CRUISES, CAMPERS, CRUMPETS & CREATIVITY

 Not as much accomplished as I'd hoped over the last four weeks. True one of those was spent onboard the MSC World Europa Cruise Ship. Boarding at Barcelona to join 6,999 others, (Its a hop-on, hop-off style cruise) we travelled to Marseilles, Genoa, Naples, Messina and Valletta.
Quick recap - Staff wonderful, clean throughout. Certain countries don't know how to restrain and distract  their children, preferring to let them run and scream (yes I mean scream) throughout the whole place, including the resturants. Relaxing? Not so much.
They also don't care if they get drunk under 16 yrs old either. I watched one European mum passing cocktails to her obviously drunk son after I saw the bartender make it with enough vodka to put me to sleep.
Add to that smoking is permitted in certain areas which sadly meant I couldn't go near them and we will be looking for an over 18+ no smoking ship next time - if there is one. 
I'd personally like to thank Marko, the cruise director, staff in the British Pub, Mixology bar and our cabin staff.
See my Podcast on YouTube for highlights of the cruise. (carol m. salter)

Last week saw me volunteering the whole weekend at the Heritage Sprint Betteshanger. My husband volunteered as mid-track marshal for the whole weekend too, so I didn't see much of him. I became floating volunteer for the majority of the event. That meant standing outside on the roundabout directing traffic for several hours, and Sunday  doing my own bit of marshalling in an attempt to prevent collisions between wayward campers and folk on demo electric bikes.
Made a new friend too, saying Hi to Paul at Oakley Motorcycles. You really should consider going for a test ride with Oakley M/C. I understand they do traditional bikes as well as electric bikes.

This weekend saw me with a table at St Peters Church Sandwich. There was a bit of a mix up, probably on both our parts, but the staff at the venue were great and set me up. My thanks to all of them and the lady who bought me a lovely cup of tea.
Did you know the church is now run as a second-hand shop with book area and craft stalls on a permanent basis? Its well worth a dip inside if you're ever in Sandwich. Their stock has a rapid turn over and there's always something to catch my eye. Curtains, lamps, small occasional tables, gallons of toys, ceramics, even three seater sofas have been known to arrive and vanish in days. Currently there's a glut of nice small dining tables if you need one. Add to that the craft stalls; semi-precious stones, jewellery, cushions, ingenious wooden craft stall at the back of the hall and there's gifts and presents abound if you're ever at a loss for birthdays etc. 
For me, ever the glutton, there's a welcoming café area with scrummy home-made cakes, they do gluten free too. Plus sausage rolls, scones, crumpets. My mouth is watering at the thought. And the prices? Beats Costa any day. One time I purchased a complete ginger cake and took it home. Told you, the glutton. Didn't take me long to eat it either.

Back to my writing, since I now have several editing projects coming in, I'm going to start sectioning my time. Weekends for my own work, and week day evenings for professional editing stuff. Otherwise, I find myself avoiding doing one or the other. Its funny how the inside of the bins looks interesting, and my son's disgusting dirty sock collection fascinating when you're subconsciously trying to find alternatives to work.

Well I'm here now, sort of because I've now become distracted my my blog, noticing its 21st of the month and I always blast off one a month. Another delaying tactic? Maybe. I'm going to open Between Here and Hell now because my husband will be in one hour asking for food.
Till Sept,