(no subject)

It rained last night.
Not really a problem in the normal realm of things
only
today it's very foggy
I'm supposed to go out on a sailing ship at noon.
It's got 2.5 hours to clear up.
I don't know if the cruise will be on or not
I'll go anyway seeing as i've paid for it
I guess it'll be fun
even if i can't see a blessed thing off the boat!
Crew should be dressed up as pirates and they are encouraging us to as well
Me?
No.
There's a bar on board. Door prizes (Work organized it).
I'll know many of the people going on it so i suppose it'll be fun regardless.
Sun is too much to ask for at this point in time. But being able to see the shore would be nice.

Ahoy Matey

Cruise was on even though it was so foggy you could barely see the shore! I did take some pics and did a bit of processing on them so you can actually make out what's there and near the end of the cruise we were closer to shore so you can see a bit better.

I got over there a bit early and walked around a little, took a couple of photos but then... disaster! My batteries died. Now, on the way over, the batteries that were in the camera died but i had what i thought were fresh ones so i was ok. Only they weren't fresh or had lost their charge at some point. I went into the big gift shop on the waterfront. They had batteries but there were two customers in front of me. One was waffling between two wall hangings and haggling because both of them had tiny little nicks on the frame and the staff was saying they don't do discounts for that because they'll still be able to sell them to someone else. She waffled and ummed and then they had to wrap what she wanted because there was no box... and.... and... well, you get the picture. The lady in front of me had some breakable items too so that was another wrap job and i had to be to the quay for the departure very soon. Off i went to try a couple of the other small gift shops and one of the shops in the small mall. NOBODY had freaking batteries. During the TALL SHIPS festival!!!! I thought i might get one or two photos out of the batteries i had. I did ask a few people on board but they didn't and i asked one of the crew and no, they didn't sell them. Five minutes later she came over and said she'd found some below deck and gave them to me!! What a nice thing to do! I thought i'd have to be careful to preserve them because i thought they'd get used up quicker but they did a fine job.

About 3/4 way through, on the way back to dockside, four people were allowed to fire off one of the small cannons. They asked me and i said Oh yes!! The onlookers didn't use my camera but one lady was taking pictures and another was taking video so if it turns out ok, i'll have that. The lady next to me that fired off the next gun squealed... It seemed like after her gun went off, there was a lot of bits and pieces floating through the air. I don't know if it was something inside the gun... though i don't think so because i didn't notice mine did that, but it wasn't an actual cannon ball either. Anyway she thought she'd shot a seagull and was horrified. Looking over the side at the water, you can see why she thought that. All the debris, that might have been from a cardboard box or something, was grey and white and the right colour for Seagull bits and feathers. I don't know what it was but it hadn't been alive, we determined that.

So yes, we didn't have great views and they didn't put up the sail but there was munchies and a bar. The crew were all dressed like pirates, too, with the captain and mate looking the best. We had a good time anyway though right after we fired off the guns, the heavens opened up and everyone squeezed into the small area below deck. It only lasted about 10 minutes tops. We went back up on the deck and though it was still spitting and raining just a little, it wasn't so bad and we were heading in to dock a bit early anyway. Nice thing was, they gave everyone 2 for 1 vouchers to return later in the summer when the weather was better. :) Nice gesture, eh?

Since the rain was off and on, i came home. Mom dropped over later so i had a chance of telling her all about it. She found the seagull story very funny!

(no subject)

Ok, so i couldn't wait until after the Parade of Sail to put my photos up online. Flickr set with photos and videos here. Those of you on Facebook, there are sets of similar photos there, broken up into two albums so that the cruise photos from today are separate. I will post Parade of Sail photos after the event.

2009 Books:
17: Audition by Barbara Walters
This is her autobiography. Quite a thick book and it's quite interesting. I liked reading about her life before she became famous and she was always very frank about her regrets, her ambition. She was a ground breaker for women in broadcasting and it sounds like she's a workaholic. The woman is in her 70s though won't say exactly how old she is. Very interesting to read how she got interviews with some of the most famous names in the world, both political and celebrity, heads of state and ordinary people who's lives and situations touched her. She talks about lots of her interviewees, many of whom she liked even if she didn't like their politics or what they'd done. Even when it's clear she really disliked her interviewee, she tends to soften it and doesn't write insults or hugely negative stuff. Some, yes, but not like "mud slinging" types of things. It seemed pretty fair and she seemed to try to be honest.