We managed to join the Tuesday walk and breakfast in the park with John and Brian (another Brian, how confusing!).

John has been referred to by half the village as stubbornly (or stupidly) or fiercely independent, and so he is. All we have actually been allowed to do for him is put the suitcase back into the loft. He has driven the car, been shopping walked to and from the station, and pub. Had an exercise bike delivered which he constructed and has been using to rebuild his leg muscles and so on.... We have seen a fair bit of him, lunch at the pub, Sunday club, and today train to Barnt Green for the traditional Tuesday breakfast sandwich. We walked back, while he got the train back as the first bit of the walk is uphill, so he is being a bit sensible! He does however look better and better, each time we see him, which is fantastic.

Outside Warwick's in Barnt Green, the place for take-away breakfasts. Our first visit, but Tuesday breakfasts coupled with a walk is a tradition for John and Brian and often a few others, so we had to sample it. Very nice it was too!

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day, which we don’t normally pay much attention to, so when Helen had asked a while ago if we’d like to double date, as a surprise for Ian, I’d been noncommittal, not knowing our plans. Realising we would be free I messaged, only to find she’d organised to meet Manu and Crystal. We too had arranged to meet M&C on Tuesday, till I realised it was Valentine’s, so I’d put them off till Wednesday! All very confusing, but a great excuse for an impromptu ‘Tuesday’ tea club. Crystal excelled herself and we enjoyed a fabulous meal.

The table under the bird feeder is really meant for ground feeding birds, not for next doors cat to lie in wait for unsuspecting birds. She's a cute cat though

Tuesday, also, was the day the car had gone back to the garage, hopefully for the last time. They’d leant Brian a car, but we still expected it back before Friday! I went over with him to collect it, just for the ride. We got in it, the airbag light wasn’t flashing, hurrah, however, the fog lights still weren’t working! Having left with the words “in the nicest possible way, we hope to never see you again” she was quite surprised when we walked back in. What we thought was going to take ages, and be a real pain, actually was quite quick, they changed the new stalks for the old stalks, and all the old features reappeared!

On top of Burton Dassett hills on a reasonably clear day with great views

Friday was my old works Comms Balti. 15 of us met up, of whom only 2 still work for Comms, with another 3 working elsewhere for the BBC. It’s great being old and retired!

There's more than one hill so, of course, we had to walk to the top of each one

We went for a nice little walk over the Burton Dassett Hills on Sunday, returning just in time to collect mother and walk down to the village for afternoon tea. (here's our short video of the walk with more photos: click here)Very civilised on a lovely sunny Sunday. Monday we went out with Abi to the amazing Indian restaurant, the Mughal E Azam, just round the corner from her. The building is an old church, but completely blinged up inside, with lovely food, and a great atmosphere. We’ve been before, but then they stopped serving the public, just being a banqueting venue, which was very disappointing. It’s lovely that they’ve gone back to being a restaurant and we had a thoroughly good evening. We even got back to join Monday Club for an hour online, so a full evening!

Heading down off one to go up another, over there to the right

Today, up early to go to Barnt Green for breakfast, walk back, then take mum shopping, while Brian gave the hedge a haircut! Looking forward to pancakes later, yum! The only other thing of note that has happened is Brian has had just over £1000 deposited in his bank account from British Airways after our delayed flight returning from the USA just before Christmas. As the total return price was only just over £1200 we are very happy with this! Obviously we’ve already spent it on the cruise, but that’s ok!

Its a small horse (obviously) but of more note is the mainly blue sky, shadows and relative warmth for a February day in England. Spring is just around the corner!

We don't normally put photos of food on here, but this was one of the starters in the splendid Mughal e Azam restaurant and it is a little different to say the least. What we are looking at here is called Hariyali Murgh Tikka and they are pieces of chicken marinated in mint and corriander leaves with a blend of aromatic spice powders, cooked over a chargrill. It was delicious but looked a bit weird and when cut through looked a bit like an avocado, I suppose because of the marination. Interesting and nicely presented food

Another 5km Parkrun at Arrow Valley last Saturday and another average result! Ah well, at least I'm getting out there! 28min:09sec, 5th in my age category, could be worse!

Our six day luxury cruise of the Norwegian Fjords

All poshed up and ready for an evening show in the cruise ship theatre

As was to be expected packing took a ridiculous amount of time. More time, clothes and luggage for six days than three months in the USA! A fairly relaxed start to Sunday as the drive to Southampton, is surprisingly short, just over 2 hours, though obviously we had to build in some ‘just in case time’! Balanced with the 15 minutes of check in time we’d been allocated, but “don’t arrive early or you may be turned away”! That was the only irritating thing as when we arrived, bang on time, they were all twiddling their thumbs so we could probably have boarded much earlier! It was however remarkably smooth, we’d barely watched the safety video and our luggage had been delivered!

On the viewing deck at Southampton just as we departed

We went out for a little explore and found ourselves outside on the viewing deck, just as we pulled away from the dock, what timing, better pop in to the Observatory bar for an embarkation drink then! A quick change, and into dinner for 18.15, though not before a lady had grabbed me on leaving the bar to tell me how much she liked my outfit. What a very nice thing to do.

Evening meal onboard with our waiter Raimart, who took very good care of us

Our waiters introduced themselves and promised to take good care of us, which they really did, though I’m not sure I can get used to being ‘Madam Jacqueline’ I could get used to being waited on and being brought delicious food. The theatre for the evening show was the other end of the ship, so a gentle walk from aft to fore took us through most of the public areas, the piano bar, the ballroom dancing floor, where we couldn’t help but have a little spin. The library where I immediately borrowed a book and so on to the theatre. A welcome introduction show, with the entertainment manager, and 10 song and dance performers. Think we are going to enjoy this!

Attending a cookery demonstration in the Auditorium

Monday was a day at sea, though this didn’t mean we could relax, at 10.00 I had a cookery demonstration, though I had to drop mum off at the craft room for her painting class, while Brian went to a geology talk about the fjords. We all met up again in the Observatory lounge for a social foxtrot dance class. This however was too well attended for the space, and far too painful for Brian! We took the opportunity later for him to whisk me round for a practice waltz, foxtrot and quickstep when no one else was in the way. Oh well, off to the buffet for lunch. This is the ‘dangerous’ meal as although dinner could be 5 courses if you wanted the portions are all a sensible size, lunch, and to some extent breakfast you can eat and eat! Not to mention afternoon tea, and that if you go to a cookery demonstration you get a sample. There is lots of food available! 

Captain Glavic introducing his senior crew with his characteristic dry humour

Monday was also our formal evening beginning with a cocktail event hosted by the Captain Jozo Glavic, a Croatian with a very dry sense of humour. Between dinner and the theatre we stopped for a short while in the piano bar where a lady leapt to her feet to complement mum on her pink sequin top. One of her new buys. So that’s two of us had unsolicited comments, very good for the ego.

In our finest for our formal dinner

Tuesday our first port day in Bergen, though with a gentle start, our excursion wasn’t till after lunch. A bus ride round Bergen followed by a trip up the funicular railway. Disembarking wasn’t like our experience on our repositioning cruise, it was very civilised, sadly that was the best thing about the trip! The PA on the bus was horrendous making the guide completely unintelligible. I finally convinced him to hold the microphone at about chest height which made him quiet, but just about comprehendable if you concentrated really hard. Turned out this wasn’t necessarily a good thing, he had a very strange view of what was appropriate commentary. The driver appeared to get lost early on, which didn’t fill anyone with confidence, and actually the city wasn’t that exciting in the rain. It was still raining and cloudy when we went up the funicular so there wasn’t a view, so all in all a bit of a rubbish trip! Before we had got round to filling in the comments form however other people had been quicker off the mark, their comments had been listened to and more than half the money had been refunded to our onboard accounts. Very impressed by this response, just a shame they couldn’t have sorted out the visibility too!

Our cabin

Our second shore excursion, on Wednesday was much better, we were in Flåm at the end of the longest and deepest fjord. We were going on a ‘mini cruise’ deep into the fjord for some lovely scenery. The weather was much better, though it did rain a little as we disembarked for a few minutes. The snow on the ground here was much more what I’d been hoping for, though it was rain falling from the sky, and it was nowhere near as cold as we’d expected. Don’t need the ski salopettes then! We weren’t back in time for lunch, which we knew, so we’d taken a little something from breakfast, but never worry, afternoon tea will soon be served! As we left the city to start our journey back down the fjord the water was absolutely flat calm. Hard to believe the warnings that by dinner when we were back in the open sea we were going to have 5m waves! The worst of the sea state didn’t happen till about 5 am so we were all ok, safely tucked up in our beds.

Some of the sparkly bits of the ship

It had calmed by the time we arrived at The third port, on Thursday, Stavanger where we hadn’t booked a trip. We spent a good couple of hours walking through the town, looking at the street art, an amazing wool shop, the lake where a mum provided much entertainment feeding the birds! Back to the ship, for lunch, through the very picturesque old town, where I managed to get my cat fix, so really all was good! The weather had been variable, two downpours and sun, and hail, but hey, we are not made of sugar. Brian and I decided to go on deck as we left harbour, but it was too cold, we’ll go into the gym then, the view from there is fab. There was a little open area from there which was much more sheltered. There was also stairs down to bridge level, I snuck halfway down to spy into the bridge only to find myself face to face with the captain. He waved, which I thought was nice, but then unlocked the door so we could have a chat! He seems a genuinely nice man, respected by his crew and caring for both them and his passengers.

Afternoon tea with a sea view. We just had the one scone, trying to be good, but you could have any number along with other cakes, sandwiches and other goodies. And this was just the afternoon between a huge choice of food for lunch and evening dinner

Another warning that the sea state was going to worsen, earlier this time, and sure enough, just as we were sitting down to dinner, it really did! Our lovely waiter, Raymart, still provided us with great service and introduced us to his girlfriend, who works in another area in the restaurant, so at least they are together for their 8 months at sea. Unlike our assistant waiter who was married in December and back on the ship for 8 months 1 month later! The entertainment tonight was a one man show by the assistant entertainment manager, Anthony, who really was very talented, very funny, and singing and drumming! The sea state had calmed by about 2am allowing us to enjoy our last sea day, and mums birthday. Again a busy day with cooking, talks, crafting and eating. We had been good at lunches, until, Friday when I couldn’t resist the seafood buffet, a pile of lobster, prawns, clams and mussels! Dinner, as they had all been, was lovely, rounded off with a Birthday cake and singing by waiters and guitarist!

Another evening, another outfit. And there's our housekeeper, who kept our rooms spotless, turning down the bed each evening, replenishing the coffee for the morning, leaving a chocolate on the bed and delivering the daily newsletter with information on the following days activities

The last nights entertainment was right up our street, numbers from the musicals performed by the company of ten. We had three shows from them, a comedian, the one man show, and a stringed instrument whizz who played everything from eukelele to violin. Didn’t think we’d go to, or enjoy all of them, but we did, and did.

A spin round the dance floor. Brian with Pauline dancing a waltz. No photos of Jackie and me dancing though

Disembarkation was as smooth as boarding, leave luggage outside the room as you go to bed, up for breakfast, out of the room by 08.00, wait in the lounge till your luggage tag colour was called. We were off before 09.00 and home just after 11.00!

Pauline being serenaded on her birthday with a birthday cake

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we were impressed by the staff, the food, the ship, everything. The ship (The Bolette) wasn’t new, though new to Fred Olsen, seemed beautifully maintained, we never had to queue for lifts which appeared to take no time between 9 decks, without leaving your stomachs behind. There was plenty of space to sit in all sorts of different areas, service was great, and so many smiles from all the staff who couldn’t seem to do enough for you. We loved the opportunity to dress up, so did, every night. It’s all been a shame to come home with a bump!

Getting off the ship on Tuesday morning in Bergen, Norway

Saturday we arrived home just after 11.00, as I said, unpacked, did two loads of washing, and returned bags, clothes and shoes to the loft. Pop round to John’s to look at the heating installation, and wash our bedding that we hadn’t wanted to leave in the way of the plumbers. Went shopping and popped back to hang the washing and feed the birds, only to find that Geraldine had been in with all the stuff from the storage garage which was quite creepy, but very very helpful. Sunday after a lie in we returned to put all the china, crystal and diy stuff back where we had moved it from. The cleaner is coming in today, and John comes home tomorrow. We still don’t know what help he will need, what he thinks he can do and what Helen thinks he can do are not the same thing, we know he needs his own space, but we don’t want him doing too much. Just going to have to wait and see!

The approaching funicular that will take us to the top of the mountain

We held out very faint hopes of a view from the top, but this was about the only view we got about halfway up before disappearing into the clouds

The view from the top. Funnily enough, I've got lots of views very similar to this on the top of many mountains!

There was a photo opportunity up there though with a Trogg

Our second stop in Flåm and there's our super ship The Bolette as we left on our much smaller electric ferry to take us along part of the Sognefjord to Stalheim

The scenery along the longest and deepest fjord was always spectacular

Fabulous waterfalls (this ones the Laegdafossen, the top part frozen. The ferry went right up to it for a close-up view)

More spectacular scenery. Did you know, fjords are all formed by glacial action, hence the characteristic 'U' shape. The cliffs rise almost vertically, sometimes overhanging, to some 1500m high, and continue downwards to about 1000m below the water level. Imagine the energy within a moving glacier, powered only by gravity. that can gouge out rock and transport it several hundred km out to sea

Our evening departure from Flåm on The Bolette on a beautifully calm Sognefjord

With an almost perfect reflection in the water. A perfect end to a lovely visit

Out on deck in fairly cold weather (but all wrapped up) as we cruised gently along. Our captain had warned up that rough seas in the North Sea awaited us, so make the most of the sheltered fjord

My phone app confirmed it. That's a 5.1m swell predicted as we exit Sognefjord into the North Sea. In fact the Captain told us later that the waves were up to 7m at times with a wind of 90k/h

We took this video through our cabin window of the raging sea outside. I've cut it down to 10 seconds just to give a feel of it. Click the triangle in the centre to start

Our third stop in Stavanger, a lovely old town that was crying out to be explored

The sign says it all, but Pauline doesn't care, she's covered it with a new hat!

Street art. It looks a really warn hat Pauline (and so it should be the price she paid for it - everything is expensive in Norway)

Someone regretting feeding the birds at the lake. They were mobbed even as they walked away as they all followed them

Our ship waiting for us in the port at Stavanger

But there's cat stroking to be done first!

And more old town to walk round

There's the tug waiting to pull us clear so the captain can wind up the engines and propel us out. When Jackie had her chat with the captain on the bridge he told us that, because of the narrow channel on exit he needed to power the ship up the full speed to get through, so the currents wouldn't affect the direction of the ship. Good job he knows what he's doing! We did indeed exit at speed

We're pulled clear and you can just see the swell at the back as the engines power us away. It was another bumpy night as we re-entered the North Sea, but this time at about 6:00pm, just as we went to dinner. Walking around without holding on was impossible, but Reimart, our waiter, served us perfectly as usual, despite us hearing a number of crashes as some dinners hit the floor as the ship pitched in the swell. Holding onto our wine glasses was our priority. How will the show go tonight? Very well, actually, despite the stage curtains swinging from side to side as Anthony's one man show continued flawlessly

The weather calmed down as we headed south towards the Straits of Dover, allowing us to enjoy lunch in calm seas

It all went by in a flash, the sign of an enjoyable holiday, and we were back in Southampton with great memories. Having been a 'I'm never going cruising' person and going with low expectations, I have returned admitting I really enjoyed it and would, in all probability do another trip. Maybe we chose a good one, Fred Olsen cruises we'd never heard of before, but with their smaller ships, attention to detail, superb food and a genuinely caring attitude, we may have started with the best. Dare we consider any other companies?

Back home in Alvechurch village, our thoughts turned back to our friend John who's house we looked after while he had a major operation, and we took apart so a complete new central heating system could be installed while we were away. We returned on Sunday to put it back together again so he could return on Tuesday to an undisturbed, but now nice warm house with a reliable heating system. Jackie managed to fold his towels into a penguin and leave it on his bed. Those days helping our friends Si and Cassie in the French ski resort do a chalet change over have finally paid off! 

John's got a lot of old photos on his wall and I couldn't resist copying a few of them. This one is from 21 years ago and is my first meeting of John, there with the sledgehammer, and Pauline, Jackies mum, just pulling that weed, Jackie poking her head through between us. We'd just removed an old shed in Pauline's garden, not long after she'd moved into the village

And I couldn't resist this one taken well before I met Jackie. There she is on the left and, you can see, she's not always been as slim as she is today. John's there in the middle and Pat, another friend from the village on the right (Jackie might not thank me for putting this one on, I may be in trouble!)

He's even got one of our wedding on his wall. Sarah, his wife and Jackies very good friend, who sadly died a couple of years ago is over on the left in brown with the  hat on

John loves the wild birds, so I made sure we kept all his bird feeders filled while he's been away. This little robin certainly appreciated it (but so did the squirrels who also gorged on the sunflower seeds!)