This is what happens when you turn your back on civilisation and go to the Arctic for a few days, cut off from both internet and phone.
A cruiseline names another ship.
This time it was MSC Cruises and the new ship was MSC Splendida, which that master of the understatement chief executive officer Pierfrancisco Vago has branded "the most beautiful ship in the world".
But at least he has admitted he was wrong when giving that moniker to sister ship MSC Fantasia when that was named in Naples in December last year. It would have been pushing it, even for MSC, to have two most beautiful ships in the world.
This is the 10th ship to join the MSC fleet, named as ever by Sophia Loren, but this time it all happened in Barcelona. Next one on the conveyor is MSC Magnifica, which will be named in Hamburg next year - I predict by, you've guessed it, Sophia Loren.
Am I the only one who feels that's getting just a little boring? Are there no other Italian woman up to the job? Maybe we should start a competition? My nomination - Carla Bruni aka Mrs Sarkozy.
The naming actually happened on July 12 but seems the emails via the Arctic so took a little longer to get to me than one would expect (!). Never mind. I liked the pictures so much I had to use them anyway.
Jane Archer
