Sitting in my garden office, smarting about the ‘zero hours’ clause the company I’m contracting for slipped in to my latest renewal, giving them the option, which they have exercised, of cutting me to one or two days a week.


But hey, at least I’m still working, and it’s all pocket money now anyway.

What I’m smarting about a bit more though, is that I should be sipping a cocktail in Walvis Bay, Namibia about now, with eleven days of our 99-day world cruise on the Cunard Queen Mary 2 left to go. But COVID-19 said it was not to be, and we were part of a mass (enforced) exodus from the ship in Fremantle, Australia, with a 32-hour journey home by plane(s). With a short layover in Doha, though we didn’t see anyone from Homeland there....

We’ve just come out of our 14-day self-isolation, and are pleased to have eluded the virus. So far, anyway; out of self-isolation and into lockdown and social distancing. Crossed fingers, and who knew the visor I got in case my strimmer kicked up stones in the garden would come in so useful?

But all praise to Cunard, who, while they had to massively disrupt our cruise, kept the ship entirely free of the virus, and when it became clear that even so, future ports weren’t going to accept us, booked and paid for our travel homeward, a few days before even flying was to get locked down.

So for some good value of lucky, in the circumstances we’ve been very lucky, I guess.

Roy
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