Monday 18^th January – sea day 1 of 2

I am so tired, I don’t know what I’m doing. I slept fine, but I’m shattered. This is what slowing down does to you. It makes everything feel like you’re wading through molasses. I’ll just have to take it easy and hope I rejuvenate a bit later.

My hair wishes to point out at this juncture that the sudden increase in humidity may be part of the problem – the frizz quotient has certainly gone through the roof (I may not see my curls again for quite some time), so it is entirely possible that the heat and humidity are sapping my strength a little too.  Humidity and my family do not get on. I’ve warned Dad that Salvador currently 35 degrees with thunder storms, but he’s choosing to ignore me.

Dear Longines, Thank you. Thank you for taking a display case outside the jewellery shop on board and filling it with a four foot square photo of Simon Baker. Just thank you. It’s the only eye candy on board, and I do enjoy walking past it every so often. I asked if I could have it and they said not while he remains the Longines ambassador. *sigh*

Today I did nothing. And I mean nothing. Got up, got dressed, ate some fruit. Had some lunch. Did some Sudoku. Read/finished my second book. Went to dinner. Went to the show. Went to bed. That’s it. that’s the whole day right there.

The books: The first was the Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hodd and the second was Black Hills by Nora Roberts. Both thoroughly engrossing. The former, a fantasy adventure set in a primitive land by an imaginary coast; the second, a modern-day thriller/murder mystery, including wireless CCTV cameras, and email threats. At dinner, Sheila casually pointed out that she is on her fourth book this week. But as the Nora Roberts was about three times the size of the Robin Hodd (and weighed about the same as my pink laptop), I’ve probably read about the same amount of wordage as she has!  Suddenly my excessively large pile of books brought along for this cruise is not looking quite so excessive.

The Headliners’ first show was called Destination Dance, and was a sort of compilation of different forms of dance. ‘Roxanne’ done as a tango was a new one on me, but seemed to work, but their flamenco (done to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’) did not (I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to stamp your feet, for a start…), but the Riverdance was step-perfect and very enjoyable. I was a little critical of their Can-Can, but maybe that’s just me. IMO, their skirts were held too high and the splits were only done at the end. Every Francophile knows that there is a set way of doing the Can-Can correctly, and they hadn’t quite got it right. Close, and perfectly enjoyable, but not spot on, like the Riverdance was. I’ve seen other Headliner groups do a better job of the Can-Can on other ships. Perhaps they have changed choregraphers, somewhere along the line. All in all, however, very enjoyable.

I was intending to go to the later show, and to go to the cinema first to see Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but the cinema was suffering from “technical issues”, which were not pointed out until AFTER I had bolted my meal and legged it the entire length of the ship to get there in time. Ta, everso, for that. Really enjoyed the indigestion. So went to the early show instead.

A longer day than I have had for a while, so much yawning now in progress. Time for bed, said Zebedee. Clocks go back tonight again, to GMT-2.