I am now so confused, it has ceased to be funny. I have no idea which way is up. Mum and Dad are barely awake either. It’s ludicrous. This many time changes in this few days is not healthy.  if you think it’s tricky doing a whole bunch at once on a flight, that’s nothing compared to this Chinese water torture drip, drip, drip. We have gone from about eight hours ahead in Manila, to 11 hours behind now.  That’s nineteen hours in three weeks. That ain’t healthy.

Another hour forwards, whatever that means. I think it means 4am for you is 5pm for us. Dunno. Beyond caring, frankly.

At dinner, got guacamole with tortilla chips this time, although, sadly, the chips were rather stale/ soft. Still, progress is progress.

Then cold roast beef and salad. Which would have been fine, if they hadn’t supplied that disgusting excuse for dressing that contained only mustard and oil. I really have to learn to taste the dressing before I pour it on, and ruin a perfectly good plate of food. *sigh*

UPDATE: 20:50.  9pm on the 4th for me appears to be 8am on the 5th for you. Probably…

Got very cross today. I am sick and tired of the attitude of my cabin steward. He never replaces the forms in my cabin folder, so I never have what I need when I need it. So I use what I have available, and then he refuses to comply with the request, coming back 12 hours later with the correct form and saying he cannot comply with my request until I complete the correct form. The last time he did this, my laundry was delayed by an entire day due to his recalcitrance. If it was that important, he could have copied the information onto the correct form – all the information was available to him on the ‘wrong’ form, but instead he just dumped the whole lot back in my cabin until I came back in the evening and filled in the correct form. Which annoyed me no end. I am not his skivvy.

Now he has done it for a second time. This time, it was a request for bottled water. He left me no water forms and no generic bar chits either, so I wrote it on the back of an envelope. That was all I had available. Yesterday. Of course, I have failed to clarify that he knocks off an hour early every time the clocks go forward, so he isn’t around to do my cabin until the evening. Apparently, passengers have to choose between a lie-in and a cleaning service. Knowing this, I figured he wouldn’t get the request until 6pm. So today I patiently waited for my water – despite the fact it should have come last night after dinner. It still has not come – 36 hours after I wrote out the request.

When I asked a room service delivery guy who was nearby, he said that there was no request for water outstanding. So, basically, my steward just CHUCKED IT IN THE BIN AND IGNORED IT. My steward came by, when the room service guy found him, and we had a stand-up row. He said that if I wanted the correct form, I should ask him. I told him that I should not have to find him and ask his permission every time I want a bloody piece of paper. I sent him away with a flea in his ear, and he came back quite quickly with my water. I requested to see the Deck Supervisor, but he hasn’t come yet. I am getting heartily sick of this. I am not putting up with this any longer. Once was a misunderstanding. Twice is a pattern of behaviour. I don’t get cabin fever as a rule, but the end of my tether has now been well and truly reached. This ends now.

UPDATE 21:25: Well, I’ll give him his due. Boy, can the Deck Supervisor apologise! Very fulsome. He will deal with it. He had no idea. He will speak to my steward. Etc. etc. Maybe now things will improve. I dunno. We will have to wait and see.

The mineral water that (eventually) arrived in my cabin is now made in Hong Kong. Although, interestingly, the sparkling water served around the ship is still Tarka from Devon. We obviously get through a LOT more still!

By the way, I noticed on re-reading some previously-published posts, that some sort of automatic numbering has been applied in places, without my knowledge or consent (or noticing), and all my time entries at the start of paragraphs are coming through as manifest gibberish. I will go back and amend them so they make more sense, when I can. In the meantime, humour me. They are rarely less than half an hour apart!