A Scrap of Paper...

Sunday, March 2. Warm, light high cloud, calm seas.

Today we are at sea , tomorrow we are in Hong Kong for two days. At that point we will be the furthest north we will be until we head across the Atlantic, homeward bound six, weeks from now.

*  *  *

On this trip I have had numerous discussions with people regarding time zones and the dateline. Please let me ramble on about it , again.

- The earth is round and rotates once every 24 hours. [Please accept that even though it is not exactly 24 hours].  

- In every place on earth, noon is about the time the sun is overhead.

- Some wise men once decided to divide this round earth up into the 360 degrees that comprise a circle.

- These wise men then decided to place Greenwich, near London England, as the centre of our planet.

- These wise men named Greenwich '0 degrees longitude'. These are the vertical marks on maps, latitude is the horizontal lines.

- These same wise men decided that rather than go the whole 360 degrees around from Greenwich, they would only go 1/2 way EAST, and 1/2 way WEST, 180 degrees each way.

- At the point where these 180 degree longitudinal lines meet they named it the INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE. 

- It happens to be in the 'middle of nowhere',  just west of New Zealand, and very far away from London, so who cared?

The end result is, that when it is noon in London England, the whole world is on the same DAY as THEY are. It is very important to grasp this one statement.

However, at the dateline, when it is noon, it is of course 12 midnight. Remember 1/2 way through the 24 hour day?

- So at Monday noon in London, it is midnight at the dateline.  And of course immediately after midnight starts a new day, but not in London, only at the dateline. Important to grasp this as well. 

- That is why when crossing the DATELINE, from west to east you go back, or LOSE a day. When travelling from east to west you go forward or GAIN a day. 

 

- We sailed from west to east and 'lost' a day, February 2, when crossing the dateline. We gain those 24 hours, or one day, as we sail across the time zones throughout the cruise.We lost the day in the blink of an eye but gain it one hour at a time for 24 time changes throughout the cruise.

End of lesson. Please forgive my reducing this to such a simple and basic level, but I had difficulty understand it for years and have difficulty explaining it. I hope I got it right!

*  *  *

Most people understand the time zone issue.

Many people have difficulty with the dateline issue because, I believe, we are so far away from it that it is never an issue with us. Unless of course you attempt to figure out what time it is in Australia, and then somebody says it is five hours behind us, but tomorrow, or worse still, 19 hours ahead of west coast time.

We will never be in the same TIME ZONE as home except for when we were in the Pacific below Vancouver, which was around Pitcairn Island, believe it or not. I am a bit eager to get to when we will be in the same DAY ZONE, for at least most of our waking hours, but that will not happen until we are near the east coast of Africa I think.

We have a new lecturer on board now, a Brit who gave the first of nine presentation he will make between now and South Africa. It is on the history of various countries we will be visiting. His first one today was a bit different, it was on Female Pirates. Very interesting and he is a very interesting man to listen to.

We are having another Mongolian BBQ on deck today. I do not know how people can eat such big meals at midday and then do a repeat performance at dinner time. The line up is always long and we have not participated. I suppose that is why I can fit into a shirt bought 23 years ago and Fellette can fit in a dress that is also over 20 years old.

There are about 42 brave souls leaving the ship in Hong Kong tomorrow for what is called a 'land tour'. This one to China for the Great Wall near Beijing and, Guilin, then the Terracotta Warriors in Xian. It is a gruelling four days with flights between cities and to and from the ship. They re-board in Singapore. Two of our table mates are going.

Pics:

- The cause of my discussion on time zones; a scrap of paper I tore out of a Lufthansa Airlines magazine more than 20 years ago.

- Next five, knitting and crocheting done by the knitters on Amsterdam for donation to the needy in ports we hit. So far, 40 quilts and 48 toques. [1/2 way through the trip].

- Mongolian BBQ set up on deck.

- Our living room is now complete, with our progress map, the route so far marked in red felt pen.