Last night, in The Preview, the lights of Lisbon shifted around quite seriously in all directions, and I remarked to someone how heavy the sea seemed to be. It's all relative of course; someone was telling me how REALLY bad the sea can be, and just how rough some cruises they've been on previously. Apparently, it's not uncommon for the sea to be so rough that the captain closes the ship, and instructs everyone to stay in their cabins until further notice. I've seen a few modest waves break over the deck of the ship on our roughest days, but this is nothing apparently to how things can be. Someone described to me how on one occasion, everyone in the Brittannia Lounge including the band and their instruments all ended up in a pile one one side of the ship in a particularly bad crossing of the Bay of Biscay. Crockery and glasses have been known to come crashing to the floor, and the crew just clean it all up and take it in their stride. Think about it - in a 15- to 20-foot or more swell, that's the extent to which the ship is rocking at both ends, which is quite considerable. I think the worst thing about that would be the feeling of helplessness and not being able to just stop the boat and get off. You know, in the back of your mind that the captain and crew are well used to this kind of thing and that no matter how bad a sea-crossing is, they've almost certainly seen it all before.

As I've been writing this, someone behind me has just been discussing the Bay of Biscay, and saying that we've been very lucky so far with the weather. On the outward bound journey, it was the bit between Southampton and the Bay that hit us worst of all. We shall see!

Oh, apparently (and I haven't actually seen it yet) I'm on the Saga Ruby TV this morning. Turns out they filmed the passenger talent show, and my performance is there in full - so I've been into the photo shop and ordered myself a copy (this is always assuming they can rustle up more than one - or maybe they only have the one video and I have to wait until they've finished showing on TV before they can give it to me - see previous post for explanation).

I've got literally hundreds of photos of the trip, myself and have been wondering how best to organise them. I've decided that as soon as I get back, I'll put together an illustrated version of this journal on the website along with photos and sketches produced along the way. I haven't read over the blog myself, and wonder how it reads as a complete entity, or whether it is just comes across as a series of inane ramblings and mutterings.