Not Travelling Blog
All of our travel plans are off but I decided to resume my Committed Travellers blog to keep readers up to date with our non travelling activities. We had booked a cruise around Japan on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth for May 2020, followed by a Viking cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver, Canada. After the large number of coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, both of our cruises were cancelled by Cunard and Viking in February and we received full refunds. We were able to cancel flights to Japan and hotel bookings at no loss.
The rest of our planned trip was then up in the air. From Vancouver we were to catch the Canadian train across the country to Toronto, fly to New York then sail on the Queen Mary to Southampton, England. We had also booked flights and hotels for a month travelling around Switzerland, and a cruise to Iceland on the Queen Victoria. We were going to sail on the three Queens, but are lucky not to have been stranded on a ship unable to return home.
Cunard rescheduled its sailings and we booked on a cruise leaving from Sydney on 9 May sailing to Vancouver which would have allowed us to continue our planned trip, but this dastardly virus swept around the world and we have cancelled all bookings. We are theoretically covered by travel insurance provided through our credit card, but have doubts we will recoup much of the money paid in advance for hotel bookings, and our flights to Zurich. Fortunately I had persuaded Anita not to book our return flight from London.
So now we are at home doing projects. Our first was to clean the BBQ because it needs a new battery for the igniter to work. When I pulled out the old battery one terminal was left behind so I cannot put in a new battery. I tried to access the battery box but this looks like a job for a professional so we will try lighting it the old fashioned way - with a match!
A month ago I bought myself a new sewing machine. For the past 40+ years I have used a Singer machine given to me by my parents for my 21st birthday - it was secondhand then probably 10 years old. It was still working fine but I wanted to try using different stitches and techniques.
I had an old oak table top stored at my friend's horse stables so decided to resurrect that to give me a larger work area than my desk. After cleaning off the dust and old beeswax I coated it with Danish oil. Actually I spilled the whole can of oil over the table but fortunately it was level and I was able to scrape most of it back into the tin. I attached the legs from my desk and a small set of oak drawers from an old treadle Singer sewing machine. Voila!
Last week our last little critter Miki had a stroke and we had to have her put to sleep. In 2004 we moved to Brisbane with three cats and Max who was a 6 month old puppy. Coco found us in May 2005 so for a few years we travelled between Brisbane and Palmers Island with five lovely critters.
While we can't catch up or visit for the foreseeable future, we can all stay in touch electronically by phone, email or Facebook. Stay home and stay safe!
The rest of our planned trip was then up in the air. From Vancouver we were to catch the Canadian train across the country to Toronto, fly to New York then sail on the Queen Mary to Southampton, England. We had also booked flights and hotels for a month travelling around Switzerland, and a cruise to Iceland on the Queen Victoria. We were going to sail on the three Queens, but are lucky not to have been stranded on a ship unable to return home.
Cunard rescheduled its sailings and we booked on a cruise leaving from Sydney on 9 May sailing to Vancouver which would have allowed us to continue our planned trip, but this dastardly virus swept around the world and we have cancelled all bookings. We are theoretically covered by travel insurance provided through our credit card, but have doubts we will recoup much of the money paid in advance for hotel bookings, and our flights to Zurich. Fortunately I had persuaded Anita not to book our return flight from London.
So now we are at home doing projects. Our first was to clean the BBQ because it needs a new battery for the igniter to work. When I pulled out the old battery one terminal was left behind so I cannot put in a new battery. I tried to access the battery box but this looks like a job for a professional so we will try lighting it the old fashioned way - with a match!
A month ago I bought myself a new sewing machine. For the past 40+ years I have used a Singer machine given to me by my parents for my 21st birthday - it was secondhand then probably 10 years old. It was still working fine but I wanted to try using different stitches and techniques.
Last week our last little critter Miki had a stroke and we had to have her put to sleep. In 2004 we moved to Brisbane with three cats and Max who was a 6 month old puppy. Coco found us in May 2005 so for a few years we travelled between Brisbane and Palmers Island with five lovely critters.
While we can't catch up or visit for the foreseeable future, we can all stay in touch electronically by phone, email or Facebook. Stay home and stay safe!
