Day Five – Friday 13^th November – Gibraltar

Hideously early start. And I mean hideous. I’m supposed to be on holiday! Went ashore without problem (this, in itself, is quite noteworthy for P&O!). The man selling tickets for the little minibus shuttle service into town said they were quite happy to take the buggy, until you mentioned it to the actual driver, and then he got all sullen and stroppy. When we said we would lift it into the boot, he just got his mate and did it for us, so why he felt the need to be so negative about it first, I am not sure.

Anyway, we love Gib, and would much rather have had a whole day, rather than a lunchtime departure. P&O are so stupid and thoughtless sometimes. Bought two evening dresses in BHS and a bolero and some soft but smart trousers in Bon Marche and pootled some other shops. Mum bought a lot of makeup. Gib is entirely tax-free, so some things are significantly cheaper here. Unleaded petrol is 85p a litre and diesel is even cheaper. Needless to say, the ship bunkered here! Then we had to head back to the ship – no time for even a coffee. Such a shame. I wish P&O would give us longer here, it’s not fair on them or us.

I was surprised at the amount of Spanish I heard being spoken in Gib. I assumed that, being so trenchantly British, and what with all the Spanish politicking, everyone would speak English, but apparently you have to be bilingual here. 7000 Spaniards a day cross the border to come to work here (and go back again at night), so they even have traffic jams here too.

Nice to see a proper policeman with a proper helmet on his head, and red post boxes and so on. It’s a little taste of Britain, but with WAY better weather. 20 in the shade and a warm breeze. Very pleasant.

Was so shattered when we got back though, that I could barely chew my lunch. Went for a nap. Two hours later…!

Then minor chores like hanging up new clothes, writing postcards, a bit of work, etc. til it was time to meet for dinner.

Tomorrow is the last restful day for a while. After that, I think it goes:

Sunday: Ajaccio

Monday: Livorno (Florence/Pisa/Lucca)

Tuesday: Monte Carlo/Nice

Wednesday: Barcelona

Thursday: Cartagena

By the time we get through that lot, I imagine most of us will be way too shattered to do much but sleep all the way back to Southampton!

Luckily for me/us, Barcelona and Cartagena will be fairly relaxed, because we have been to both before, so we don’t feel the need to rush around ‘doing’ stuff. But even so, who thought five port days in a row was a good idea?! Usually you can knock me down with a feather after three. Five, I dread to think.

Come to think of it, Ajaccio is Corsica, which is France, and we are there on a Sunday, so chances are, most stuff will be shut anyway, so that won’t be a busy day, I wouldn’t imagine. There will probably be a market and a coffee, but that’s probably about it. I haven’t researched it in detail, but that would be my guess. That list still makes me tired just looking at it though!

We won the quiz tonight, which was nice.