Wow, long time, no post.

Much has happened and yet so little has changed.

Some 7 or 8 years ago, I had a triple bypass. It was a good result but I was left in no doubt that it was a remedy, not a "cure"; my time is limited. That meant I and Dearly Beloved are even more determined to do and see things ... before I "cark it".

Last year, I got a crappy mosquito-transmitted virus from Bali that knocked me down for 9 months (Chikungunya). I was cactus.. But we planned a holiday anyway for the end of the year, hoping I'd be better. Fortunately, I was.

Our holiday was two cruises, back-to-back. The first was with Princess: Mediterranean to Gibraltar, Funchal and then to Hamilton and finishing in Fort Lauderdale. At one stage it had 6 days at sea. It was SUPERB! Anyone who says "Oh what would I do?" or "I'd get bored" shouldn't be on a cruise. There is simply no better way to turn off. You just have to relax. The Pacific Princess is quite small (750+ passengers) but a stable, supremely comfortable ship; we loved it.

For Christmas we were in New York city. Forget everything you've heard about arrogant, foul-mouthed, don't-give-a-shit New Yorkers. The people ... all of them ... were unfailingly polite and helpful. Christmas lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria was so nice ... even if my credit card did go into meltdown! (US$362 -- really??)

From there it was back to Rome to catch up with our much-loved sister-in-law and brother-in-law from America, and another Med cruise on the Norwegian Jade. Yes, she's a b-i-g ship with a lot of people ... but in all honesty, you don't really notice it. We loved every second.

A couple of days in our favourite city -- Rome -- and then back to Perth and in to work the next day. Mistake! We were zombies for the next two days ...

So ... a week after getting home, we were looking at our next holiday :-D And it's on ... 21 days Scandinavia/Iberia on Holland America, a week "somewhere" (probably around Lake Como) and then a 7-day Greek cruise with, again, our favourite travelling companions ... s-i-l and b-i-l.

So, the poor old bike's been neglected, relegated to the back of the garage, That's partially because we bought a "new" car (new to us), an immaculate Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDi turbo and we'd like to keep the paint "nice".

Trying to fit everything in ... including work, which grows more and ever more onerous ... is wearing extremely thin. At this time of life, I'm working harder than I ever have done before.

That just doesn't seem right.

OK, roll on September ... and we're already looking at next year. We know St Petersburg is on the list, but have no idea where else. :-D