What Paddy Shot At

It is now 6pm. I had the “regulars” at Mass. A number stayed to say goodbye. I really have enjoyed them. After breakfast, Pat and I tried to use the computers but the signal was weak. I tried again from the room and did get some email done.
I got my 2 suitcases packed and will put them out after supper. We went to another lecture on private yachts. There’s a lot of people with a lot of money. It was interesting. We’re going to see those singers again. They have a pre-supper show. Then we’ll have supper and end up by going to the movie, “Jane Eyre”. Tonight, we turn the clocks back so we’ll be on London’s time (6 hours before the East coast). We will get off the ship after an early breakfast and take a motor coach up to London. It will take us to the main train station and we’ll take a taxie to the Millenium hotel. I stayed there about 6 years ago. It is very convienient. We’ll stay there till Monday, when we leave at 7:15am for the U.S.

I don’t know if the hotel has wi-fi, so this might be my last message till Monday, April 30th. Till then!

The ocean has settled a little but we still have 15 foot waves and it is rocky. After my short note yesterday, it was at 10pm, I went to bed and read and fell asleep.
It is now 7:30am and I will have Mass at 8:30 so I thought I’d try to use the computer room while lots of people are still in bed. I used my Ipad last night but the signal is not as steady so that’s why the short message.

As I said, yesterday was Anzac Day,(that’s Australian, New Zealand Army Corps). It is like our memorial day. It remembered all those who died at Gallipoli, a big battle in the Crimea War. It is held yearly and so we met at 6:15am on the back deck of the ship. It was still dark and very rough but about 30 people came. There was a trumpheter and a veteran led the sevice. I read some traditional prayers and a serviceman from Canada, who is a passenger and is serving in Afganistan spoke. It was really very nice.
Since I was up, I went for a walk on the deck. Strong wind but the sea was just starting to get rough.

I just saved this – in case!

Then I did some emails and went and had Mass. Only about 15 people, even Pat slept in. Being in bed was the easiest thing to do.

I finished my book and returned it to the library. I had read 3 Clive Cussler books. He is one of my favorite fiction writers and I’ve read about 10 of them; but these three were new to me. I stayed in the library, reading makes you ignore the waves.
I went to the movie, It was Iron Lady, which I had seen but enjoyed and again, it makes you ignore the waves.
Pat and I had to pick up our passports, which the main desk had, and go through immigration. Someone from England joined us in Malaga and I think that will make our departure faster tomorrow.
I had sent some laundry out so that I can put aside some for my small suitcase and take that to London and the rest (clean) I can ship home from Southampton. It was hard to navigate with two suitcases and my oxygen container. Now I’ll only have the small suitcase and the container for the rest of the trip.
I forgot to mention that another movie we had was War Horse. It is very good and worth seeing. We also had two Woody Allen films that I thought were stupid but then I never did get his humor.
Last night at supper, the room was only half filled.

Well, I think that brings you up to date and I am off to Mass.
Oh, yesterday was the feast of St. Mark, so I remembered all the wonderful Marks that God has put in my life and asked God to bless them. Happy Feast Day!
More later today

Today, we are having “rough seas” and so this will be short. We are in the Atlantic and lots of big waves. It is ANZAC Day, which is memorial day in Australia and New Zealand. More tomorrow.

Today we are in Malaga, Spain. It is a very beautiful and old sea port city. It has been important since the Phoenician times. I have been a number of times, so I am not getting off. Patrick is taking a your to nearby, Mija.
I am going to try to bring Paddy up to date.

I told you about the transit of the Suez but I forgot to mention other things about life here on the QM2. I celebrate Mass each day. I don’t know the time for the next day Mass, till the “daily program” comes to the cabin around 6pm. Usually it is at 8:30am if we are “at sea” and 5:15pm if we are “in port”. I usually have about 25 people. I prepare a homily, have a lector, and a Eucharistic minister. It runs about 25 minutes and I have gotten to know a number of them. Lots of UK people and Australians. Only a few Americans.

One couple from Calif took me to dinner at one of the specialty restaurant with a man from Florida. The men worked in art museums. One had been the director of the National Museum of Art in DC. The discussions were fascinating.

I have met and talked with people and even heard some confessions. Pat and I have joined people for breakfast and/or lunch but we have a table for two for supper. We do that at 8:30pm and sometimes go to the late show or a movie.
Last night, we had a group of 4 who sang lots of (what we called ‘broadway’ – they call ‘west end’) songs. They were great and will perform again on Thursday.

Also the ship provides great speakers. I have learned a lot about World War II and the history of ships and about places like the Acropolis. I’ve gone to many of them. We also have a planetarium, which has taught me about the heaves – except when I fall asleep.

Also lots of movies. in addition to those, I’ve already mentioned I saw “my house in Umbriba”, “Zorba the Greek”, and ‘Murder on the Nile”, Also there is a great library. I’ve read three Clive Cussler books. He is of my favorite authors and these were 3 I hadn’t read. I also brought four books on my IPad and have read two of them.

I have also spent some of my time, working on a Christmas newsletter. Mu last one was in 2007, so I started to work on it before I left and have worked on it on the trip, I think it is done and will be mailed out before I get home.

I have made arrangement to ship home one of my suitcases when we leave the ship. Then I will only have a small suitcase and my oxygen to carry with me to London. That will be so nice.

I’m lucky to traveling with Pat. He noticed everything because he travels a lot. The other day, he noticed that the ship did not charge my credit card for my charges from Hong Kong to Dubai, which they had done to him. I went to the purser’s office and found that although I had sent the information before I came, they did not have my credit card information. That would have meant, I would have had to settle my account with CASH when we were getting off at Southampton. It is OK now but it would have been a mess if Pat hadn’t noticed it.

Had Mass at 5:30pm with only about 11people but it was nice.
We are just pulling out of Malaga and heading to England .
So now you’re up to date. More tomorrow.

I can’t believe that the computer failed but, of course, I hadn’t saved it. Lose and learn

I hope I do justice to what I wrote. It really was good.

I am doing this on my iPad, then I have to email it to Joan Beall, then she has to mail it me, then I can copy it and put it in Paddy. I prefer just doing it on the computer because there I can type it. On the iPad, I have to type with one finger. Oh well, here goes.

I was saying: Napoleon wanted to do this but needed money for his Russia campaign and gave it up. In the end of the 1800’s, a Frenchman approached
the Pasha of Egypt about a canal between the Med and the Red sea using some lakes that already existed. Also this man had discovered that unlike the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which have a 13 feet difference in sea level; the Med and the Red seas are the same level. That means Suez does not have to have locks; but is just a series of troughs that connect the lakes and the two seas.

The canal runs about 250 miles from Port Said in the south to Suez in the north. In the canal, it is only about 600feet wide. You can always see the shores. Ships must go through the canal in single file in a convoy with the lead ship having an Egyptian pilot. There are some areas where a ship could get out of the convoy if it had a problem. Queen Mary 2 led our convoy. Some people said we were first because we are the “largest ship in the world”; others say it because our fee to transit was about $600,000 – and you have to “prepay”.

Because of the sandstorm that I talked about the other day, we didn’t enter the canal until 11am. I was glad because we were suppose to enter at 8am; and Mass was scheduled for 8:30am but I got to see the whole transit.
There are three transits each day – two South (one at midnight and another at 6pm) and one North (usually 8am).

It was very enjoyable to sit on the deck and just watch the land go by. On the left, which is Egypt, the land is full of green spaces because of irrigation. There are lots of towns and villages. On the right, which is also Egypt – but the Sinai desert – and the scene of much fighting during the 6 day war – it is very developed and is still full of military material and sights.

There are two bridges on the canal. One is new and very high. The drive up to it is 4 miles on each side and is very steep. The other is a train bridge that folds back to the shores and comes out twice a day and joins in the center of the canal. There are also very tall electric wires that cross. Lastly, on both sides there are ferries that take cars, trucks, and people to both sides. Mecca is on the right and many people go there in pilgrimage. I don’t think I’d use them. The trucks were loaded up about 5 containers high.

We passed a couple of ships that were over in those “bypass” areas. It turns out that 3 ships went aground during that sandstorm. Fortunately, the pilot had taken them out of the main canal when the storm came up. It didn’t seem to slow things.

We arrived in Suez around 5pm. It is a good size town and of course, there were lots of freighters and other ships waiting at anchor. We arrived in the Med after an almost 6hour transit. For me, it has been the high point of the trip. I especially liked that as we were passing another of those “bypasses” I saw a ship seeming to “sail” through the desert because of the sand blocking the sight of the waterway. It was that picture that ended the movie, “Suez” with Tyrone Powers, where they showed a ship sailing through the sand. I knew, even though I was maybe 10 years of age, that one day I wanted to go through the Suez Canal. Now, it’s off my “Bucket List”

I just finished Mass and since the day is really slow until Mass tonight for the crew; I thought I’d write about the Canal.
First, they were kind enough to show films about the canal and to have speakers before and during our transit. That was very helpful in understanding and enjoying the ride.

There has been interest in joining the Mediterrean Sea and the Red Sea to open up a way to avoid going all the way around Africa, for centuries. In the time of the Pharoses, they actually did a canal between the Nile and a lake near the Red Sea but it was always a danger that the Assyrian could use it to get into Egypt, so it was left to fill up.

During the time of Napoleon, again an attempt was made but he ne

I COULD SCREAM, I JUST SPENT 40 MINUTES TYPING A MESSAGE AND AS I WENT TO PUBLISH IT, ALL OF IT DISAPPEARED EXCEPT THIS. I AM GOING TO HAVE A DRINK AND DECIDE WHAT I SHOULD DO.
MORE LATER

On Wednesday, we stopped in a little port town before entering the canal. I think it was called Sohkna. I wasn’t planning to get off because all the tours were for 8 to 11 hours. They were all to the pyramides and I was there a few years ago; so I just sat up on the deck. There was an announcement from the bridge that we should go in side. There was a sandstorm coming. I went in and watched it. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was this swirling wall of red and brown dust coming at you over the horizon. It closed out the sky and just kept coming. I could hear it hitting the windows like little grains of sand. I just sat there in the lounge and read for awhile. When the noise stopped, I walked out on the deck. There was a ship in the next dock that I had seen before. It was about the length of a football field away. I could not see it at all. I looked at the cars and trucks below on our dock and it looked like it had snowed. There was about a foot of sand on everything.

The day before, I had watched the movie, “mission impossible”, which I had seen before and I had forgotten there was a sandstorm in it. Well, it was just like it. At dinner, the captain told us that because of the storm, we would be delayed in entering the canal. We were suppose to line up at 8pm but we didn’t do it till 3am. We were suppose to enter the canal at 6am but didn’t do it till 11am. It seems that the storm had caused three ships already in the canal to go aground.

I spoke to some of my parishioners the next day, who had gone on the tour. They said that they were in the coaches when the storm hit and had to pull off the road. One said it reminded her of driving though a hurrican once. No one was hurt but a number of people got dust in their lungs later and had to go to the mecical center – especially anyone with asthma issues.

Sorry for the delay in writing but I got busy with paperwork. i will report on the canal tomorrow.

Yesterday, I just “bummed” around. Had Mass at 8:30am with about 16 people. Then breakfast and went to the room to watch TV. Saw “Billy Elliot”, which I had seen as a play on Broadway but hadn’t seen the movie. It was excellent – as I had felt about the musical.
Read and napped. There is nothing to see as we are out of the sight of land. We have been in the Persian Gulf and today are entering the Red Sea. Egypt is on the left and Saudi Arabia is on the right. Yesterday, after the Australian ship left us, an American ship, I think it said “The Stennis” passed us. I feel very safe! tomorrow, around 6am we will enter the Suez Canal and I will sit up on the deck and watch it I just came from a talk on it and it was very interesting. I think the speaker will also do a commentary from the bridge tomorrow.
Last night, the movie was “War Horse”, which I had been wanting to see. It is beautiful but the scenes of World War I are so terrible. I actualy dreamt about it. Tonight’s film is “Sherlock Holmes”, which I also haven’t seen. So with the movies and my books, I should return rested and caught up on both.

Mass tomorrow will be around 5pm but a lot of people will go off on tours so I don’t expect many. I’m not getting off and the big tour is to the pymradis and i saw them a couple of years ago. Am I getting “blazee”!!! More later.

Yesterday, I had Mass at 8:30am and there were only about 15 people. Those people from Australia were very good about coming but they left in Dubai. Except for meals, I just read all day. Finished the Dan Brown book and got one on English history (preparing for London).
Did do a lot of email and worked on my homily.Also went to the 10:30pm Movie, “Mission Impossible”. I had already seen it but a lot takes place in Dubai at places I had seen. It was cool! Also we turned the clocks back on hour, so I got extra sleep.
On Sunday, had Mass at 8:30 and had close to 90. Had two Eucharistic Ministers help me. I had a good homily because Sr. Kass and I shared about it before. She was preac– Oh, no, she was giving a reflection at her parish and we wrote and shared ideas. Her final copy was great but I didn’t get it till later today. However, I used it at the crew Mass at 10:30pm.
I went to a lecture and slides on Petra (the place carved out of the rocks in Jordan). It was great and I put seeing it on my “bucket list”.
Met the rabbi today. He is from Pittsburgh and is a friend of Cardinal Wuerl. He also knows Rabbi Edelson, who taught at St. Vincent’s in the 60’s. Small world.
Well, I have Mass at 8:30 tomorrow, so I’m off to bed. More later.

Today we were in Oman. Again, it was so hot that I only come out on deck and looked at things. I talked to people who toured and they said it was a nice place but much like Dubai, without the shops!

I relaxed and read and slept. Did see the movie, “Hugo”, which I enjoyed. Mass was at 5:15pm and we are back in the theatre. About 15 people came.

We will be at sea for the next 4 days, so that means Masses at 8:30am; so I am off to bed