There’s still a F7 “Near Gale” outside, and only now at 11.32hrs has the sun poked through to fill my sheltered balcony with 15 degrees of warmth. We are steaming at a respectable 21+ knots and are around 42 degrees north of the Equator. That’s roughly on a level with northern Spain.
Despite the extra hour in bed, and waking up early, I was still late for breakfast and have little strategy for the day ahead, except to take that rare opportunity to relax. I have no intention of staying up late tonight, and I want to acclimatise myself for a possible early start during our day in New York next Tuesday. There is an excellent choice of Cunard excursions, most to familiar places. My first choice is to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. But maybe, I will use the hop on/hop off buses around the city, as previously. I doubt there will be enough time to walk across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I shall tick that box on a future visit.
I have had to ditch another one time favourite shirt, not noticing, yesterday when I wore it complete with tie for dinner, that the collar was badly frayed and in holes! If Jo noticed, she didn’t say anything!
The sun came out eventually and although balmy outside, it proved far too windy for me to resume the deck walking. However, I remain well on target for my charity challenge of one million steps in Europe, Central America, U.S.A. and Canada. Those million steps may be the easy bit. The weight loss, which I hope happens anyway, is more of a challenge.
The sun has retreated, and the sea back to its typical “tempestuousness.” And the Captain promised worse to come before coming out of what should be the last weather system.
I had much of the morning to myself. Jo joined me for lunch which I had hoped would be a chicken curry in the Golden Lion. Annoyingly, the place was almost full with people watching football. So we adjourned to the Britannia Restaurant. I enjoyed the simple meal on offer, as well as the Cunard signature fruit plate, which really, I should photograph for posterity. I always follow my main course with the fruit plate which usually consists of pineapple, melon, orange, plum, and if you are lucky, a strawberry!
In the Royal Court Theatre, this afternoon, a sizeable audience listened to a recital by the Melbourne and Socrates Duo, of music by composers including Rachmaninov, Debussy, Bach, and Poulenc. It was an unusual programme for piano and clarinet, Claire de Lune being the only recognisable melody, which made it an interesting afternoon. We ventured to then take part in the trivia quiz, coming nowhere near winning! After a brief rest, we returned for another quiz, answering 11 out of 12 questions, but still not winning. Jo and I adjourned to the Britannia Restaurant for dinner. Strangely, I had the vegetarian Thai Green Curry, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
As the afternoon progressed towards dusk, the seas whipped up again, and right now, a South Westerly Force 9 Severe Gail is throwing us around yet again. Apparently the air temperature is a welcome 18 degrees Celsius or 64 Fahrenheit, brilliant for a North Atlantic crossing in February. This is only Day 5/28 and we dock in Brooklyn N.Y. on Tuesday after 6 mostly turbulent days at sea.
I shall write more tomorrow, Sunday 20th February. Thanks for reading, David, 00.34hrs 20th February.
David's Cruise 