R401 Part 12

Good morning, this is the Captain speaking. The time is OMG o’clock (07:15?!). Cozumel is cancelled. The combined wind and currents mean we cannot dock. So three sea days til Grand Cayman. You may now go back to sleep. Gee, thanks.

Why have I been so quiet? Dad’s had an inner ear infection. He’s never really experienced vertigo before, and has not been the best-behaved patient ever. So the past week has been mostly running back and forth to the dining room, to find something he’ll eat, so he can take the tablets, so the room will stop spinning, and he can lie down to sleep. He’s now much better, but quite hesitant about walking. Interestingly, he seems to have more trouble when we are stationary, same as I do, when I have to wear my Seabands. Tomorrow is Antigua, which is the ‘last’ port in the Caribbean and then we get a load of sea days, during which, hopefully we can recover and recuperate and, ick, start packing (!).

We didn’t get off in Antigua. Or Praia di Vitoria, for that matter.  We’ve rather enjoyed doing Very Little Indeed on port days, and this was no exception. In Antigua, I think we were both up and dressed by 4.30. pm. It feels very decadent, and, however enjoyable their myriad trips and excursions, the people we chat to are invariably jealous of our monumental lack of activity.

The weather in St Kitts was sublime, sunny with blue sky but not too humid. I visited various shops (accompanied by the now apparently compulsory Bob Marley tunes) on the quayside, and enjoyed myself so much, I forgot my walking stick! I was halfway back to the ship before I realised! I went back and in the second shop I had visited, the owner said that the shop owner at the end of the row had it.  I was very relieved to get it back! St Kitts is also notable for being the first place on this entire cruise where they have the one dollar golf buggies to get you down the enormous pier.  Trust me, there is no better way to spend two dollars. As I descended my chariot at the foot of our gangway – we were opposite Arvia today – the heavens opened. I made it just in time!

Antigua, by contrast, was grey and chilly (by recent standards, so low 20s). In fact, from the moment we cast off from Antigua, the ocean made it abundantly clear that we are now on our way home.  It has become, sporadically, quite bumpy at times, which isn’t helping Dad regain his confidence with the walking about.  The roof has now been closed and, we are reliably informed, will be staying that way from now on.  The pools have been emptied, partly because all the sloshing about gets quite noisy, but also because we don’t want them emptying themselves all over the sunbed snorers. As the Crystal Pool is no longer heated, apparently, it’s actually surprisingly nippy, even with the roof closed, but as most have swapped cozzies for cardigans already, their slumbers continue largely uninterrupted.   This evening, I even spotted a rainbow, briefly.

Both Dad and I have now completely lost our appetites. We eat because we have to take tablets but, other than that, we don’t really bother with meals.  A couple of nights ago, we went to dinner and I ordered four bowls of chicken noodle soup. That was all I ate.  Dehydrated, I am not! I’ve lost over a stone during this cruise – about eight kilos in new money.

We haven’t made it to the cinema on this trip, and, as P&O no longer bother telling you what’s on the tv, we haven’t watched that much either. I did once wake from a siesta to find Dad watching the last few minutes of Sweet Charity. He’d seen it on the stage, and loved it, and described the film, starring Shirley Maclaine, I think, as absolutely terrible. So there’s your film review!

Books-wise, I have read:

White Prince – a biography of Charles I. Not a common topic, usually.  Very interesting and enjoyably well-written. But, by ‘eck, the hardback is heavy!

Watling Street – a journey through Britain’s history via said road, which runs from Dover to Anglesey. This was a very odd book indeed. The writer seems to know the oddest people, and they all live on or near Watling Street! I cannot really put into words how odd these people really are.  It would have been quite an eccentrically enjoyable read, were it not for the constant Remoaner whining, as the book was written in 2017, and not by a Brexiteer. Whilst I appreciate your right to your own opinion, I’d rather only have to read it once, instead of you returning to nag at it every few chapters.

Medieval Lives – Terry Jones at his finest. The thinking woman’s Python.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Philosophy as a novel, or a novel about philosophy. I’m not sure which. But it was a good read.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz – The fascinating true story of a man and woman who fell in love in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Loving it so far.

I hope you have enjoyed the Aurora 2024 Grand Voyage as much as we have. That’s all, folks!

P.S. PSA: my phone decided that the Caribbean was as close to heaven as it was going to get, and died unceremoniously and without much fuss.  I am therefore unable to Whatsapp for the foreseeable. Please revert to email for the time being!