Sunday, February 9^th

At Sea

Heading to Australia

With the money I had saved not going on the tours I decided to treat myself to a pedicure, especially as there was a 20% in port discount today, and they were going to honor it.

Now in all of the years I have been traveling on Queen Mary 2 I have never had a pedicure, so this was quite exciting.

Unfortunately the pedicure place is right next to the hair salon, and I had mild stress symptoms going by there, but I was able to get over it. My feet were going to be worked on, not my glowing hair this time. Sharona, the nail technician (is that what pedicurists are called?) seemed very pleasant and competent. I felt I was in excellent hands.

For some unknown reason the pedicure chair is miles away from the basin in which you soak your feet. Back home you can move the chair up and down and backwards and forwards until you are in the perfect position to dangle your feet in the bubbly warm water. Not on QM2. The chair does not move, so being below average in height, I had to sit on the edge of the chair in order for my feet to reach the water. This does detract somewhat from the relaxation I expect from a pedicure, but there was no option.

Despite not being able to sit back and relax, I must say the pedicure was a very pleasant experience. They had a free offer of some miracle cream that is meant to do away with the bags under your eyes, so I let Sharona apply the cream liberally around and in my eyes.

The peace of the pedicure was disturbed by the captain announcing that they were following the coronavirus situation very closely, and he would keep us updated.

Sharona and I looked at each other and in unison declared – we are going straight to Australia!

One hour later I had bright red toes, and bright red eyes from the cream causing a massive irritation. I was able to resist the sales talk about my need for various creams and potions and checked out of the spa.

I headed back to our cabin to sit on the balcony while the nail polish dried. Then the captain made another announcement – we were heading to Port Kelang where we would stop to restock and refuel. Passengers would be able to disembark, but no one would be able to go ashore and then return to the ship.

When we leave Port Kelang we will head directly to Fremantle, and should arrive there on February 18^th, the day we were originally scheduled to be in Hong Kong. This really makes a lot of sense, but yet again is going to be very inconvenient for many passengers and crew. Not least of all Brian. When I called him he was very put out by the need to change his air ticket yet again, especially as I could not tell him what the rest of our revised itinerary would be. It seems to make sense that we would head north around the top of Australia and catch up with our original itinerary in Darwin, However, all will apparently be revealed later.

I haven’t had lunch in the Golden Lion yet, so we decided to remedy the situation, and met up therewith friends at noon. They no longer serve Strongbow cider in the pub, but it is available elsewhere in the ship, and I was able to talk our waiter into going and getting a can for me. In the US they have done something to Strongbow to make it taste awful, the cans on the ship are the original stuff, and I love it.

Lunch in the Golden Lion was followed by snooze at the pool. And all of a sudden in was time for the show which was at 7:00 tonight.

First there was a recital by a flautist, and then the Cunard singers and dancers did a Motown medley. The singing was excellent, but the dancers were wearing those blue and orange-fringed costumes that they wear for another show. I don’t know why I dislike those costumes so much – maybe because they have glow in the dark orange fringes that remind me of my hair.

The main topic of discussion at dinner was the fact that we were going to miss Asia, but we were all in agreement that under the circumstances, this was a sensible idea. One of our tablemates had been scheduled to disembark in Singapore on the 12^th, but is now able to stay on board until the 18^th. She is very happy with the situation.

There was a dance party on deck 8 by the pool, so we all headed there after dinner. It was my kind of dancing so I was able to dance the night away under the clear moonlit sky. At midnight Ruth and I decided to walk around the decks and ended up at the front of the ship on deck 7, next door to the spare propellers, discussing how to mend the world.

There was hardly a breath of wind, and the moon shone so brightly we though there were spotlights above us. We could see the lights on the distant shore, as well as a particularly bright lighthouse. There were ships passing us in the night. It did take us a while to work out that we were going in circles.

There is something so beautiful about QM2 at night. She was silently gliding through the Straits of Malacca, sometimes north, sometimes south, there was no one else out on the open decks, and we felt that we had the whole ship to ourselves. It was a hot humid evening, and the air smelled fragrant. Asia was out there beckoning us, enticing us to visit, but we were rejecting her charms. We will have to wait for another opportunity to answer her call.