July 8th, 2018

Still at Sea

I had another amazingly good night’s sleep. My cabin continues to be very quiet, and the lack of a window really isn’t a problem at all. The only issues are that there is no cell phone reception, or internet service.

I solved the problem with the latter by returning to the Commodore Club after breakfast. There is good internet reception there, and a constant supply of cold Coca Cola and crisps.

It was a beautiful sunny day, hardly a cloud in the sky or wave in the ocean. It looked like we were in the South Pacific rather than the North Atlantic.

I ventured out on deck. We were not in the South Pacific. It was not hot and humid, but rather chilly and unpleasant. However, there were a few hardy souls there reading, and playing deck games. I checked on the kennels but there weren’t any dogs out sunning themselves alas.

I filmed the noon whistle and listened to the captain’s noon announcement.

We will be passing over the site where the Titanic sank later tonight. I checked, there was not an iceberg in sight at the moment. Come to think of it, in all of the crossings I have done I have never even seen so much as a glimpse of an iceberg. Even when that huge chink of Greenland broke away we didn’t see one. This is all good, although I do like to think that we would be able to avoid an iceberg should one jump into our path.

Because of the time change just after the Captain’s noon announcement instead of being 12:07 PM, it became 1:07 PM, and time for choir practice.

At choir practice we added another song to our repertoire – Sweet Caroline. I love the song, and hope that the audience will participate and wave, and sing along at the appropriate times.

Today was full of educational programs again. Rob Bayly spoke about his participation in the balloon race across the Atlantic. It took him less time than it will take us, but we could do the trip in 5 days I am sure if we really pushed our engines. Anyway, he mentioned the surprise he had from the sonic boom when Concorde flew by. That certainly dated when he did the race. It also got me thinking how sorry I was not to have ever flown on Concorde, although friends who did were not that impressed by it. I would still have liked to see that for myself.

The next speaker was General Nick Hailey talking about “Understanding Radical Islam – why they will fight us for the next 500 years”, not a very uplifting topic.

Now I have been channeling Julie Andrews, and fulfilling my Sound of Music fantasies as I sang Do Re Mi, so it was very appropriate that the final talk of the day was by Richard Stirling on “Julie Andrews: The Last of the Really Great Dames”. Excellent.

Paul Garthwaite has been doing a series of presentations on the history of the electric guitar. Yesterday it was on Jimi Hendrix, and today on Santana. I love the fact that there is such varied entertainment on board.

Somehow I also managed to fit in afternoon tea with harpist Marta Kaszap, a quiz in the Chart Room, where I was lucky to join a very knowledgeable pair and we won, and also a nap before meeting Deidre for a pre dinner drink in the Commodore Club.

Unlike some of us who consume their Pol Acker while unpacking, members of my dinner table had not even opened theirs, so they brought them to dinner and we drank them celebrating each other’s company. I am so lucky that I am on such a great table. We are all so different, but share the same warped sense of humor, and dinner really is a pleasure each night.

After dinner Deidre and I returned to the Commodore Club and I attempted to order a Milky Way martini. This could not be done due to the lack of chocolate syrup, but I have been assured that there must be some somewhere on the ship, and to return tomorrow to see if some has been found. The place was crowded and we ended up sitting at the bar, which was actually quite good fun, and suddenly it was midnight and time for bed.