Lord Crindau

I have always said that if I had become a Lord then I would have chosen the title 'Lord Crindau' in recognition of where I was brought up. The likelihood of becoming a Lord is extremely scant, as I probably have a greater chance of winning £138m on the Euro Lottery. Although I must admit talking to a complete stranger in Twickenham a few months back who had been brought up in St Julian's Newport Gwent, who had great delight in shaking my hand and saying that he never thought that he would meet Lord Crindau.

I was well touched, but to be quite honest a BEM would do as that is what I aspired to achieve aged 18, and worked extremely hard for 32 years only to fail in gaining my aspiration.

So with all of this in mind; you can well imagine my delight at being continually called Sir Roger by a multitude of the excellent staff on the Celebrity Eclipse. It is happening more and more as if they all know something about the Honours list that someone in Britain is yet to share with me.

Continuing with the theme; maybe this is the time to mention that I met the Queen the other day while pottering around Iceland. Indeed I have met her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in person and chatted away, but alas I suspect that the moment has long been forgotten at the Palace. The lady that I met in Iceland is the double for our Queen. And as a lifelong Royalist, and the son of a lifelong Royalist, you can well imagine that I was blown away by this encounter.

That of course would be a nice conclusion to this Blog entry, accept of course the story does not conclude there. Apparently, and I have no proof, but also no reason to suspect a line; this lady is a direct descendent of the last King of Burma.

Now that's a really nice conclusion to this storyboard. Medal winners, Sir's and Lord's all topped by the Regal Majesty. Unless of course I have been spun a line and the direct descendent is actually from Barnsley and is a better storyteller than me!

But if that is the case; then why do do many of the staff call me Sir Roger while an even greater number bow to the lovely lady?

Akureyri

Having left Reykjavik yesterday we are now meandering down the Eyjafordur to Akureyri on the Celebrity Eclipse (with apologies to those that note that I am unable to work out how to insert the various double dots and lines to replicate the correct spelling using my iPhone).

Given the weather back in Britain prior to this holiday, it was a joy to be on the balcony at 0700 this morning in our bathrobes and without footwear to enjoy the warm sun. Although it's strange to be so warm while looking at the snow capped mountains as the meandering takes place.

It is unlikely that we will do an excursion today, but I must admit that our new found German and Israeli friends have been well looked after by the lovely Celebrity excursion team. Eric and Nikkei are off on a 5 hour adventure while the Baron and his equally charming wife are away to the Godafoss Waterfall. We have an option, but I'm not certain what I want from today. Relaxation or chasing the sights, which of course is a bit of a conundrum as we may not return to this part of the world.

But we are returning to the excellent Moonlight Sonata Celebrity Restaurant and that is a real look forward to.