July 10th, 2018

Yes, Still all at Sea

We still have blue skies, and blue ocean, with a few white horses, but no motion on the ship.

To start the morning, John MacLean talked about aliens – “Hello? Is there Anybody Out There?” It turns out that there probably isn’t anybody out there after all.

I missed the right honorable the Lord Lawson’s talk on “Brexit – What’s it all about”. This was probably the lecture I most needed to attend as I really have very little understanding about Brexit. Hugh has been trying to explain the current situation to me, and I have been watching the latest on the politics of Brexit on Sky News. It’s all still very confusing and I did need to go to the talk, but it coincided with the cha cha dance lessons alas. Then as it turned out I became distracted by food, and never got to the dance class either, and then all of a sudden it was the noon announcement.

At his noon announcement Captain Chris Wells let us know that Hurricane Chris (no relation) was forming to the east of us, but it was no match for us as we could easily outrun it. It was so calm and sunny; it was hard to believe that there was a hurricane just behind us. Then I realized I needed to go down to G32 for choir practice.

This business of losing an hour a day at noon is so much better than losing an hour at night, but it certainly cuts into the time to get everything done everything during the day.

Choir practice is going well. I think we sound great, and that the audience will enjoy our little concert. Everyone seems very invested, but no one more so than the sopranos. I notice this with every choir I am in. It’s not that the altos are disinterested or anything, I just think we are a quieter bunch in general. I don’t know if anyone has ever done a study of this. It would be interesting to some.

After choir it was time for Mark Ashford’s guitar concert in the Royal Court Theater. He played some lovely Spanish music, and it was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon. I sat near the back, as I was concerned that I may be lulled to sleep. I must admit that I did nap a bit, but it was so soothing it’s not surprising.

They were showing a world cup soccer match at the Golden Lion, but the sun was out, and it was definitely time to catch some rays. Another great thing about westbound crossings is that the aft of the ship faces west, so it is bathed in sunshine in the afternoons. I headed to deck 8, and half the ship was also there – I eventually found a lounger, but it wasn’t easy. I lay in the sun reading and popping in and out of the pool and hot tub. A great way to spend the rest of the afternoon on a crossing.

Finally at about 6:30 I decided that I should get ready for dinner. When I got to my cabin I realized that my key was inside, and my cabin steward Gerry was nowhere in sight. I was sopping wet and not dressed to go down to the purser’s office, especially as everyone else was already in their evening finery. Finally another cabin steward came by, but not unexpectedly as he didn’t recognize me (I don’t think anyone would have recognized me at that stage, I was looking my wettest and coldest best) he said he couldn’t let me into my cabin, and he didn’t know where Gerry was.

It was beginning to look like I was going to have to drip my way through the ship when the cabin steward took pity on me and let me in to my cabin. I am not going swimming without my key card again.

I decided that I needed an early night after dinner so I met up with friends in the Commodore Club for a quick drink rather than going to the show.

However, as often happens, it was not an early night, and at 1:30 AM we were still riding the scenic lifts and wandering around the now deserted outside decks. I love the ship at all times, but most of all I love it in the early hours of the morning when there are few people around, and the deserted decks look wonderful under the star lit night. The only noise you hear is the ship plowing through the waves. You can stand at the front of the ship near to the spare propellers and stare out into the vast endless black ocean. It is so magical.

The magical feeling was dissipated when I returned to my cabin. There sitting innocently on the bed were my disembarkation luggage tags. How can we be talking disembarkation when I feel like I have only just got on the ship?