Anchors Aweigh!

Tintinnabulation of the bells!

It took many weeks, but I finally mustered up the courage to board another vessel and head to sea.  Well, technically the HMS Britannia did not set sail, but after my experience on the May Princess I was a bit nervous.  And it did not help that my in-laws and my wife kept convincing me that we were indeed moving.  

Launched in 1954, the Britannia - roughly 425 feet long - can run a maximum of 22.5 knots, and her range is 2500 miles at 18 knots burning diesel.  With additional tanks, she holds 450 gallons of fuel.  After the Britannia made her final voyage to Hong Kong in 1997, she ultimately logged over 1 million nautical miles.  


In Britain, a term bandied about is 'posh'.  Posh essentially means elegant, although in some circles it might be used to describe a snob.  At any rate, I was told that the term ultimately derives from the need of upper class ship passengers to sit port-side out, starboard home (Port Out Starboard Home), or POSH.  And there is your interesting tidbit for the day.  

And so it is that we enter our final weekend in Scotland.  The past three months have been brilliant, and - despite what you may hear - the weather has been...smooth.  The sunshine has appeared for the past three days, and we have espied two rainbows within the past three weeks.  Which, of course, means 6 more weeks of this posh summer...