Because of our late night last night (or should I say this morning) I struggled to get out of my pit, so it was after 9.00am when we got up this morning, and went up to the Grampian restaurant for our breakfast. The sea was still fairly calm, but not as calm as the previous few days; there were a few peaky waves and a nippy breeze blowing, and I needed to go back to our cabin to get my denim jacket to wear outside; we noticed other people were wearing fleeces and thicker sweaters this time as well.
At 10 o’clock we went along to the Neptune Lounge to listen to a presentation called “The Secret Diary of a World War II Soldier”. It was very interesting as well as poignant in a lot of places.
Immediately afterwards was a Chinese cookery demonstration by the gourmet chef Jim McGuire. We were all given a copy of the recipe and Jim set up his wok and started his sizzling dish of ginger, garlic, spring onions, minced chicken, fresh chilli and other tempting ingredients. The savoury smells which wafted across to us were making us feel hungry!
Afterwards we were invited up to try some, and it was delicious – flavoursome and spicy. It took us nicely to lunchtime which we spent in the Palms Café; the salads are always fresh and crisp and there is a good selection of cold meats, cheeses and other delights.
The time always does seem to go very quickly; there is always so much to do that there is never the chance to get bored. The beauty of a long voyage like this is that you can do as much or as little as you want; you can join in or do your own thing, you can participate in the activities or make your own amusement; most of the time I tend to do both, but either way the days fly by.
The evening entertainment started with the Braemar’s version of “Liars’ Club” (also known as Call My Bluff) in the Neptune Lounge, featuring Elliot the cruise director, Lloyd Davies the comedian and John Lenahan the magician, with Duncan acting as host. As ever, the words for which they had to provide the definitions had slight double-entendre connotations about them, so much hilarity ensued. 🙂
Then the electric violinist, Lauren Charlotte, put in another performance. As ever, she was excellent; I love classical crossover.
The evening winged by – the quiz, The Revolverlites, the disco – all passed in amusing and convivial company. Around midnight we decided to turn in as we were due to reach terra firma tomorrow for the first time in a week.