All at Sea

For the second night running I’ve had a really good night’s sleep. I don’t normally manage this in hotels, so I’m amazed I can do it on the ship. However I did notice it rolling about in the night.

The first thing we notice when we head up to the buffet breakfast, is that the weather is really bad. It’s grey and raining. However we find a sheltered spot and watch members of the crew mopping up rather a lot of water around us. There is one member of the crew we find quite interesting to watch. We’ve christened him the “decorative one”. His main role in life seems to be propping up a pillar and occasionally wiping down a table. This he does with great skill and boy does he look good doing it.

There is one member of the crew we find quite interesting to watch. We’ve christened him the “decorative one”.

We sit with an elderly couple, the husband tells me tales of his charity shop and being an ex policeman. My friend heads off to join the choir and I go to see if my binocular case has turned up. I’ve also bought sometime time on the internet, so hopefully I’ll be able to annoy everyone at work soon. Perhaps I’ll wait until it brightens up though.

After spending sometime in the champagne bar waiting for the St Petersburg talk, I find myself fighting to get in. Everyone seems to have come and the previous talk for the first sitting diners has overrun considerably. Highlights of the talk are tales of Mad Vlad the ex KGB guide who will threaten to exterminate you if you don’t behave and the toilet buses that set up shop beside important sights and monuments! The talk is interesting and full of historical detail, but is even longer than the previous ones – still I do manage to stay awake for all of it.

As I leave I bump into my friend, who thought I might still be here. She has been having lots of scrabble and quiz related fun. We decide to go for a cup of tea and end up having lunch on deck with one of my friend’s scrabble friends. Her husband is lying down in their cabin suffering from sea sickness, but refuses to take the tablet she got for him.

We while away the still wet afternoon by attending the guest lecture, provided by Dave Prouse (Darth Vader and the Green Cross Code Man). This first talk covers his early childhood and his break into show business. This was in a play where Death had to lift an actor up and walk off the stage with him. This Dave did with ease. The talk is peppered with clips from his films. There are Hammer classics where he played Frankenstein’s monster, "Up Pompeii", where he had to avoid the advances of Frankie Howard and “A Clockwork Orange” which most of the audience hadn’t seen! You can’t help feeling that whilst his career has been a successful one, it’s not really one you would want to shout about. Still this is just the first one and we haven’t even reached Star Wars yet.

Later we join the arts and crafts group where we make gift boxes from card! Personally I’d be perfectly happy sitting in the observation lounge reading or doing puzzles (and writing this journal). My friend however seems to bounce off the walls, I’m beginning to realise she has a lot in common with her dog! Still tomorrow will be our first port visit and I’m sure we will have plenty to keep us busy.

This evening is a formal meal, beginning with the Captain’s cocktail party. Time to get out the evening dress, stick on the false nails and slap on the war paint. Then we head off to meet the Captain. We already know the crew is Greek and I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to remember how to say “good evening”. I don’t warn my friend and as he takes my hand I go for it, “Kali Sparea!”. It certainly takes him by surprise and he keeps hold of me and starts speaking Greek. I explained that I learnt a few phrases when I visited Greece and he wanted to know all about it. My friend is cross because I didn’t warn her. But as I point out, if I had she would have done it instead!

Whilst we sip our drinks the Captain introduces us to all the senior members of the crew. As he does this, he tells us their nationalities. Most are Greek and we begin to anticipate it with a hearty shout of “Greek!” Finally we fall into his trap and shout it out, only to have the Captain correct us “no! He’s Polish”. We are onto his tricks now and don’t fall for it again. Mind you the only non Greek crew members are the Chef (from Vietnam), Sid (from India) and Christine (from Blackpool).