Friday 15^th April – Sea Day 1 of 3

Finished my book before bed. Woken by the noon announcement. “The time is now one o’clock”. Oh good, there goes another hour. So by the time I made it to lunch, it was nearly two (locked myself out of the cabin and had to go to reception for a new key on the way – Who? Me? Discombobulated? Nah). Fruit, pasta (very overcooked – had to eat it with a spoon because it just fell apart with a fork!), Sudoku. By the time I had realised I was feeling somewhat chilled – it may be 20 degrees and sunny, but there is quite a strong breeze – it was time to go back to the cabin and get ready for a formal night anyway. So that was the whole day done. Anne and Pauline did not come to dinner. They haven’t said anything positive about the food yet, so maybe they went to try somewhere else instead. Or maybe they just don’t like dressing up for dinner. Wore the teal Gib dress and the cz choker and bracelet. Daphne said the dress made my eyes look so amazingly green, she thought I was wearing coloured contacts. Which was very nice of her. No one else seemed as impressed, mind you.

There was a drinks do tonight. I asked the captain (Trevor Lane) why we are never dressed overall when we are in port. He says he doesn’t have the spare man hours necessary to put it all up and take it all down again. Not sure how satisfied I am with that answer, to be honest. Every other ship we have ever been on has managed. Particularly when we were in port overnight. But, hey, I asked. I think it’s about courtesy, respect to our host city and also pride in the ship and the P&O brand. It saddens me that none of that is considered important.

The captain is aware of the GF bread situation, and said he is trying to sort it out. I made my dig to both him and the Food and Beverages Manager, David Leys, about my 25k self-catering holiday. They both laughed, and promised me they would try and fix it. We will see, won’t we? I have written to the Special Diets lady at Southampton, who made so many promises to me before we boarded, anyway. Maybe she can bang some heads together. Although where you find gluten free bread products in Mexico or the Caribbean, I have no idea. Not really my problem, frankly.

Then accidentally found myself watching the film of Paul Potts’ story on the telly (One Chance) in the cabin. It’s rather a beautiful film, to be fair. Very enjoyable. Wonder what has happened to him since, though. I hope he is making it big somewhere, because I haven’t heard much of him recently. Don’t be too picky about James Corden’s slightly dodgy lip syncing. It’s not his fault he’s not an opera singer! Although any fan of Carpool Karaoke knows the man can actually hold a tune.

Saturday 16^th April 2016 – Sea Day 2 of 3

Not bad night’s kip. Not entirely unbroken, but not bad. Lunch, fruit, pasta, Sudoku. Siesta. Dinner. That’s a good sea day.

It has been eerily calm all day – the Pacific actually managing to live up to its name for a change. You really do have to look out the window to know that you’re moving, today. We have crossed into the Tropics now, so the temperature and humidity are both rising by the hour. It’s all rather pleasant. It’s like being on a cruise!

The Denton ladies failed to show again at dinner. I think they might have moved. Etta and Scott are good company, though, so that’s fine.

As we were leaving, we were treated to the most spectacular sunset. We don’t often manage to line up our meals with the best views, so it was a welcome change. The hours change so often, we can go from eating in daylight to eating in pitch darkness in a matter of days, so actually hitting sunset spot on doesn’t happen very often. I think there is another time change tomorrow, which is a shame.

According to this week’s Click, age and gender are no longer relevant demographics when pitching or planning televisual content. Interesting. Considering the amount of sexism and ageism that persists throughout most parts of our society, the idea that we are not much differentiated as regards tastes or entertainment needs is really rather thought-provoking…

Sunday – Sea Day 3 of 3

Woken by the noon announcement. Lost another hour. Sudoku, pasta, fruit. Pounding headache, so didn’t swim. Paracetamol. Rest. Dinner. Headache became a proper migraine, and spread to my teeth, so I couldn’t chew my food. Back in bed by 7.30. That was Sunday, that was.