Sea Day 2 of 9

I think I may be a little addicted to Ambassadors. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, it is a sitcom starring Mitchell and Webb, set in a made up country of Tazbekistan, where Mitchell is the British Ambassador, Webb is his assistant, and that bloke from Spooks (Matthew something?) plays their boss. Keeley Hawes plays Mitchell’s wife. It is hypnotic. I love it. Beautifully observed.

Saw the first half of The Great Gatsby today (the Leo DiCaprio one). Had to stop for dinner. Will hopefully catch the rest of it when they show it again in a couple of days’ time. Enjoyed it thus far.

I watched City Slickers last night. Haven’t seen that in YEARS. Still a very enjoyable film and Norman is still utterly adorable.

Had fruit for lunch. It’s hard to eat when you have become so heartily sick of food. If I could get away with not ever eating again, I would certainly give it a try. Right now, I couldn’t care less if I didn’t see, smell or taste anything for 48 hours. Unfortunately, the tablets I have to take cannot be taken on an empty stomach, so I HAVE to eat at least twice a day. But it is astonishing to me just what a chore it has become, even without the ordering hassles I had to deal with at the outset.

Had turkey in GF breadcrumbs this evening. Think I got away with it. Maybe they’ve tightened things up in the kitchen. Tomorrow is Sunday (yes, I know it’s Thursday, but it’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, so it feels like a Sunday. I call turkey and sprouts day Christmas too, fyi – anything to break the monotony of mealtimes).

10 lengths against the rather large waves. Arms ache like mad. Feel like I did 100. I have now calculated that, on average, if you’re swimming against the tide, you can do up to one third more strokes to complete a length compared to when it is flat. I nearly choked because I was laughing so hard – I was swimming like crazy but not progressing one inch forwards – the waves just left me hanging in mid-air until they had passed. It was very silly indeed. I must have looked ridiculous – paddling like Wil E. Coyote looking for a cliff under his feet that isn’t there.  I swallowed a fair amount as a result of the laughing in mid-swim, obviously, but at least that was a little less to go in my ears from when the pitches became rolls (I’m trusting you recall the difference) and slammed into my ears as the waves went from side to side instead of front to back. Perhaps I’m too easily entertained , but I laughed a lot. In fact, considering how much I swallowed in the process, maybe it’s acceptable to say I really did laugh like a drain.

Met a lady called Christine – on with her husband Peter, who was off somewhere else – who WON this cruise on the Daily Telegraph website! Apparently there are six winners around– one who won the whole trip and five more who won a sector each. Very cool. But this is her first cruise and she was sick all day yesterday. She seems very nervous about being aboard, and that she doesn’t know what she thinks everyone else knows. We tried to reassure her that there were plenty of others who had never been on Arcadia before, or maybe even never cruised, but I don’t think she was convinced!

At dinner, sat next to Michael. He is fun to hang out with. He is a (divorced with kids) law tutor and exam marker, but he has never practised law, which seems a little odd to me. He invited me to dinner at the Ocean Grill one night, which might be nice. I’ll have to keep an eye on my finances though. £12 for a meal that I could eat elsewhere for free is a bit steep, so I’ll have to think about it. Tonight was another formal and, oddly, another Black and White – I’m sure we just had one of those at the end of the last sector – but at least I can now get all the black and white smart clothes and dresses washed without having to worry about when the next one is, cos it won’t be on this sector (which is a very long one – 17 days). I seem to be missing my other black and white dress, which is worrying. May have to get everything out from under the bed and have a rummage sometime.

Have finished reading Philosophy and the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. Quite odd. Very deep and detailed in places and then just massively glossing over other issues entirely. Sort of “that’s a whole separate book/issue/story” type thinking. Well, that’s what I bought this book to read about, thanks very much, so a little disappointing. The discussion of the ethics of eating an animal that wants to be eaten seemed to skip most of the main ideas, and I found it quite frustrating, but other bits were very interesting. Maybe the next book in the pile will feel more satisfying (no pun intended).

Here endeth Wednesday.