In Memoriam

 

Borealis Saturday 15th April 2023

That morning we had breakfast in our cabin. Albina had scavenged enough food over the last couple of days for us to enjoy breakfast together. Afterwards I went early to a meeting in the theatre to hear the details of the various excursions in Costa Rica and Colombia. 

In fact, I arrived too early. I came across the tail end of a Remembrance Service for Richard Mosses who had died on that trip on the Hawaiian island of Maui three days ago. There was a picture of him so at last I knew which person that was. I sort of remember him with a longish white beard and always walking around with a shoulder bag. A number of  those attending the service, especially those from his dinner table in the Borealis Restaurant, or from the coach party during which he died, were invited to follow the Ship Chaplain down to the Deck 3 and throw some flowers in his memory into the sea.

While I waited for the talk on the Latin American excursions I was again accosted by a couple of people about yesterday's presentation. Then a man in his fifties approached me and asked almost apologetically, "Are you Wiktor Moszczynski?" I nodded. "From Ealing?" "Yes," "You were a Councillor, weren't you?" "Yes," "Well, I remember you. I worked in the Council." It transpired that he actually worked at a junior level in the Planning Department, when I was Chair of Development Control Sub-Committee East, which made planning decisions for Southall, Greenford and Northolt. Small world indeed. It was even smaller than I thought. Another lady came up to me immediately afterwards. "Do you have a son called Sandro?" "Yes," I said, even more amazed. "Well my sister was a teacher at St Gregorys School." She pointed to her sister who was standing next to the planning officer I had just spoken to. Sandro had attended St Gregorys for just two years when hwe was only 5 and 6. He did fit in very well. In the end we had to remove him and send him to a private prep school, where he flourished. I told them Sandro had done well in the end, with two MSc, "He's 32 now and working in Finland." "32? I remember him just so high." she motioned with her hand at the height of her hip. The fact that this teacher remembered him after over 25 years was incredible. He must have made quite an impression in those 2 years, for good or ill. After they had gone, I realised I should have taken more details of the teacher's name, so as to tell Sandro later.    

The sea is quite calm now. The observation decks are open again as the wind has died down somewhat and Dolphin Dave is strutting about binoculars at the ready, spotting whales in the distant horizons.  

In the meantime I had confirmed my place at the end of May with the Union of Polish Writers Abroad to promote my latest book at the Warsaw Book Fair.

After we had both enjoyed our high tea we returned to the cabin with extra food Albina had put aside for her supper in the cabin. Albina changed into her pyjamas by 6 in the vening. As it was Formal Night again I put on my dinner suit and ate in the Borealis restaurant for the first sitting at our dedicated table. As usual Mary and Bev invited me to their table. I said fine but that I would only join them for dessert because I wanted to correspond with my bank online to get the Barclaycard issue moved forward.  waiter fumbled things somewhat probably because I was not there that often and therefore disturbed his routine. He forgot to offer me wine, he forgot to offer me a bread role, he forgot to give me a spoon after serving me with soup, he took a good ten minutes to seve me my meal of haddock, and he had this irritating habit of saying "good choice" after every order. He says that every time you order, unaware that you shouldonly make such a statement very rarely. Otherwise it sounds patronizing and even false. That said, evrything I ordered was excellent, so perhaps I should not complain too much. I joined Mary and Bev and we discussed the coming tour of San Francisco as well as talking about my lecture of the previous day.

I watched the Tap n Tails dance performance by the Tap Step Brothers going through various routines from Fred Astaire onwards and concluding with Riverdance. After that another general knowledge we had fluffed because we got three answers wrong and ended up with only 13 out of 16.

Another change with the clocks with another one hour forward to line us up with San Francisco's time zone.