It was my 50th Birthday in January and to celebrate, Mrs Wilbur & I headed for Iceland. It was all arranged for a very special day – whale watching in the afternoon and the Northern Lights in the evening.

Off we trotted full of enthusiasm, confident that the cetaceans would be out in force for our delectation.

Three freezing hours later we returned disappointed – the whales had gone fishing elsewhere and would not be putting on a show for me or any of the other sixty or so tourists aboard.

With my track record, I should have known better than to expect any sightings.

Tiger safari in India, zip. Dolphin watching in Mauritius, nothing doing. Southern Right whales in the Western Cape, South Africa, better get another idea. Rare albino peacock in Macedonia, dead just before we got there!

The nearest we got to a whale in South Africa

My one and only success was when we went to see condors in Peru. Even then they only took flight three minutes before we were due to leave!

A special condor moment

Northern Lights? Don’t be daft!