BETTER AND BETTER....

Better and Better (written Friday 17 December @ 12:45)

We never did get to the Captain cocktail party or the dinner last night. The captain for the crossing (by the way) is Captain McNaught. The weather was very rough and the ship was really tossing about. Mark did not feel well at all after his bath, and in spite of the injection was sick. And I have to say that I was not sure that if I was walking about I would feel that good. So we decided to stay in, watch one of the films on TV and order dinner in.

The great thing about being in a Queens Grill cabin is that you do not order of the room service menu, but order from the actual menu that evening. Maureen brought the full menu in, although they do put a menu for lunch and dinner under the door in the evening.

We ordered some beef consommé and pumpkin risotto for Mark (although he did not eat any in the end). I had caviar with all the trimmings (yummy) and picked at my pumpkin risotto which was tasty but a bit rich for the tossing weather! We shared some very tasty sugar free carrot cake.

We then watched the talks that had been on during the day (as they run them non-stop until the morning) and then a movie (Little Black Book) with Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates in, which was surprisingly good (a kind of "Network" story built around a Jerry Springer show). The talks were one by Brian Hoey (a royal writer) about the UK Honours system and a reflection on cross Atlantic travel by the travel writer Ted Scull. Both were really interesting. The Ted Scull one being the most fascinating from my perspective.

After changing our clocks back an hour again (as you get 25 hour days on the crossing due to the time difference between UK and NYC), we went to sleep at about 22:15 - and the first time awoke was at 7:15 and we eventually woke at 08:30. The sea was much calmer, although as I write it is starting to get more blustery and rougher again.

We got up and went down to breakfast in the Queens Grill. They told us that a lot of people did not make it to dinner, and they also all commented about how rough it had been and they were pleased it was much calmer today.

After breakfast (Raisin bran followed by delicious pancakes and maple syrup), Mark went off to his 09:30 bridge class while I went for a walk on the deck. I really love being on the deck as the wind is very strong, and you can see the ship rising and falling (an amazing amount especially when you are at the back!) and the sea rushing past. Quite a spectacle!

I then went and booked our car transfer from the ship to Penn Station, and did part 1 of the 5 day music quiz. Today was films and I got 12 out of 15. Annoyingly the ones I got wrong I should have known Oh well! We had to hand our papers in and do that each day. Tomorrow is Theatre - and so hopefully I will do okay. Mark will be able to do it with me tomorrow as it is at 10:15 each day, today being earlier as they had the crew boat drill.

Mark and I then went for a walk on deck, taking photos and then went and watched the tap dance class in the Queen’s room. Very entertaining it was too watching these old dears and some (frankly speaking) freaks doing it.

Well, time to head off to lunch. This afternoon we are planning to try and get to the gym, do bingo and maybe nap. It is a hard old life!

Did I mention that over night hey pop 3 or 4 things under the door? These include the daily program (which has all the zillions of activities and events), and 3 papers that they do (UK news, USA news and finance news). They are all eagerly awaited for and we read them and decide what to do each morning, planning our day around them.