Final day at Sea

(Personal Note: I've been remiss in posting this final submission, just because time got away from me once I returned home to The Burg. That said, three reminders from friends in the past few days that I had not yet "officially" ended my trip blog for November 2018 have put the spurs to me. I am post-dating this to the "should have been posted on" day, even though it is actually December 4.)

When I woke this morning and scanned my program, my initial reaction was "Who in the Hell, could stomach seeing Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again at 6 in the morning?!?!?! It was dreadful enough at 8 in the evening when I saw it in the theater! But before coffee?? Or in my case Diet Coke, my caffeine of choice!

I declined to hear Johnny Beerling prattle on about Dolly Parton. I mean, I like Dolly's music and all, but I don't think she's all that.

My avoidance was rewarded when I ran into Dr. Schroder in Connexions. We went for coffee and spent nearly an hour talking. What a remarkable woman. Despite being arranged-married to a much older man, she raised her kids AND got accepted in University with only a high school education and a few junior college courses under her belt. We talked about being rules in education for the betterment of the students, even though sometimes it cost us. We shared about the pangs of being curious women who are driven to find answers to off-the-wall, non-linear-thinking questions. The minutes sped by. We might have stayed longer but she had a meeting to attend. I will look for her as a speaker again; she takes 3 weeks a year to be an on-ship speaker, it's her way to escape, just like it is mine. I hope to maintain an email correspondence with her.

Les Evans' final lecture on the future of high-speed air travel was fascinating. I learned the British Airways Concorde was actually making money but was cancelled after the Paris accident. Airbus even refused to consider a buy-out by a group of ex-pilots who wanted to purchase the British Airways planes. I also learned that the biggest problem was the USA's severe restrictions on take-off and landing noise levels. These restrictions continued to increase as property developers complained and spent money on PAC's to influence Congress. (I wish I could say I'm stunned.)  No one wanted to create the hybrid turbo-jet/turbo-fan engine necessary. Evans took us through the GE Affinity, NASA's F15/Quiet Spike. He spoke of meeting Blake Scholl, founder of Boom Supersonic and the person Evans believes may have the way to return fast-flight planes to service within 10 years. YAY!! I might still get a chance to fly supersonic, sort of.

I listened to the Simon Davies give a truly inspirational classical guitar performance, highlighting Duke Ellington, Bach and Spanish Romance.

As always, the Passenger Talent Show was amazing. Singers prevailed, but competed with a magician, a ventriloquist, a couple of really, really good dramatic readings and a juggler.

I went to Commodore to meet the speakers, as I had promised Dr. Schroder I would. (She thought no one would be there for her. What a joke!!) I stopped to tell Les Evans how much I enjoyed his talks and was introduced to Bob , a passenger who, as it turns out, was ALSO a British Airways Concorde pilot who'd left the line a few months before Evans joined). I got both men to sign a note for Joe. (He'll be tickled.)

After watching RADA perform their wonderful Bedtime Stories pieces, I packed my suitcase, put it outside my door and meant to go down to Golden Lion to say bye to Alexhandra, but hit the sheets for the final time instead.