When we woke up this morning, we couldn’t believe we were already half-way through our holiday. Today the Braemar was at sea, so we could enjoy a lazy day doing whatever we pleased. 🙂
We enjoyed our breakfast (which included a couple of free glasses of ‘champagne’ as it was formal night), took our malaria tablets and just wandered around the ship for a bit before it was time to go to the Neptune Lounge to see the Braemar‘s version of “Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook”, a popular TV programme in Britain which tries to get non-cooks to produce an edible meal. It featured the hotel manager, ship’s executive chef Martin Grabenhofer, and comedian Martin Daniels.
They first of all had to prepare a Baked Alaska, which was taken away to be cooked, then some sort of prawn dish. There was, of course, the comedy element as people who were cack-handed near a hot-plate had to be taught by the volatile chef. Neverthless they all produced some version of the dish, whether it was edible or not was left to the passengers, who were invited up to have a taste.
Afterwards we went along and had a look in the boutique, where I bought a reversible maxi-dress complete with wrap for only £45.00. I also spotted an absolutely gorgeous necklace with Murano glass. Murano, as you know, is the famous Venetian hand-blown glass and is much appreciated the world over.
We then went back to the cabin for a while, where I did some kumihimo braiding out on the balcony, until it was time to go along to the next event.
We made our way to the Morning Light pub, where the “Name that Tune” quiz was going to be held, played by pub entertainer Pat Shannon. The place was already pretty crowded so we perched on bar stools at the bar and I passed time time before the start of the quiz with my kumihimo. A number of people, out of curiosity, asked what I was doing, so I showed them how the 16 threads came together into a braid. I promised the little barmaid, Emma, that I would make a bracelet for her.
The deputy cruise director, Jamie, gave out the quiz papers and we were soon joined by another very pleasant couple to form a team. Singer Pat Shannon arrived and the quiz took the following format: Pat would play the first few bars of well-known songs and you had to list the title as well as the artiste to gain a point for each, with a total of 15 questions (30 points).
When he started playing the tunes, some of the bar staff, as well as our team, started to sing along, much to the chagrin of some of the ‘serious’ quizzers. It was all just good fun though, made more so by the (very!) strong sangria cocktails we were drinking. We quietened down once Jamie told the “team at the bar” to behave ourselves though. 🙂
Anyway, we thought we did very well, scoring a total of 27/30, but the winners scored an impressive 29 points, so once again no prize for us.
Afterwards we went to the Palms Café for some lunch, with a glass of rosé wine each. We then sat out on the balcony for a bit before having an afternoon nap.
Tonight was time for the glad-rags once again, so I got showered and did my hair and pottered around for a bit. I don’t know what on earth the barmaid had put in the two sangrias I’d enjoyed earlier on, but I certainly knew I’d had a drink. While getting ready, and due to the motion of the Braemar on the choppy Atlantic ocean, I lost my balance, crashing into the dressing table chair and knocking it over, resulting in a painful bruise on my right thigh.
I finished off a few of the kumihimo bracelets, adding the end-caps and clasps, then I went along to the Morning Light and gave Emma the promised bracelet. I also put the rest into my evening bag to allow Jackie, Val and Gillian on table 123 to take their pick later on. 🙂
I then decided to go back to the ship’s boutique to buy the gorgeous Murano necklace, which would go perfectly with the aubergine-coloured dress and sequinned lace jacket that I planned to wear tonight.
Once again we enjoyed a delicious dinner, stimulating conversation and the ladies were delighted with their hand-woven bracelets.
In the Neptune Lounge later on we saw Jane Beaumont, the singer, once again. Then it was off, as usual, to the Coral Club for the quiz which we lost by one measly point. The show company put on a performance called “Blues Brothers Soul Sisters” and we enjoyed the music by the M.I.T Band.
We were back in cabin 7050 at a reasonable time as we had to be up early in the morning. The Braemar was due to dock in Banjul, the Gambia, which would increase our “countries visited” total to 73.