My Northern Adventure.

Last week I had my first taste of life aboard a cruise ship. I went to work in "wardrobe" on The Queen Victoria which is one of the Cunard liners. She sailed out from Southampton and crossed the North Sea to Goteburg, Copenhagen and Hamburg. Previously I have only ever sailed yachts and in October this year sailed close by one of these monstrous gin palaces in Corfu old town. I told myself to reserve any judgements and to look at it all as an interesting new experience.

I did try and photograph this to give an idea of scale, but have managed to lose all perspective. It's about the size of Northampton Bus Station, but fortunately doesnt cater for the same type of Customer. I was part of a team which instal the shows and work with the singers and dancers. Most of the work is altering outfits, mending,repairing and maintaining the costumes. I took this photo in Goteburg when I left the ship to buy some black trousers for one of the singers.

We went to Copenhagen, which is an absolutely beautiful city and reminded me a lot of Amsterdam. This cruise was primarily for the Xmas markets. Although we worked the contracted hours and sometimes stayed in the cabin unpicking into all ungodly hours, we still had time for a swifty whistlestop visit for photos and cake.

On the first evening we went for a stroll around Goteburg, visited a Supermarket for mayonnaise (because you cant buy it in this country!) and Glogg a spiced mulled wine. We visited a bar and paid sixteen pounds for half a beer and a bottle of beer. I know that a lot of my friends had complained about the price of alcohol in Sweden but I was truly stupified. Truly. These were the Xmas windows of a wonderful store in Copenhagen.

This was home for the week. The theatre was lovely out front.

And just a little cramped behind stage. The singers put their make up on here when I wasn't sewing. I sewed inwards facing the mirror and there are no windows. Not the best place to be when crossing the North Sea and it's rougher than a bear's arse. Which probably explains why I decorated the carpet on the second day. (I took my tablets after that)It hasn't put me off though and Ill be back out there in Jan.