Smooth Sailing
Everywhere you look onboard the good ship Lance, there are hand sanitising stations. They even have Miss Wishy Washy, who stands at the entrance of the restaurant armed with a giant bottle of sanitiser and a ready smile. Despite their best efforts, I guess when you sign up for a cruise, you are well aware that one of the expected pitfalls is the possibly of getting sick. Unfortunately, I woke this morning with a dreaded (non-Covid) lurgy. I felt crook as a dog. Jude donned her active wear and went for an energetic walk around the decks, leaving me to snooze a little longer. I managed some brekky and then opted for some more rest to try and knock this thing on the head.
With some rest under my belt (along with some Panadol) I perked up a bit in the afternoon (not literally, thankfully!) and we pulled up a couple of deck chairs at the fake flower pool, sipping on frozen fruity mocktails and catching up on all the news from some of our newly acquired friends. The swell has picked up and it was lots of fun being in the pool while the boat surged from side-to-side, waves splashing over us. We had to hang on!
Errol came to give our room the once over and while there, revealed the startling truth that our perplexing pig/elephant towel sculpture from a few days ago, was in fact…wait for it…a KOALA! Hmmm. I think he was as shocked as I was to have correctly picked yesterday’s as a goat. (We loved Lise’s title for it: “Long-eared Goat in Repose With Remote”.) I’m sure you will agree, today’s penultimate offering was his best yet.
Tonight was Woodstock night; passengers awash with tie-dye, beads, daisies in the hair and John Lennon glasses. We find it very amusing when one person in a couple decides to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to the theme, going the whole hog and decking themselves out from head to toe, while their partner refuses to participate and just wears their ordinary clothes. It’s hilarious. We had one such couple next to us at dinner tonight. He had an afro wig, beads, sunnies, tasseled vest, even his sandalled feet were theme compliant. She was wearing a nice pair of blue slacks a plain shirt and some sensible shoes. Halfway through our meal, we could hear some faint music and we, along with the girls at the table next to us, wondered if someone’s phone alarm was going off. Where was it coming from? A closer inspection of our table neighbour: Conscientious Objector to the Dress-Ups, revealed she was actually the source of the music. This conservative looking woman was playing her own little harmonica, secreted behind her hand, right there at the dinner table. Once she saw we were onto her, she turned up the volume and was pumping out the tunes. How random. Her hippy husband seemed remarkably unperturbed.
The dinner waiter had put a hold on all desserts, promising a big surprise was afoot. We had a very important date with Jon Stevens so time was of the essence. Eventually he offered up that it was “a very special dance” and he seemed genuinely excited for us to see it. Wow, the suspense was killing us. We waited until the last possible time we could spare but alas, never did get to spy the “special dance”.
Jon Stevens was in fine form and delivered a full energy show in the main theatre- well worth waiting for. Jude was front and centre, moshing to her heart’s content, in her element and snapping shots and videos of her favourite guy. I sat a few rows back, just because I wasn’t feeling 100% & didn’t want to be too generous with my germs.
We somehow summoned the energy for one more show, which was Steve Balbi. To be honest, he sounded as tired as we were and blamed his under par performance on his “boat throat” ie “a little condition that happens to your throat when you’re on a boat”, he explained. I may not be feeling tip top but thank goodness I haven’t contracted boat throat.
Only one more day left of this magnificent, rocking ocean liner. We have had an absolute ball!
