We made our first visit to the Curzon theatre on deck 7 last night, standing room only for Ben Makisi, a Polynesian opera singer from New Zealand who now lives with his family in Portishead near Bristol. His voice is good, but he also selects popular and familiar pieces so that the audience feels comfortable, maybe even quietly humming along, as in my case. We remember him from last year. He must enjoy the cruise ship circuit, and maybe manages to get home from time to time.
Then came the best sleep ever. It's Tuesday, so it has taken 6 days to get right back to sleeping at night and staying awake during mealtimes ;). It really does feel good. I didn't wake up properly until Khachik was on his second cup of coffee. Even the smell of the first cup didn't do its usual magic. We are situated pretty centrally in the ship, and close to lifts. It means there's not a huge amount of walking to do to get around. I have to say I don't seem to be feeling as much joint pain as usual, and have reduced the codeine component of my pain relief to night time only. This makes me feel very happy and grateful. I know this could change, but for now I am just very thankful that I am able to enjoy everything. I had no idea how this would go, and even wondered at times if it was such a good idea to delay my hip replacements in favour of an already booked (and moreover paid for!) cruise. I think I can safely say it was ok to prioritise the leisure and pleasure.
Looking around the decks there are some fitties aboard. Every so often someone will be seen planking, not just in the gym, there too, but also on the poolside, not like I do, for a breath or two, but for ages. I am full of admiration.
After our usual hearty and healthy breakfasts, we were off to the Crow's Nest, a bar on deck 13, where the art class is held. There we added some colour to yesterday's pagoda and palm tree sunsets, and enjoyed the social side of painting too, getting to know the couple from Cheshire, Chris and Keith, we dined with the night before last.
This afternoon we are going to listen to one of the speakers, this time the life of Agatha Christie - A Woman of Mystery. (Women are definitely top of the bill in the speaking sector - Polar exhibitions, English drama, history of language)
A word about the sea and the weather. In the middle of the Indian Ocean the sea is totally flat, there is hardly any difference between the colour of the sea and the sky, and you can hardly tell where the horizon is, no waves or choppiness on the surface. However there are currents which have their effect on walking in a straight line and the opening or not of the pools, where the water is rolling from side to side and splashing around a lot. It's hot, 29C today. The skies are clear and it seems a lot less humid on the in breath than it was in the straights of Malacca. We seem to be travelling at a steady 18 nots per hour round the clock.
Khachik is being really consistent and mindful of his blood sugar levels by walking every day. That's where he is now. I am staying with my daily yoga, some days more restorative, and also walking laps in the water, though that's when the pools are open. There are quite a few free fitness classes too, like fab abs, body conditioning, bootcamp, circuit training. A bit intense for me (I observe rather than participate!).
Stop press - Khachik is very very happy to announce that satellite telly is back, so we have BBC world news, Sky sports and Sky news along with the films and info channels that are on DVD. There's also a cinema and this afternoon they're showing the Danish Girl, but I saw that on the plane coming over, so its a bit too soon to see it again. I'm not ready to cry that much again.
It now appears that at 10:30 a.m tomorrow we will be having Piracy Drill, (return to cabins, sit outside the cabin on the corridor) and from 24th-26th we have to follow a drill at night, when in our cabins keep the curtains closed with the lights off, stay off the open decks. The instructions arrived last night. We had this drill on Arcadia last year around north East Africa, the Suez Canal and Egypt. I remember how it felt very interesting and reassuring. We noticed changes on the Promenade deck, the surveillance and the water hoses, and heard about "reinforcements" coming on board. I'm guessing it will be the same. So that's a bit of excitement to share from an otherwise empty and uneventful journey on a warm sunny day on a very flat sea.
Goodbye for today. Back again after tomorrow after the drill!
I loved this, especially the slightly whacky, alternative tour guide, Jean-Luc. He told us he was born in Paris, worked originally for IBM, retired and moved to Reunion, and has never looked back. He was really friendly, but also very wise. He welcomed us to Europe, and to France. Some of us had already had texts from our phone providers with promises of cheap calls and texts at Eurpoean rates, so that bit wasn't much of a surprise. But just how "French" St Denis is really was a surprise. Cafe's, Restaurants, shops, and the general look and feel of the streets, the offices and monuments were all very clearly European. We had history, geography and politics lessons throughout the afternoon, all delivered with a lovely sense of humour, all in all one of the best shore tours we've ever had. The history included the plundering, destruction, and the slavery - the dutch the French and the British, but at this point he said very philosophically that we can't judge, only learn from the mistakes of the past to make a better future. I still do feel a sense of ancestral shame, Always will. There was quite a lot of walking between the highlights - the picnic lunch stop, the museum, state buildings, craft market, slavery abolition monument, botanical gardens, canons and coach.
