I’ve got a duck in my throat

Happy new year everybody!

Well for me it was a good start to the New Year, well in the sense that I woke up to a beautiful bright blue skied Antarctic day, ice bergs and whales (sorry for the average whale photo) passing the restaurant window as I served the customers at the breakfast buffet.

But for me, I wasn’t as bright as the beautiful day. The started with me putting on my shoes and socks and then realising that I was still standing in my boxers and hadn’t put my trousers on – lucky I realised this before going to work. I had a couple of ibuprofen for breakfast and ran down the corridor buttoning up my jacket to make it to work on time.

My voice was very raspy, it sounded like I had been partying all night! The most common question of the morning was, “are you feeling OK Mark, do you have a sore throat”? With my Spanish guests I went to tell them “I have a frog in my throat”, but in my fragile state the Spanish word for frog escaped me and I ended up saying “I have a duck in my throat”. And then I thought about it, idioms never translate anyway.

My New Years Eve was spent serving the guests, which as far as work goes it was a great way to work New Years Eve, it’s definitely more glamorous being on a 6 star cruise ship than in a Canadian night club toilet! Plus we have a good bunch of guests on board, so I joined in with the champagne and toasting before nipping back to work to wrap things up and then head to the crew party that involved a few celebratory beverages and dancing.

Just a quick blog post to wish you all a happy new year!