Proof you’re never too old to embark on a wild adventure!
A joyous interview with the strangers — he 91, she 90 — who set sail on a cruise (sharing a cabin) after knowing each other 45 minutes
ARM-IN-ARM, they look like two happily married nonagenarians tottering — slowly and very carefully — towards their platinum wedding anniversary.
Just like the Queen and Prince Philip, they appear made for each other — sharing affectionate glances, laughing at each other’s jokes and reminiscing over old war-time radio comedies from their youth.
Certainly that’s what everyone thought when Vera Burrell, 90, and John Mason, 91, boarded P&O’s cruise ship the Azura for a 12-night jaunt around the Mediterranean.
Not least when the young-at-heart pair, who liked to enjoy a pre-dinner G&T on the balcony of their shared cabin, were invited to visit the bridge of the 1,557-berth ship — an honour reserved for VIP guests. But the truth was out almost as soon as they set sail.
‘I went to get John a coffee and said: “Is that how you like it?” Everyone looked up and exchanged confused glances,’ says Vera with a tinkling, girlish laugh. ‘Well, that’s when the whole story came out. You could see their jaws drop.’ With good reason. For John and Vera were more or less complete strangers when they embarked on their voyage together, or as Vera delightedly puts it: ‘We’d only known each other ten minutes!’
Well, that’s not quite true. Their chance, brief encounter in a crowded Winchester pub lasted 45 minutes — but it was long enough for John to charm Vera into joining him on a cruise. ‘I call it serendipity,’ laughs Vera. ‘It was a chance in a billion,’ adds John, whose path crossed Vera’s when her coach party from Suffolk stopped off in the city en route for Bournemouth in September.
While the rest of Vera’s travelling companions went off to wander around the cathedral, Vera opted for lunch with a nice glass of wine in the Old Vine hotel — where John has been a regular for years.
The pub restaurant was packed, but Vera found the last free table.
‘The door opened and in tottered John,’ she laughs. ‘ He asked the young waiter to find him a table and he replied: “There’s not a seat to be had”.’
John chips in: ‘I saw Vera and the empty seat at her table and said, “Would you mind if I joined you to have my meal?” She said, “No, do sit down.” That’s where it all started.
‘I’m a talker, I can talk to anyone, and so is Vera. I asked her what she was doing in Winchester and the talk turned to travel.’
Over lunch — salmon and roasted vegetables for her, ham and eggs for him — John, a veteran cruiser, asked Vera if she’d ever holidayed at sea. When she said no, impulse drove him to seize the day.
‘I told her, “I’m going on a cruise, are you interested?” And she said, “Oh yes.” There’s no time like the present, so I said: “There’s a travel agent over the road.”
John remembers with absolute clarity her response.
‘She went, “Ooh, er, ehh, um, er,” so I said, “Let’s go across the road and see what they can offer us” and Vera said, “Oh, all right then.”
‘Vera kept saying: “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” and I said: “You’d better make up your mind quickly. This is costing me a lot of money,” so she went: “Oh, all right, go on then.”
‘The travel agent’s jaw dropped when she asked me for my lady companion’s name for the booking form and I replied: “I don’t know.”
Less than 15 minutes later John had paid £3,500 for a cruise together — departing in three weeks on October 8 from Southampton — before walking Vera back to her coach and taking her telephone number.
‘The last thing John said to me was: “I hope you don’t wear false teeth, I hate false teeth,” and on the coach I just couldn’t stop laughing about it,’ says Vera, who insists she’d had the one glass of wine and wasn’t squiffy.
‘The lady sitting next to me asked: “What’s tickling you?”
‘And I said: “I’m going on a cruise!” The story went round the coach like wildfire.
‘When I told my daughter, she said: “Oh God, Mum, what have you done? He could be the Southampton Slasher,” ’ says Vera, whose two daughters Liz and Carol are 61 and 60.
‘And I said: “Well, even if he is, his eyesight’s not very good so I should be able to outrun him, so there’s no need to worry.” ’
Since their return from the cruise, the story has spread. This week they appeared on the Jeremy Vine radio show to talk about their late-life adventure and Vera has been invited on to ITV’s Loose Women next week.
They’ve become unexpected pinups for the cruise industry and these two charming overnight celebrities have agreed to meet me to share a little of their devil-may- care magic over a G&T. Just the one, mind.
Both sharp as pins, they laugh, joke and twinkle in each other’s company. Somehow, they pull off the impossible and make old age sound like a positive riot. Their sense of fun is infectious. ‘My niece now calls me Dear Aunt Floozy,’ says Vera, widowed in 2005 after 53 years’ happy marriage to City of London police officer Jack Burrell, who died aged 80.
‘Age is just a number. I may be 90 but in my head I’m still 45, or if I’m pushing it, 46. You’ve got to live for the moment.’
Sitting next to good-humoured John — a grandfather of 11 and greatgrandfather of two who was widowed ten years ago when his wife of 43 years Pat died aged 77 — they’d make an adorable couple.
Sadly, Vera, grandmother- of-four and great-grandmother of two who prides herself on being a very independent single lady with a busy social life and no desire to marry again, insists they are just dear friends.
‘On the first day of the cruise, I made a pot of tea in our cabin and we laid a few ground rules,’ says Vera, who had no qualms about sharing a twin-bedded room with John on the ship’s Riviera deck.
We talked about our likes and dislikes and I told John I liked my privacy in the morning and evening and, I have to say, he was an absolute gentleman and didn’t try to take advantage. I wasn’t worried that he’d suddenly produce a ring and propose.
‘If people saw us tottering down the corridor holding each other up, then that wasn’t because we were in love or drunk — one G&T is enough for both of us — it was because John’s eyesight is very poor and my balance isn’t very good.
‘I don’t regret for a second going on a cruise with John, although when I saw how many pairs of trousers his daughter had packed for him I did think: “I hope he isn’t incontinent.”
‘Luckily, that wasn’t the case and she just wanted to make sure he had enough smart clothes, including a dinner suit — which was lovely because I like to dress up, too.’
John adds: ‘At my age when you go to bed, all you want to do is sleep, so Vera had no worries. With my eyesight, it was hard to tell if she was attractive or not when we first met in the pub, but she spoke very nicely and was lovely company.
‘We didn’t argue once and Vera was the perfect companion. I’d love to do it again.’
Former engineer John, who volunteered for the Army aged 17 to fight in World War II, thought his cruising days were over when his second wife Pat died. His first post-war marriage,
‘He didn’t take advantage, being a real gentleman’ ‘My niece calls me Dear Aunt Floozy now!’
which produced eldest daughter hilary, 67, lasted seven years.
Comfortably off from running a profitable corner shop and post office in hampshire for 25 years, together, John and Pat had been on around eight cruises.
‘ I wanted to go on another cruise, but I needed someone to help me read menus, cabin numbers and navigate all the decks on the boat, so I was tempted to ask anyone with two legs and good eyes,’ says John.
‘because of my eyesight, I can’t get out much but take the bus from my flat in hampshire to winchester every fortnight for lunch at the Old Vine and it must have been fate that Vera was there that day. It was really a spur-of-the-moment thing.’
needless to say, John’s devoted children hilary, Jane, 53, sue, 52 and son John, 49 were rather concerned when they discovered their dad had splashed out £3,500 on a cruise with a complete stranger. ‘My children worry about me being taken for a ride.
‘The bank rang my second eldest Jane and said: “your father’s just signed a cheque for £3,500” and she thought: “Good God, what’s he done?” and that’s when it came out. she rang me and said: “what are you doing dad?’ I told her: “I have just paid for a cruise.”
‘with modern technology and mobile phones, it went round my family in around 15 seconds, so they all rang up, saying: “what are you doing, going on a cruise?”
‘so I told them: “I have met a lady in a pub and I have booked for us to go on a cruise,” and what could they say? There was nothing they could do. I am big enough and old enough not to be taken for a ride. My motto is: “keep Living!”
‘I suppose you do worry, it being spur of the moment, that the other person might think better of it and not show up, but when I phoned Vera and said: “are you still game for cruising?” she said: “Oh yes, I’m looking forward to it now.” ’
Vera, too, worried that John’s children might think she was a ‘gold-digger’ — seeing he was footing a considerable bill to take a complete stranger on holiday — but since speaking to her they are now thrilled for their dad.
John’s daughter sue Metcalfe, a lawyer, says: ‘at first we thought: “what?” Then we just thought: “enjoy yourself.” dad was desperate to go on a cruise and Vera was willing to go with him and even if she had been a gold- digger, well then fair play to her, he was old and wise enough to look after himself.
‘dad is a wonderful man. Our parents gave us so much. we, his children, have all done well in life and he has spent his whole life caring for other people so he deserved a holiday with a companion. If he’s happy, we’re happy.
‘Our biggest concern was actually whether Vera would turn up at southampton docks. we couldn’t bear the thought of dad arriving, excited to be going on holiday, to find himself alone.’
They needn’t have worried. Vera arrived two hours before John, telling him beforehand that she’d be wearing a bright blue coat so he could spot her among more than 3,000 cruisers.
John loved every second in Vera’s company and Vera says she loved it, too. she declares the holiday a ‘lovely rest’, though — as a busy, active woman who belongs to a creative writing group and the women’s national register (a group similar to the women’s Institute) — admits that lazing around on deck wasn’t really her cup of tea.
with John’s eyesight and her difficulty walking, they couldn’t take advantage of shore trips or ship-board activities, although she enjoyed the meals and being waited on.
but would she go again? with John? P&O have been so touched by their story, they’ve been in touch to offer John and Vera a second, free cruise.
‘John can afford to go on cruises and I can’t, and I wouldn’t let him pay for me again because it wouldn’t be right,’ says Vera. ‘but if it is free, then yes, why not? we had a lovely time.’
John’s face lights up. ‘I am so happy you said that,’ he beams, reaching for her arm. he looks close to tears.
‘I’m going to stand with you on that ship railing again,’ he says, alluding to what sounds very much like the famous Leonardo diCaprio/ kate winslet romantic scene from the movie Titanic.
‘you naughty man,’ giggles Vera, to which John counters: ‘ There was nothing naughty about that. Just a kiss on the cheek and a hug. when are we going? next year?”
‘yes,’ smiles Vera. “God willing.” ’
‘Are we going again next year? God willing’