Woke to a fog-bound ship and the regular echoing of her foghorn. I wonder why foghorns sound so melancholy? Warmer than I anticipated, but still chilly enough that I'm pleased I left the shorts at home.The decks are too slippery for me to walk about much.
Bert from South Africa makes a good omelet but not as tasty as Adrian's from previous cruise, who is on leave with his family.
Wandered by the missing woman's cabin which is still sealed off but now with security rather than quarantine tape. Rumors abound. Ships are like small villages when it comes to gossip and theories to fill in holes in information.
Threw caution to the winds and had a hair appointment, expensive but my hair feels like it did 20 years ago. No wonder wealthy folk have great hair if they they can afford regular treatments that include heated towels and scalp massages! Nonetheless, having done this once, it is now off my bucket list forever as there are too many other things I'd rather try with my shekels.
Re-met Dianne and Scott from Ontario and spent a pleasant time chatting. I enjoyed her stories about the rigors of working for a de luxe Canadian airline, no carts were allowed so she had to memorize 12 drinks orders at a time!!!!
Watched from the audience as the RADA folks gave a workshop on telling other people's stories. It is what every teacher who tries to interest students/ in literature does every day, sometimes with only marginally less drama than these actors used!
Declined to attend the New York Times lecture on Gabriel Garcia Marquez as his magical realism never appealed to me when I attempted to read his works, so why would I want to listen to an analysis? Turned out to be a good decision, as Sheila commented it was one of the worst talks she had ever heard! Audience members even argued with him!
Met Helen when she sat next to me in Kings Court when I stopped for a salad. she spent 30 years working in the shipyards in Seattle and never thought she would actually take a cruise, then decided "I needed to get over myself" and came aboard QM2.
Sheila joined me as Helen left. We got into a discussion with Santosh, Sous Chef, about vegetarian curry with lentils (a dish she favors being a non-red meat eater) and lamb or chicken curry (which I favor). Discovered the Coriander dinner is June 5, so I may just attend that epicurean delight.
Clocks turned ahead an hour at noon. It's disconcerting to suddenly lose an hour, but the upside is the return trip our days will be 25 hours rather than 23.
Knitting was delightful. Barbara is from Long Island and works in Manhattan. She's attempting a baby hat and we chatted about methodologies and yarn weights. I shared a few of my simpler patterns as my goal is to produce a dozen preemie hats before I reach NY. Hers is more complicated as it is for a soon-to-be-arriving grandchild.
Somehow the day flew by. Our new dinner table is fabulous. Smack dab in the center of everything, next to the Captain's Table. We ogled the fashion show of arriving guests on this first formal night. I wish I had the capability to snap pictures so I could share the variety of tacky, trophy wives hanging out of their gowns contrasted with the conservatives who took their fashion styles from Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher. Alas, I was uncomfortable snapping away while seated as a dinner table.
Our dining partners are indicative of the variety of passenger on board. Jackie is a late 70's willowy Toronto-ite who husband passed away and is now "wandering the globe, fulfilling my bucket list before I can no longer walk on my own." Father Dueffle is the Roman Catholic priest serving aboard QM2 from his parish in the Upper West Side as the regular Cunard priest is on vacation. Seems it's Cunard policy to have a priest on board for regular masses, especially appealing to the enormous numbers of Catholic crew members. Father Dueffle noted that while his passenger masses were seldom even half full, his crew masses were always crammed to the rafters.
Final table-mate is Commodore Everette Hoard who is Public Relations manager for The Queen Mary, the actual one berthed in Long Beach! He's been with her for decades and is traveling to UK as part of a several years project in oral history to gather videos of surviving Queen Mary crew (fewer than 300 still live). He was most entertaining. An especially wrenching story was his interview with a gentleman who was a young boy when his family tried to escape Germany just before Kristalnacht. They were stopped in route to meet Queen Mary in Cherbourg because they did not have the required red J stamp on their passports. A harrowing few hours were spent while the father searched the city for an official who would give them the stamp. When one was finally located, he was a dinner so had no stamp, borrowed a crayon from a child and drew the required J, then initialed it. The family was allowed to board the next train but realized all had been for naught as the ship would have long sailed when they reached Cherbourg. The sympathetic conductor cabled Cunard offices about the situation. The family arrived in Cherbourg to discover Cunard had cars waiting to transport them to the ship and Queen Mary departed for the USA more than 6 hours behind schedule! If Everette gives a lecture this week, I will even skip knitting to attend.
Ended the day with postprandial drinks in the Commodore Club with the Glasgow Boys. Back in 8077 just after 1 AM. Hence the delay in posting this account.
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