the taxpayers of the day. You mention briefly trying way back to "do" the English Canals, that too is very interesting at three miles per hour, I`ve done the Shroppy and the Aire and Calder, and the Llangollen Canal, sorry there was no chance to dine at the Captain`s Table on our trips, there is little room on a narrow boat for that. William R.