Mid-Atlantic

 

Borealis Sunday 7th May 2023

 

The sky is grey and overcast and the sea is likewise grey with a moderate swell. With little joy we proceed to our destined home through a foretaste of English dampness and dullness. Yet it is not cold. On the Observation Deck there is a strong sea breeze, seeking to negate the milder warmth of the nid-Atlantic. As the ship gently rolls, so do its passengers. In the corridors, walking along the length of the upstairs buffet, trying to find a seat in the library, chatting and viewing presents to buy in the shops, we would all fail a police request to walk a straight line. You see it most at the poolside where the water splashes backwards and forwards exaggerating the sway of the waves 10 decks below. When it came to lunch Albina was tying bravely to carry her onion soup, splashing about like a mini pool, towards our table, much to the gentle amusement of the staff, until one came forward like a true knight and offered to carry it for her.

 

I managed to attend a morning lecture about the blue riband competition announced year after tear between passenger vessels in crossing the Atlantic. It was interesting enough for me to hear most of it before my narcolepsy took over again, and I was eventually woken by the audience clapping. The one truly interesting fact I picked up from that lecture was the story of the ss Sirius which made the crossing the late 1840s after burning part of the furniture and the wooden structure of the ship, when the coal ran out. Was this what prompted Verne to describe Phileas Fogg's crossing of the Atlantic in the luckless "Henrietta"?

 

I ran into Sammee at the staircase. I congratulated her for arranging with Buckingham Palace to have the Coronation held on May 6th. just so she could help complete enough diversions to engage us all during the long crossing of the Atlantic. She took in the joke and agreed that she had it all sorted "with her friend Charles", but she was particularly proud to have arranged with the BBC to show the 2 hour Coronation Concert at 6pm in the Neptune Theatre. She was keeping her fingers crossed that the link with the BBC would work so far from the nearest land. I remain amazed at her skill in organizing events, large and small, with such flair and imagination over such a long cruise. I told her she could figure as the heroine of my cruise blog if it gets published. "Don't forget to email me with it when it's published," she called out as she rushed away.

 

I managed to sit out one more lecture, this time on the Azores, I slept through some of that too, though , the legend of the lake with two colours sounded beguiling. Apparently two frustrated lovers, a princess and a shepherd boy, one green eyed and the other blue, were forbidden by the king to marry and cried their hearts out in the waters filling the crater. 

 

We had a disappointment when a rotating globe we wanted to buy as a present for a relative, six copies of which had been on display in one of the ship's shopping outlets since February, had all disappeared when Albina finally decided to buy one.

 

The Guest Services staff gave me the link to make telephone calls from our cabin telephone. If only I had asked for that earlier. It meant that I was finally able to call British Airways and to clear away the technical obstruction to reaching our BA staff travel account. It also meant that, nearer the day, I will be able to contact ROL Cruise by phone to check the arrangements for the limousine due to take us home from Southampton Dock next Saturday.

 

We decided to watch the BBC channel with the Coronation Concert together in the cabin, rather than me seeing it on my own in the theatre. I was disappointed at first at the lack of top billing British artists who had agreed to come forward, but Lionel Ritchie, Katy Perry and Take That eventually made up for that, and because of the amateur enthusiasm of so many choirs from around the UK and even the Commonwealth, being invited to take part it felt like a truly inclusive occasion. Once it was dark the drone lighting in the sky and the castle backdrop for a sound and light show kindled the magic that will make this concert so memorable. An extraordinary beautiful and original concept was the stage performance of a couple of stage actors and a couple of ballet dancers playing the part of the lovers simultaneously backed by the live orchestral music of West Side Story was an extraordinarily beautiful and original innovation.

 

Our quiz team were together again scoring 14 out of 16. Runners up yet again but no longer frustrated, as we had achieved our goal of three victories.

 

I had just remembered at the last minute to move our watches once more hour forward again. We are now only two hours different from London time.