Too Much To Fit In

Tuesday 27 March

I woke very reluctantly this morning to find the swell of the ocean much larger than yesterday, and I think the stabilizers were out. The sea is still a sparkling sapphire, but the small wavelets – many with white foamy crests - can be seen as part of a much larger rolling motion. So far the ship is not shuddering more than before. At breakfast, Colin spied a flying fish – he realized that the small bird he thought he spied yesterday, was probably another of these creatures – leaping out of the water and bouncing over the waves like a skimming stone for a few metres, before diving back to the depths once more. I missed the event both times! The Cruise Line television channel showed that we had traveled about 650 miles so far at a speed of around eighteen knots, and were now about level with Salvador.

Once we had finished breakfast, it was time for me to meet up with Bobby again, to agree my exercise programme. It was with some trepidation I made my way to the spa, as exercise and me have not got on too well in the past – but some things must be done to satisfy our vanities. He promised me the programme would not involve joining a gym – been there, done that and failed – but would involve simple exercises that could be done at home. I had mentioned that I had an exercise bike – I hope I still have, as it was in the garden, under the protection of a plastic greenhouse when I left! – and using this has been worked into my regime. I will have to purchase some weights and maybe one of those huge plastic balls – as I cannot keep my balance as I squat down to knee height – not enough practice in the Chinese loos obviously. He took me through the warm up exercises, before moving on to the weights and the bike. After about an hour, it was time to warm down! I hadn’t done too badly, but it proved just how out of shape I am. I booked my nutrition consultation for Thursday morning.

It was then time to meet up with Colin at the cookery demonstration by the Head Chef, an Austrian, and the Italian Chef, a Sardinian. They were making duck breast salad, veal ossu bucco, and mushroom risotto. The duo were serious about their cooking, but there was a lot of banter between them too, and it was great entertainment. We even got to sample the risotto at the end, which was buttery and creamy and the rice a perfect “al dente”. We both stayed on for the health lecture, which was almost the same as the one I attended yesterday, but with a power-point presentation instead of a flip chart. As Colin hadn’t heard it before, we stayed to the end. We were both still full up from breakfast – in fact Colin wasn’t feeling too good – so we decided to skip lunch, and I blogged while he rested.

At 14.00 we were again at the bridge tables, learning today about starting the bidding system. Colin and Maureen had also come along today, so we made an immediate four – this Colin had played a little before, so knew the principles, but Maureen was another raw recruit. We managed to follow the system – whoever you play against must play the same system as you, so that you can follow the bids and approximate who has what cards! We were playing the “five card major” system – American I think – but at home apparently they may play a British game, so perhaps we would be ostracized. We managed a few hands at the end of class, and always seemed to seriously undercall our hands – perhaps we will learn more tomorrow about bidding higher.

Colin had not been at all well during the afternoon and struggled to stay at the bridge lesson, so we returned to the cabin for him to rest some more. I went off to the await the start of the trivia quiz in the Martini lounge –where the martini class - just finishing - was sitting around with about nine different shot glasses in front of each of them, with different coloured liquid in each glass – representing a different flavour. Strange that after a couple of hours there was still drinks left in the glasses. But this was soon all cleared away and “teams” began to arrive for the quiz. As I hadn’t attended yesterday, I was adopted by the team which had surrounded me on the sofa, including four “very nice” men. Rob, the Cruise Director, asked a series of twenty trivia questions. We didn’t do so well – the team had won yesterday without my efforts – but scraped a paltry eleven points, but they asked me back to join them tomorrow, so I couldn’t have done too badly. Question: What is Anginaphobia a fear of?

It was then time to find out how Colin was doing. He was still in bed, and although said he felt a little better, he didn’t think he would be able to eat much tonight. We had booked for the Polo Grill, one of the speciality restaurants, which he had both been looking forward to. In the end Colin did manage to come along to the restaurant and ate some plain grilled mahi mahi (flat and white) fish and mashed potatoes – coincidentally the same food he last ate at Arica when he was suffering from descending from the mountains. I ate oysters rockafella – three oysters covered in a cheese and spinach sauce which were delicious, followed by clam chowder and steak. My meal was scrummy, but the steak just too huge. In view of Colin feeling poorly, we decided to have an “early” night even though it was still after 23.00 by the time we got to bed. I am hoping Colin will feel lots better tomorrow, as we have a busy day arranged.