Going Home not alarmed..(unlike Euston!!)

---

---

The day of disembarkation. The blurbstated that all staterooms must be vacated by 8am. Now in normal circumstances we would comply but so far I have failed to mention anything specific about our cabin steward. He never properly introduced himself on day 1 so, for some reason, we decided to call him ‘Reg'. It seemed as good a name as any and, after all, his name DID begin with the letter ‘R'!! A good cabin steward will familiarise him or herself with their guest's eating patterns and clean/tidy the room, make the bed, clean the bathroom and refresh the towels and toilet paper when the guest is at breakfast and turn the bed down whilst the guest is at dinner. On previous cruises, we have left the cabin and headed for the breakfast buffet or dining room at, say 9am and then returned to our cabin by, say 9:40 to a clean cabin, and freshly made bed. Not our Reg. We would go for breakfast. No sign of his trolley in the hallway. Comeback from breakfast. Out for the morning. Come back before going for lunch and then return to our cabin AFTER lunch. The cabin would still be unmade. I spoke to other passengers who told us that their cabins are cleaned early morning. I confronted Reg one morning. He has 24 staterooms to manage and only occasionally has an assistant. Either he has too many cabins or desperately needs help. Although I wasn't being confrontational (or offering to help!!) and approached him in more of a ‘just as a matter of interest' sort of a way, he knew what I was insinuating and apologised for the tardiness of his work. It was inconvenient at times as we couldn't sit on our balcony until our cabin was ‘done' as Reg wouldn't clean the room while we were there despite us saying it was OK. The cabin steward is also responsible for delivering news, leaflets and important information. However, Reg must not have realised this aspect of his job as some news items never made it to our cabin such as the availability of a shuttle bus in Aqaba. On this occasion, tickets had to be booked the evening before arrival in Jordan. We only found out about the shuttle bus tickets from friends. For all the above reasons, Roisin and I decided NOT to vacate our room by 8am as Reg wouldn't show his face by noon when we'll be long gone. We didn't complain as this was just a minor inconvenience. This is the first time in 11 attempts that our cabin steward has been more slippy that the Scarlet Pimpernel!! We did however make a note on the customary feedback form. These forms are used in the crews' annual appraisal. I'm sure his line manager will have words with him…if he can be found!!!

The ship arrived in to Genoa at shortly after 8:45 so we watched the sailing in to port from our cabin balcony. We then had to wait in the Broadway Theatre until our colour was called. On disembarkation we would then be reunited with our luggage that would be grouped according to colour. We met Jim and Margaret and agreed to share a taxi to the airport. ‘Yellow' was due to be paged at 09:30. This should give us plenty of time to get to the airport by 11am, the required 2 hours before scheduled departure.

By 9:50am, no one official had even entered the Theatre and we were already at least 45 minutes behind schedule. Roisin walked out of the theatre and 5 minutes later returned and whispered to Margaret who immediately beckoned Jim to get up. I followed suit and we traipsed out of the Theatre on to the deck and toward the exit. Apparently Roisin had challenged one of the crew who apologised that we were running late. After Roisin had explained that we were promised to be one of the first off the ship due to an early flight, the crew member advised us that the gangway is down and we can disembark immediately. Roisin had tried to candidly relay this information to Margaret in the Theatre as she didn'twant to start a stampede!!!

The taxi fare to the airport cost €30 equal to €15 each couple. As the airport but would have cost €6 each, for an extra €3, this was by far the most convenient mode of transport to the airport.

The flight was on time; a British Airways A319. The seating plan is a 3-3. We were seated in the middle seat and aisle seat of the emergency exit row. As the flight was fully booked. (so much so, those who had booked their flights as part of the package with MSC were being bussed to Nice airport, 2 hours drive away) it was inevitable that we would have someone sitting next to use in the window seat. This happened to be a Lady who had just returned from a cruise with P & O that had disembarked the same day as the Lirica. She had travelled as part of a party made us of her husband and grown up son and daughter as well as her sister-in-law and brother. The sister in law had paid for everyone as part of the 50^th birthday treat for her husband!! The ladies daughter was sitting in the aisle seat immediately in front of our row. Just before take-off, we advised her that we were willing to swap seats in order that she and her daughter could sit together but she wouldn't hear of it!! If we knew what we'd have to endure for the next 1hour 50 minutes we would have been more insistent. (‘hands around the neck' kind of insistent!!!)

The mystery lady was Asian by descent and a 1^st generation immigrant who has been living in the UK for over 30 years. She used to be a solicitor but was struck off the register by the Law Society for minor irregularities. It must have been a hell of a minor irregularity!! She never went in to detail which is surprising as she seemed to go in to detail about every other aspect of her private life!! Reading between the lines her misdemeanour sounded like a misappropriation of funds by using clients' cash for a private expenses, forging signatures of colleagues and falsifying documents. Just another everyday white collar crime! It didn't take Einstein to come to this conclusion as she kept on wittering about others who had committed these deeds. It sounded so much like sour grapes, the fact t that she got caught!! I learned all this with my eyes shut pretending to be asleep!! I was in the middle seat and the lady had struck up the conversation with Roisin. I couldn't very well read whilst they were both talking across me and Roisin had made it clear from the signals that she didn't want to swap seats!! As I didn't want to be drawn in to the conversation as I'm sure I'd say things I'd regret, the only other option left open to me was to act like a dog and play dead!!!

1hr 57 mins later we were on our way to the luggage carousel, without looking back having left the ex-solicitor in our wake!

Taking the Gatwick Express to Victoria and a taxi across London we arrived at the final leg of our journey, Euston train station.

We started this journey in the luxury of the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class lounge in Gatwick and we were now finishing our vacation in the virgin first class lounge at Euston Railway station. As first class ‘off-peak' rail travel is much cheaper than ‘peak' first class air travel, this lounge was somewhat busier. However, we still managed to first a couple of spare desks with power points and settled down with our refreshments to await the boarding of our train whilst taking advantage of the lounge's free wi-fi!!

We had been in the lounge for about 25 minutes when a loud continuous bleep started to emanate from the series of speakers placed strategically around the lounge. The annoying bleep was overlaid with a recorded female voice: ‘Due to a reported emergency, all passengers must leave the station immediately. Follow the instructions of the staff.' On leaving the lounge and walking across the station concourse, this message was being replayed through the whole building. Although the message asked us to follow the instructions of the staff, we didn't actually see any staff to seek further instructions from! Several thousand people made their way through all the major exits while this annoying message repeated over and over again, like some sort of brainwashing technique borrowed from a 1960's cold war spy movie!!

All several thousand of us stood immediately outside the main entrance awaiting further announcements. There was a buzz around the place (as well as that annoying alarm!!) Many people had mobile phones wielded to their ears, probably speaking to loved ones or mates. Anything for a bit of drama! Roisin and I overheard one ‘nob' on his mobile starting the rumour that there has been a bomb scare. Way to go dick!! A sure fire way to start a mass panic. Speaking of fire……!!!!

A policeman pushed his way through the crowd and stepping on to a small wall so he rose above the anticipating travellers, he asked for everyone's attention. He explained how there was a car on fire in the basement and the fire service are dealing with it. The crowd immediately started to chatter among themselves. ‘As soon as I have more information I will let you know. In the mean time I would be grateful if you could wait a little longer. Alternatively',‘ he raised a finger, turned, and pointed behind him, ‘there's a bus stop over there!!! Don't let me stop you!!' Was that his poor attempt at humour.

20 minutes later, the crowd, which had swelled in number due to the arrival of more travellers, our Policeman friend once again took centre stage. ‘Settle down! Settle down!' he started. ‘How are we all doing?' Great we have the only member of the Greater London constabulary with his very own stand-up routine!!

‘I've just received this message', he continued not waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question. ‘The good news is the car is no longer on fire, the bad news is that the rest of the station is!! No only joking. We are just trying to rid the station of the smoke. As soon as we think we have cleared the smoke and the alarm stops, it starts up again. The alarm has to be reset As soon as this is done, we'll let you all back inside.' The Policeman stepped down from his makeshift rostrum and walked he way through the crowd, his head slightly bowed and his hands raised half-heartedly above his head as if his was awaiting for applause that never came.

10 minutes later, a peaked black and white checked cap appears once again. Above the bustle of the crowd a voice shouts: ‘Can I have your attention. Here's one for you…' Since when do policemen start public announcements as if they're going to tell a joke!! ‘The alarm has stopped several times but then starts up again. They're trying to reset the alarm but every time they do there must still be smoke present because it goes off again'. Just as he said that the alarm stopped.

‘It's stopped now, can we go back in?' said an anonymous voice from the crowd. Wow! I thought. It's only been a relatively short time since he has been doing this ‘gig' and already he has developed his own heckler!!!

‘Until the alarm has stopped for more than 20 seconds we can't let you in…but the pubs and bars are still open!!' said the Policeman with an immediate come back! Sure enough the siren started once more and that dulcet monotone announcement: ‘Due to a reported emergency…'

‘I thank you,' The Policeman took a bow and departed stage left. That was the last time we ever saw the full time policeman/part time entertainer on that balmy spring evening. He must have had a better offer from another London train station or perhaps even a hostage situation where his extraordinary methods in public order control would go down a bomb (no pun intended) although it wouldn't surprise me that if he found himself in that situation he wouldn't hesitate to use that pun in his material!!

Within 10 minutes, the shutter opened and once the shop workers and rail staff were back at their posts, we, the passengers, were let back in. Despite have been outside for almost an hour, and some trains, in that time had been cancelled, our train still departed on time for the 2 hour journey back to Cheshire.

So, reflection time. The Middle East is a fascinating part of the world. Although there is a distinct presence of western society and commerce, you get the feeling that these Countries are successfully holding on to their culture and customs with great pride. Our few days in Dubai were memorable. We managed to visit places we had not seen before and our first encounter with the dancing shepherds will never be forgotten considering these folk are shown on every cruise programme that advertises Dubai and the Middle East. The weather was as expected. Very hot and dry but not uncomfortable. The Red Sea was not as windy as the last time. They say that it is never the same once you return for a second time. That's true. Very true. But what they don't tell you is that by opening your eyes you see different thing making the whole experience memorable and enjoyable for different reasons. We met some really lovely people which we hope to remain in contact with and I finally bought of the cherished resin and lit a charcoal stick and waited!! It wasn't long before the room became somewhat foggy and thick cloud obscured my vision of the TV!! If it wasn't for the characteristic aroma of the frankincense, I could have been was half way up Mount Vesuvius again!!

Our next cruise is scheduled for September to Croatia, Montenegro and then the Black Sea. 2 of the scheduled ports are Yalta (in the Crimea) and Odessa (still part of the Ukraine – only just!!!) Somehow me thinks the itinerary might be a changin'!!

---