TROUBLE AT T’MILL

Oh Dear! We asked if we could be seated at a six seater for dinner for the second part of the voyage rather than an eight seater as we found the latter a little crowded. The maitre d’ was only too happy to comply BUT……he also seemed to think it would be a good idea to put us on the same table as the Aussies with whom I had the small contretemps on queuing when we boarded. We have largely ignored each other on the odd occasion that our paths have crossed since then, but here we were last evening, facing each other across the table with the third couple making up the six consisting of a pleasant but rather quiet pair. So instead of the chit-chat and banter we have been enjoying until now there were many rather deathly silences, broken by the sounds of mastication and the picking of Joe’s teeth with the fingernail of his pinkie. Dee is looking forward to shopping in Tangier because they make such good fakes. She has several fake Longines: Joe always collects a dozen or so fakes when he goes to Bali for presents. Tells people to throw the watches way when the batteries run out as the batteries cost more than the watches. I’ll be seeing the maitre d’ about moving tables this morning.

The ship was a little late into Tilbury yesterday. The delay in the Kiel Canal apparently compounded by the strong winds during the night. I must say we hadn’t noticed anything by way of substantial movement of the ship beyond a slight rocking, so perhaps the winds had not whipped up a large sea. The new security cards were issued without any problem, enabling us to get off the ship soon after we docked. I was surprised to see how many people were making their own way off the ship. Normally the crew take off the luggage, the passengers are called off in batches either by class of accommodation or by nationality – we sat for hours on one voyage on a US cruise waiting for all the US citizens and other aliens to be called off before they got down the alphabet to South African!! – but here were people bumping their luggage down the stairs, standing like so many cattle in the passageways, some for more than an hour, waiting for the stampede that would get them off the ship an hour or two earlier. We were allowed to push past them, waving our boarding passes to ensure that we were not subject to a citizen arrest for breaking the queue regulations.

We grabbed a cab and headed to the local Asda to pick up a couple of items – mainly wrapping material for the umbrella Rab bought at Bad Doberman which doesn’t fit into her suitcase and will have to be carried aboard the aircraft. I have fashioned a sling for it from one of my spare straps and it now looks like a rifle slung from her shoulder. Hopefully any troops on duty at Heathrow will not shoot on sight. We had been told the Asda shops, which are owned by Wal-Mart, were like Wal-Mart shops and we had been looking forward to wandering the aisles gazing in wonder at some of the unusual items on display., like the material that I used to fill a tooth in New England when I found that dentists in that part of the world would not see anyone but the patients on their list. When I asked the receptionist at one of the dentists I contacted what I could do, she suggested the Wal-Mart option and sure enough there was a small package with instructions on how to mix the epoxy and pack the tooth. Did me well too for the rest of the trip and my dentist back home had to drill it out! Anyway…back to Asda…clearly the people who compared it to a Wal-Mart had never seen a Wal-Mart. It was not as good as a Coles supermarket back home.

There was a MacDonald’s nearby so we nipped in there to use their free WiFi to download mail and the Australian newspapers to get some idea of what was happening back home. I can’t make out what is wrong with the way my e-mail is set up because once again the reply I tried to send bounced with an odd message. It seems I can get some mail through using my gmail account, but not my main Optus accounts – all very strange.

After having our meal there – it made a change from the ship’s food! – and since they started serving wraps I can avoid those cotton wool rolls they use for their burgers, we headed back to the ship. Our luggage had been moved from our superior accommodation to which we had been upgraded for the first leg down to the accommodation we had booked which is cosier, but still very comfortable. It is a strange feature of cabin choice on ships that the more expensive the accommodation, the more it will move about in heavy seas. We always start the booking process by seeing where the hospital is located because that is usually in the most stable part of the ship and look for suitable cabins in the vicinity of that area. They are usually low down, almost at water level, and more reasonably priced. On the other side of the balance sheet, living down here means a bit of a hike to the entertainment and general lounges etc, although not to the Waldorf trough, which is just one deck above and within easy reach. I must say I prefer being down here in many ways. The cabin we had was spacious, the large windows were nice to have, but we were somewhat removed from the feeling of being at sea. Rather like being in a pleasant hotel room. Down here you can hear the distant rumble of the engines, hear the waves slapping the hull and feel that you are truly experiencing something different. Maybe it is because most of our voyages have been like this – and even on the good old RMS St Helena, although our cabins were somewhat higher up, the size of the ship meant we were closer to the sea.

After unpacking and re-stowing all our goods we had a bit of a nap – we had been up pretty early in the day as cabins had to be vacated by 7.30 – and, excused lifeboat drill, we just lolled around the Captains Club observing our new travel mates and sipping on the odd cocktail. Rab has taken to Mojitos in a big way but regrettably, the mint had not been unpacked yet, so we had to make do with a couple of Amoretto Sours followed in the fullness of time by an Irish coffee.

The weather predictions for the next couple of days are good, so no trouble is expected as we go through the Bay of Biscay today and tomorrow, although looking out of our porthole, the sea looks somewhat rougher than it has been. The long range forecasts are for the sunny and warm clime in the Mediterranean to continue so we’re looking forward to all the new places we’ll be visiting.

PS, The maitre d' was only too happy to change our seating - we're looking forward to meeting the new people on table 76 tonight, although no doubt they'll be dressed to the nines as it is the Captain's Cocktail party again tonight. I'll haul out my tie and strangle myself:-)