That was a year 2020/2021

Nothing much has happened over the last year, so here's a summary.
No dates, but trying to be in roughly chronological order.

• Measles panic started hitting the world. One of the stops on our planned trans-Pacific cruise got rerouted
• COVID-19 corona virus struck another blow, and things really started fall apart.
• Ship, Ruby Princess, we were on for the planned for Apr/May 2020 cruise got quarantined in Australia.
• Lockdown came into full effect in New Zealand. Cruise got cancelled, but could work from home.
• Fun and games with travel refunds.
• The quickest refund was for a non-refundable hotel room. Thanks Accor, & sorry that the hotel we'd have stayed in is now a inbound traveller quarantine facility.
• The cruise refund became messy. It processed as a credit rather than refund. We were told it could take up to 3 months to correct. Accepted the credit as we'd be able to use that on a later cruise.
• The refund for flights is effectively impossible, because of booking through a travel agent. It may be the traveller's names on the ticket, but because they didn't pay the carrier they're not eligible for the direct refund.
• Plodded along working from home until the levels of lockdown became more relaxed. The biggest thing that became available at next level was takeaways. Far better than cooking or reheating at home every night.
• We then got to a more social level, and could actually eat in restaurant & pubs. All very socially distanced and had to be in & out in 2 hours. Still a number of covidiots couldn't comprehend that.
• Yay, we were one of the first countries in the world to "eliminate" community spread of this bug. The doors were more open, & we could hug others again. We could travel internationally out, but coming back you'd have to pay while you sat out 2 weeks of managed isolation.
• Not feeling to well. So went to the doctor. Men, here's the reminder to get the finger. Uncomfortable as it is, it's an indicator of what's going on up there. Got referred to be put on the list for further examination.
• Managed to visit family over Christmas/New Year break. Starting to use the flight credits.
• Went to a retrospective presentation of Van Gogh's work (sat through two sessions to get money's worth), then had an enormous "bottomless" yum char style lunch. Didn't at for nearly a day after.
• Got in to see a specialist, with very quick referral for a deeper inspection.
• Would have been on another cruise to celebrate my sister's birthday, but again that didn't happen. Fortunately only $2 lost on that.
• Had a camera where the sun don't shine. The doctor that performed the procedure couldn't find the appropriate nurse, so blunted it out with "You've got cancer". Thanks Mr medical professional. Stunned. Fortunately the nurse called me a couple of days later to go the results I'd been given. (Let's talk about this in another blog.)
• Used up some more of the flight credit to celebrate sister's birthday closer to home home. Broke the last bullet-point news to Mum & sister. Went as well as can be expected.

So, it's been an eventful time since the last blog entry.

There'll be another entry soon hopefully with the gory details of my diagnosis & upcoming treatment, but just a reminder now that if your body isn't acting as though you normally think it should then do take it to your GP.

Let's try that again...

After a few months of recovery we're ready to try that cruise again. This time in reverse from Auckland, across the Pacific Ocean, and back to Vancouver over the course of April/May 2020.

Hopefully no medical emergencies this time!

It didn't happen...

Unfortunately my partner suffered a knee ligament injury at the start of our journey to meet the Ruby Princess in Vancouver & sail south.

Despite the original hospital taking x-rays & confirming no breaks, three days of hobbling on crutches led to our travel insurer to advise we should not board the boat & re-present to hospital to scan for any blood clots.

Nothing there, but Dr #2 advised safe to fly home ASAP.

After night in Vancouver another 12hr flight (arriving 4:30am) we're now waiting for a final flight home (2:30pm).

To make it worse, one of our bags were mistakenly uplifted with the owners identical brand/colour left on the conveyor belt. By the time they'd answered their phone, they were already 1 & 1/2hrs away.
Luckily, once alerted they got the bag to their local airport to be sent back for where they'd uplifted. It's in our favour because our airline won't forward their bag, until we receive & confirm ours.

Overall a week of disaster after another, & bad diet due to limited mobility.

Hopefully insurance will cover most of what cruise fares we lost & additional unexpected costs.

We'll try again once all better...

In the meanwhile, here's our first experience of Vancouver transport. Big up to all the medicos we encountered there.

It's happened again...

For all my readers, all one or two of you, it's happened again.

1) Job Change
Apparently I must mean something to someone, because they wanted me ASAP. I couldn't even get a week off from leaving old role into new one. Finished on a Friday, and started the following Monday.

Fortunately the skills I've acquired over the last 4-ish years have got me up to a reasonable canter in the new job.

Big pluses, so far, is no more not getting paid for >40hr week efforts, and far more supportive colleagues/management so far.


2) Another Cruise
Still across the Pacific, but this time from Vancouver to Auckland. 

This was booked in March, asked about in the new role interview, and not an issue. The only problem for me will be negative leave when I get back.

New places to visit, experience and photograph. Better & cheaper internet so less reliance on free wi-fi, and more frequent food pics to torment readers with.

Hopefully not so long between entries next time.

It's Christmas and it's happening again...

Another Christmas and again we're off on another cruise around the south-west pacific.

This time next week my partner & I will be very near boarding on 2 weeks out of Sydney, first stop New Caledonia, port hopping around Fiji, & back to Sydney.

The good thing about cruising at holiday time is that the boat ain't full of OAPs waiting to pop their corks or looking for a senior fling.

The bad thing is that there's plenty of families & their offspring.
Gone are the days when you could actually bring the bad behaviour to the attention of the parents, & a clip around the ears would resolve the issue. Now days imps can literally get away with murder because touching them will be a breach of universal law. Actions don't matter & consequences of bad actions ain't a thing to these entitled little toads.

Anyways, hopefully it'll be a fair & fun time full of new experiences, and a break to relax from an interesting work year.

Happy holidays to all. If you're not holidaying then make the most of whatever you're planning to do.