Next cruise, next book

Accepting the title of my blog is My Life in Ships, I suppose there haven't been that many ships in my life lately.  However, now the tickets have arrived for my next cruise, that will change soon ... and I cannot wait. I will be sailing on Adonia for the first time.  Whilst I have visited the ship twice in the course of our research for the P&O 175 book, I have't actually sailed on her before so am really looking forward to the experience. Many of her crew are ex-Artemis so it will be nice to see familiar faces. I do prefer smaller ships as I like the more personal experience you get on board.  It is to the Western Mediterranean, but her size means we will be visiting many places not reached by the mega cruise ships, such as Sete and Port Mahon.  I spotted an all-day excursion from Sete to Carcassonne, a place referred to with affection by my father who delivered ambulances in the Spanish Civil War, so am excited about seeing it for real. The other ports i think we will just wander ashore and explore independently, although in Rome, I am not sure I am brave enough to take the train from Civitavecchia!

And the other other part of today's title - my next book!  Aside from writing maritime history books with Andrew, I also write local history books about my home town. The first of these was way back in 1987, and since then I have produced another 14 or so. My latest one, due to hit the shops in April, is Weston-super-Mare Then & Now. This is a hardback with old photos (in sepia) paired with the same view today in full colour. I always find these fascinating to do, and can spend hours pouring over the old views and seeing what has changed - usually quite a lot, but occasionally suprisingly little!  I am looking forward to promoting this in local bookshops throughout April. Hopefully it will inspire a few people to see Weston in a new light.

Ruthless

Well, not that ruthless to be honest, but firm!  Andrew and I have just spent the day whittling down our shortlisted 550 images to around 200 for the next book. This is sooooo hard!  Obviously we have to work to publisher's guidelines - 20,000 words ish, 200 images ish. yet people have lent us so many wonderful pictures and ephemera it is really hard to whittle it all down to those that essentially add to the story. we had 7 hours together to get it done and the time just vanished like sand in an hourglass. Funny - it never goes that quickly in my day job! So - our apologies to those that lost out, well done to those that are in. Now we must refine it in all senses of the word.  Polishing text, editing pictures, writing informative captions - all the stuff the reader will probably never notice, but would if it wasn't done.  Nose to the grindstone time again!

Oriana and Aurora

The new book is coming along well. People are remarkably generous with lending material, time, photos etc and we have found some exciting pictures to include which have never before been published.


I have to admit I am finding it harder to create a coherent story, with this book being about two ships, but it is beginning to take shape now and I am enjoying the writing again. It was a struggle to pick up this one as it was half finished before the P&O Cruises 175 commission, so I think we both lost our impetus for a while.


It will be a great mixture of technical stuff and stories and interesting facts. Lots of "did you knows" have come to light which we will include. 


So, although I haven't written anything here for a while, I have been beavering away in other spheres!

This image is not one for inclusion but shows one of the long interior promenades on Oriana. A design feature taken from Canberra in the liner tradition.


PS: the decorating is all finished and I am now set up in a lovely library/study!