a or u

Because of Storm Floris, it would not be safe to berth at Skagen, the next port on the itinerary. The captain announced the name of the replacement port and TSH and Diva heard it as Kristiansund. a port they are familiar with, but which is north of Bergen. Diva became concerned that the return journey would be long and that the Spirit of Discovery would arrive late in Dover, with consequences for their arrival time at home. When the written program arrived, they discovered that the call would be to Kristiansand, which is on the outskirts of Oslo and not a huge diversion for the return to Dover. 

For most of the journey, the seas have been so calm that it was not always obvious that the ship was moving. That all changed on the rocky journey to Kristiansand, so they took precautionary stugeron and the steward tied down the balcony chairs. The sail past 'Hamlet's castle' was just before dinner, so Diva was able to recite part of Horatio's speech, with TSH playing the minor role of Hamlet. 

The shower door failed again. Fortunately TSH is a keen observer and a quick learner, so he was able to perform the trick with the door seal without involving the steward. 

In Kristiansand, they intended to go into the town on the shuttle bus but because there were no tours at this hastily arranged stop, the queues were very long and they decided to stay onboard the Spirit of Discovery. 

Mistakes

The excursion in Skagen was interesting for being full of the unexpected. The first visit was to a falconry display. It was partly performed on horseback, which neither TSH or Diva had witnessed before. To the consternation of the falconers, the golden eagle dived into the thick vegetation surrounding the pond. Knowing that it would not be able to take off from such a position, all of the falconers raced to the spot. One of them eventually emerged holding the bird, which appeared slightly less drenched than he did himself.

The next part of the unexpected was caused by Diva speed reading the excursion description. It was advertised as the Råbjerg Mile, and she picked out words like 'birds', 'dune' and 'migratory'. So she was all ready for a mile of sand dunes named after someone called Råbjerg and full of migrating birds. Turns out 'Råbjerg Mile' is Danish for 'migrating sand dune', it is the sand dune itself which is changing position because of the wind and there are no migrating birds at this time of year. TSH climbed the dune to see more sand.

TSH, the retired super-accountant, caused great consternation for the laundry master by putting one number of shirts in the bag and another number on the paperwork. Creative accountancy habits die hard! His excuse is that he is very busy booking excursions for the cruise in September. And somebody in India emails him most days to try to get him to buy a steam engine!!