patriciawatt

Friday February 2, 2018 @ 11PM

Remember those idyllic seas with gently rolling waves I spoke about yesterday?  Well forget it.

We are back to rocking and rolling.  But this time, it feels like we are travelling along some really bumpy road and bottoming out consistently.  Jerky.  Big bangs.  Every so often there is this huge bump like we just ran into something.  How can it feel “bumpy” when we are slicing through water?   Perhaps the best way to describe it is like big turbulence at 35000 feet when one is flying. And we are back to walking like drunken sailors again.

I think I will have a talk with the captain.  He and I are on a first name basis now.  With my cabin right under his bridge, I must be his number one lookout.  Every time I get up in the middle of the night to pee, I go out on my veranda to make sure we are not being chased by pirates.  I check for other vessels in the area, the skies  and the weather, and I am sure he appreciates all this.  In spite of the rough water, tonight is a beautiful night.  The stars are out.  Orion’s  belt is still there, and has been following us since Miami.  The moon is making a beautiful silvery swath across the water, and it is cooler than it has been since we left Miami at 62 degrees or 16 Celsius.

Breaking news!!  Today the Babe’s won their first Trivia game.  First place.  Three big “0” points.   We are on a roll and at dinner we celebrated with champagne!  Three bottle of champagne to be exact.   One would think we won the lottery.  Then we went to the show – “Four on the Floor.”  Great singers and dancers and the music of Motown, Beatles, BeeGees, Abba to name a few.  All those great tunes we grew up with.  We were all dancing in the aisles. 

Never one to quit a good thing, on up to the lounge we went to dance and imbibe  So much fun and great DJ music up there too.  Then I remembered …. I have a 7:30AM appointment with my trainer in the morning.  (I decided to put my shipboard credits to good use when I boarded,  and I have a trainer, Sho, for the whole six months.   He’s great and I am working out M-W-F. ) It’s been great except maybe for tomorrow morning….  I know it’s Saturday, but it’s a make up session.

Anyway, my good friend Viola accompanied me upstairs to the DJ party.  I think she thinks she has to keep an eye on me.  She had tea and I had two G&Ts.  Viola is a doll.  She is 88 years old.  A solo traveller like me.  Walks  with a “stick” as she calls it, because she has had one knee replacement.  She plays Trivia with us when we are short one person, is learning Mahjong with us, plays shuffle board, ping pong, and bean bags,  and wins more often than the rest of us.  She has been a delight to get to know and I will definitely go to visit with her next time I am in England.  She lives in Portsmouth.  I hope to hell that when I am 88 I am still travelling and doing the things she does.  I am sorry she is getting off in Cape Town.  I will miss her.