Much has happened since my last post. Apologies for the hiatus but we had a whirlwind couple of days on board and then for the last four days I have been entombed in my berth with a dry cough, chills and fever and since we are on a French boat, la grippe with a temperature of 101F. This morning I managed to keep down some toast and a latte, my first food in three days.

In the course of lying flat for the last couple of days I kept thinking that I should get up and put together a post but my head was so unclear and buzzy that I don’t think it would have made much sense. However I woke up this morning with a clear head and a slight tingling of appetite so I think things are on the turn.

The ship’s doctor, whose English matches my French, for emergency use only, has been terrific …

This is a long overdue post, not written at the peak of my form but written nonetheless. We arrived in Japan late last evening, Tuesday March 26 after 18 hours of flights, delayed flights and washing-machine turbulence from Toronto to Osaka via Tokyo. This trip, one to which we have excitedly looked forward, was preceded by 2 1/2 weeks in Portugal. We returned from that trip last Wednesday, unpacked, did our laundry and prepared to leave on Monday for this trip to Japan. In the interval I celebrated my 80th birthday…

This post is the first of its kind for me, as you’ll see in a moment. 

I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my posts from Tanzania and South Africa last December but as we were settling into our airline’s seats for our return trip home, V said to me, “Well, we don’t have to do that again” presumably in reference to the number of trips that we have made to Africa over the last 10 or 11 years. I think Italy was calling to her and, in fairness, some relaxing time in Europe is long overdue.

And yet, and yet….

Some assorted pictures of the Antarctic region, predominantly South Georgia Island but some sea and landscapes. Hope you enjoy…

I write this from my hotel in BA after a couple of days rich with incident as our Victorian predecessors might have said. I’m writing this in haste as I’m leaving shortly for the airport and my flight home but I did want to post an update before I left…

Since we are being urged to think that we are in a “war” with Covid-19, I thought that I’d file the occasional dispatch from the front, from our very comfortable fox hole, unfortunately much more comfortable than many dealing with Covid in other parts of the world….