Monday – Sea Day 1 of 2.

A very lazy day indeed. Got up. Late. Not the best night’s sleep ever. Sudoku and fruit. Lunch. Swim. Shower. Formal night. Burns Night. Possibly my least favourite P&O event. Bagpipes and haggis and unintelligible poetry. Bleurgh. Oh well, it’ll be over soon enough.

Managed 18 lengths today (it’s not a huge pool), as the water wasn’t fighting back quite as much as usual. We are in VERY calm waters indeed. Which, considering that, according to the BBC’s weather forecast, we are between two storm fronts – one over Rio and one over Montevideo – is quite surprising. It was very hot and sunny today, but not as humid as it has been. Which is also odd, considering. The question is whether the front that is currently to our south is heading north, or whether it will move west and let us pass unmolested. Or, indeed, whether it will simply sit over Montevideo and wait for us to get there. Only time will tell.

Dinner was fine. The haggis nonsense ended blessedly quickly – we didn’t have a live piper, and they have no concept of volume control as regards the taped version – but the poem was also joyfully short, and the food was excellent. Nicky and Peter didn’t show, again, but Chris and Fran and Abigail are enjoyable company, and we have plenty in common, so conversation flows easily, and everyone enjoyed their meal.

It’s a pretty short summary of a twelve-hour day, but that actually just about covers it!

Tuesday – Sea Day 2 of 2 between Rio and Montevideo

Been trying to download stuff I need for my next Open University essay, so the minutes have really ticked by today. Ouch. I could have waited until tomorrow, but while I was feeling so enthusiastic, it seemed a shame to waste all that intellectual energy… Now I have a week to write the thing. Philosophy of group agency referencing the Borg and Midwich Cuckoos (I kid you not). All suggestions gratefully received.

The sea has gone from a striking cobalt blue colour yesterday to a stark grey, reminiscent of Welsh slate, because it is not sunny today, but grey and overcast. No swim today. Not warm enough. It seems the water needs direct sunlight to keep it warm enough. In fact, we sat inside to eat lunch. Might be the first time since the Western Approaches that we have done that. Eventually, they got the hint and closed the roof! It’s not quite as calm as it was, as the wind has picked up somewhat, but you can still barely feel that you are moving. If it wasn’t for the hangers jingling in the wardrobe, you’d hardly notice at all.

Today, at lunchtime, we overtook the Costa Luminosa (the one that was parked in front of the MSC Lirica in Rio that no one could remember the name of). We weren’t quite close enough to make waving worth the effort, though.

According to the nice weather man, we are currently passing through the front of thunderstorms that is heading north as we head south, so the forecast tomorrow for Montevideo tomorrow is 27 and sunny, not the 37 and stormy we were threatened with yesterday. All sounds much more bearable.

Clocks go back (again) to GMT -3 tonight. Can’t complain. An extra hour in bed never goes amiss, even if it was taken away again before. Maybe this time we’ll hold onto it?