I slept well overnight. That makes one of us. Diane had a dreadful night - having forgotten to take her medication before bed. The clocks had spun forward an hour overnight. Despite the missing hour, I still woke at my usual 7:00 (local) time. I don’t, however, expect Ellie will be knocking on the door soon after 7:00!
As I sat and enjoyed a coffee on our balcony, (it was bright and sunny but still a little cool) I watched as freighters plied their way into and out of Harwich. We can also see a couple of oil rigs fairly close at hand.
After a super breakfast, we went for a stroll around the deck before returning to our cabin. The plan was to meet up again to attend a talk on Norway and the Fjords by an ex-Navy chap, married to a Norwegian, who was clearly enthralled by the country, its history, its geology, and scenery. It was well attended and absolutely brilliant.
Leaving the lecture, we looked for a spot where we could grab a coffee. Clearly, everyone else did also. When we found one of the Costa outlets, there was nowhere to sit. Trevor stayed and ordered coffee for the girls I went back to the Piano Bar and grabbed a table and ordered a couple of beers. This was far more comfortable. Thirst sorted out, we decided that a small snack was the next order of the day. In the Belvedere buffet we helped ourselves to some fruit, some cold meats and some small baguettes. Not finding anywhere to sit comfortably, we retired to our cabin and the four of us had our snacks on the balcony. Trevor and Jane left as they had some plans. We stayed on the balcony enjoying the sun and our books. Considering we were on a level with Newcastle, it was still wonderfully warm and sunny.
After a while, I got fidgety. It was time to get a little exercise. Leaving Di in the sun, I dropped down to the Promenade deck and started to walk circuits off the ship. I did six circuits, which was 2 miles. (The watch thought it was significantly more, because the ship was moving and it looked as if I was covering a kilometre every couple of minutes - even at my forest, I don’t think I could ever have managed that (even on a bike). It was noticeable how the starboard side - by now, in the shade - was significantly cooler than the sun drenched port side.
Once ready for the Captain’s Reception, we took the opportunity to have a video call with Ellie. We couldn’t do it earlier because she had a dance class straight after school. (Apparently, the teacher said that she’s a natural mover - clearly getting it from her Grandfather.) Zoe went on to explain that Ellie had been worried. She had been tracking us on FindMyFriends and noticed that my location seemed to be different from Nana’s. She was convinced I had left her behind somewhere. Zoe had to explain that it depended on where our phones were last detected. I suggested she switch to the cruise mapper and that seemed to satisfy her.
Tonight was deemed a “Celebration Night” - this meant we had to get dolled up in our finery for the evening. The celebrations started with a drinks reception with the Captain at the Nautilus deck. The captain made a speech and introduced the senior management team. The head chef got the biggest cheer of the lot - of course! We mingled a bit then we all drifted away to dinner.
After dinner we made our way to the Palladium Theatre and settled down for the evening’s show. It was Arcadia’s “Headliners” who gave us about 45 minutes of singing and dancing. This isn’t generally my sort of thing, but I must say that it was very good and featured (among other things) a medley of Gary Barlow numbers and a very good medley based on the James Bond theme.
Leaving the theatre we stopped for a drink before heading back to our respective cabins. A walk had been suggested by Diane thought it was a bit chilly for that. Bit of a swell as we get ready for bed. Ship is gently swaying (no it’s not the wine). As we power onwards towards our first port of call, Haugesund whee we will arrive at 09:00 tomorrow.
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