Sunday – Batten down the Hatches
Today, we’ve been at sea; the first of four days that will bring us, eventually to our final stop, Cobh, in Ireland.
Last night, I went to watch Pauline Daniels do her singing cabaret in Scotts Bar. Pauline proved her credentials earlier on in the cruise when she performed a one-woman play, ‘Shirley Valentine’ over two nights. A few days ago, her comedy talents were on display in a late-night show when, again, her professionalism shone through. In that show, she’d performed two musical numbers that demonstrated just how versatile a performer she is. In a packed Scotts Bar last night, she proved once again that her talents don”t stop at acting and comedy stand-up; she’s a pocket-rocket scouser with a massive singing voice. From ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentine’ to Tina Turner and a beautiful rendition of Eva Cassidy’s version of ‘Over The Rainbow’, by the time she rounded off the night with an encore of ‘Send in the Clowns’, she had the whole room eating out of her hand.
In Marco’s Bistro, there are two self-service tea/coffee stations, where milk is dispensed (and always has been as far as I remember) from three large white faux-ceramic plastic jugs with adjustable lids (Hot Milk, Full Fat and Semi-Skimmed). Over the last couple of weeks, I’d noticed that they’d mysteriously disappeared and been replaced by the cardboard cartons that the milk comes in, and wondered what the reason was. This morning, the large jugs reappeared, and I happened to mention it to someone who was waiting along with me to get to the tea-bags. Turns out they were forbidden to use the jugs by Canadian authorities on health and safety grounds (or some such regulation). Who’d’ve thought it?
The weather has been cold and showery, and the sea choppy; the rockin’ and rollin’ is upsetting a few folks, but hey… this is the North Atlantic… The Sick-bag Fairy has been out and about on her rounds and the deadlight locker-upper has been sneaking into cabins to seal the windows from the wild outdoors. The overall temperature of the ship has dropped again, too. Ah! the familiar sound of crashing waves and the creak of the woodwork as we roll our way across the sea. Cobh is over 1000 miles away, and the forcast for the next three days is for more of the same.
With the clocks going forward one hour, I’d decided to opt for a John Smiths Takeout, a movie in the cabin and an early night. But then, Rhys asked me if I’d be one of the ‘celebrity’ panel in Blankety Blank in Scotts Bar at 9:15, along with Barbara the Card, Shorex Susan and Peter the Parrot (one of the lecturers who has been giving wildlife talks… there are far too many ‘Peters’ on this cruise…). So that put paid to my early night plans.
