Gibraltar

It’s been a funny old day – for a start I got the clocks wrong again!  I was convinced that I had read somewhere that they went back last night so Hilary and I dutifully changed our watches before we went to bed.  I was determined to be up at 7.00am so that I could swim without others getting in the way and up I got, switching the telly over to the ship’s information channel while I made a nice cup of tea.  “That’s funny,” I thought,” their clock shows that it is 8.00am.  Have I got it wrong again?”  And sure enough I had, no mention in Horizon of the clocks changing, no little notice from our cabin boy Agnelo and no mention of it by the dinner staff as we were leaving – so that’s another fine mess I got us into.  The upshot was of course that I had to share the pool with 3 others – but I nipped in first and got the longest length while they had to do with swimming to the steps and back (at least three strokes shorter).

We breakfasted in Al Fresco with a couple from Wales; to begin with I wasn’t too keen on him as he thought that the sea days going back home were “just a waste of time really, I could be out in the garden doing something useful.”  I was just starting to put him right when Hilary changed the subject and then we learned that this couple had married about 12 years ago and promptly went round the world for their honeymoon.  Not on a cruise of course (“too much bloody sea time man.  No we went to a local travel agent and he fixed us up with flights and hotels from Sydney to Fiji and America.  We had a great time.”  I warmed to him slightly but they are not a couple I would look for to have breakfast with again.

Then it was back to the Theatre Royal for a slightly gruesome talk by the fingerprint man who showed us how they take prints from dead bodies when the skin has started to peel away say from water immersion.  I won’t go into details but suffice it to say that I will never look at closely fitting gloves in the same light again.  We came out of the Theatre Royal into a mass of people all trying to either buy duty free booze at knock down prices or hanging around the chefs who were decorating plates with chocolate and coloured sauces, or entering the bed making competition, or in my case talking to the engineering staff about how the Oriana operates – and yes Julian before you ask I have got the technical brochure they were handing out.

I had to go back to the cabin for something and found a note on the bed asking me to contact the Passenger Relations Manager concerning my suggestion to give every Portunus member a 16 point bonus for being on this birthday cruise.  He was useless of course, explaining that the Captain thought it was a good idea, he thought it was a good idea but they hadn’t planned on doing so when the cruise started, it wasn’t a special Portunus cruise etc. etc.  I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of their wishy washy words to put me off, I told him that they had ship to shore communication and could call Southampton to get it done but he would have none of it.  “Can’t help I’m afraid,” was the general attitude.  I told him that I wanted to contact the head of Portunus and got a card from him so I have emailed her explaining the situation and asking for a quick reply.  But I now realise that all he gave me was his boss’s details in Southampton and she probably can’t do much either.  I will persist by phone and letter when I get back but my chances are slim to none I think.  Once this 16^th birthday cruise is over the whole thing will be forgotten.

We skipped lunch today, unless you call one honey crumble biscuit lunch, and then went to see Mr Shakespeare whose lecture and sonnet were very good this time around and I didn’t doze off at all.  His theme was where Shakespeare got his information from to write his plays and how he changed the source material to make it more dramatic.  He was particularly good concerning Romeo and Juliet.  But his lecture finished at 2.30pm and everyone rushed out to try and see The Rock of Gibraltar from the deck – it was misty and we passed it without any great fanfare – so tonight we turn the corner and head north into the Bay of Biscay.  Wish us well….

Tonight is the last Headliners show, True Brit, and it is one we have been looking forward to.  As a tribute I have written a poem for them, personally I don’t think it scans as well as it should but I want to give it to them after the show tonight so it will have to do.  I have incorporated all their names so each one has a little stanza to themselves and I just hope they enjoy it.  On the RTW I had a long time to write their tribute and that went over well, so tomorrow I’ll let you know how I get on.

See some of you Saturday!