Penultimate Blog

No early rise or swim today, there is a slight swell running but with the stabilizers out the motion is front to back rather than side to side and this creates quite a wave in the swimming pools.  I have probably had my last swim on Oriana for quite a while as tomorrow we will be in the Bay of Biscay proper and if today’s movement is anything to go by the water will be sloshing over the side of the pool.  There is also quite a wind whipping along the decks so there are more people moving around the inside of the ship than on the decks.  Of course there are always the ‘tan at all costs’ folks and when we walked across Deck 12 to grab a sandwich just now it was brown bellies to the fore with the exposure of lots of wrinkled skin facing the sun.  I happened to be up early on deck yesterday or the day before and watched a group of people, “you get your towels on those two Mabel, and I’ll get these  four for our friends, the sun will be coming from the aft and over this side, so make sure you angle them like this…”  Then it was “OK, now we have those loungers covered, I’ll go and get breakfast, while you go back to the cabin.”  Talk about the Germans, this lot had them beat hands down, the military precision on timing and layout was impeccable.

Down on the lower decks it is Sale Time, last night Hilary picked up a couple of pairs of trousers for £2 each and I have been eyeing up some sweaters but at 50% off £67 they are still out of my price range – I quite fancy the white Oriana bath robes at £15 but can you imagine me in one of those carrying a cup of tea?  Handbags and watches are reduced to £7.99 but the biggest queues are reserved for those buying spirits - we have thought about getting some Gin for the Pimms at the wedding but will probably forgo that bargain.

While I am writing this (and desperately trying to use up my minutes on the internet which have been costing me a fortune) Hilary is probably standing in line for the Chocoholic’s tour through the galley, she was warned that the queues can be quite long and as she missed it on the RTW she is not going to miss it this time.  That is not my idea of fun so I am giving it a miss although I have to say one of the little treats we have given ourselves up in the Crow’s Nest is the occasional mug of hot chocolate – very nice, but very fattening.

I handed over my poem to the Headliners last night, giving it to the team captain who said that he would read it out to the cast for me and then pin it up in their Green Room, I hope they liked it.  I really thought that last night was their final performance but I see now that we have one more tomorrow night so I might get a reaction to the poem after all.  We will see.  They had some great performances last night which concentrated on British musicals and I particularly enjoyed their excerpts from Cats, a great solo of Midnight followed by an incredibly enthusiastic dance/ballet number, this was just about equalled by their excerpt from Billy Elliott and Edward (my favourite of the male singers) showed that he is also an excellent dancer.  Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Tonight is the last formal night and this time it is black and white only so for one more time I have to squeeze into those black trousers with the stripe down the side.  Hilary has already picked out her outfit and it will include one of the silk hibiscus flowers she cut from an old lei on the RTW.  Look out for it in the pictures if I post them.  The picture I am posting today is the only one we have had taken of our dinner companions Peter and Kay on table 71.  Peter has not been in the best of health this past couple of days, he came down with a very croaky throat, the sniffles and a bit of a  cough about three days ago and he hasn’t really recovered completely yet.  He needs to because in a few weeks time he and Kay are flying to Venice for yet another cruise around the islands, but this time with some of their family and their grandchildren.  Kay is a very elegant lady who is splashing out today to have her hair done ready for the final formal night.

OK I can’t think of anything else to ramble on about so I will say goodnight, thank you for following the blog, thank you for the comments and our special thanks to our three official followers.  Tomorrow we have to pack our suitcases and leave them outside the cabin door overnight ready to be shipped to that vast pain in the backside warehouse in Southampton – let’s hope that this time I remember to collect them all before I exit the Customs Shed.

OK there are two pictures, one of table 71 and one of Hilary taken today sitting in the Crow's Nest doing the Sudoku (I gave up - too hard!)