I managed to completely miss breakfast this morning!

I've brought my old watch with me for when I go ashore in dodgy places where they can't keep their hands to themselves (as opposed to wearing my nice, posh watch). The old watch is lying by my bedside, and it was this watch I glanced at periodically to keep a tab on the time as I gradually woke up. I don't really know why I didn't notice it was the old one, since it has a black face and the othe white, and you're probably wondering why I'm rabbitting on about it and how this might be linked to missing breakfast. Easy; when we left Southampton we were instructed to advance watches by one hour - unfortunately, I didn't put the old watch foward - so when I thought it was 9:30, just time to get up, get showered, dressed and up to the Lido bar in time for a full breakfast, it was in fact 10:30 (Breakfast finishes at 10!).

It's been a glorious day again, now we're in the Meditterranean, and the cool wind has subsided slightly. The general mood of the ship has been very Sunday-like; very laid-back and lunch was Sunday Roast, which was very nice - made even better because I was able to eat it out on open deck.

This afternoon's workshop was on composition - slightly fewer people turned up today, I reckon due to the general sunday-ness of the day, but it still went ok which is the most important thing. I also dropped into the Excursions Office today and confirmed my willingness, after yesterday's experience, to act as tour escort on more or less any excursions they want me (I figure it's the best way to get the most out of the trip with the least amount of expense). I'm still down as a passenger for the Cairo/Pyramids tour, but there's a possibility I may get it free if they need the workers.

This afternoon I changed into my cut-offs and sandals and went back out onto open deck to read my book and relax for a bit - something, I realised, I haven't actually done until now. You never know, until you sit down next to someone, whether they're going to let you just enjoy a breather or start talking to you. Don't get me wrong, I'm all to happy to talk to people, but you have to picture this - me, with a frozen, attentive-looking, but hopefully kindly smile frozen upon my face whilst this dear old lady tells me EVERYTHING about her life - her husband who is now sadly departed, what he did for a living, what he did in his spare time and what his friend did in his spare time, how they met, how he died, what she's done since, who with and where and then, and then she recited several of her poems to me. Needless to say, I didn't get a single page of my book read and I felt more relaxed when we were bouncing and lurching around on the rough seas!!!