Thursday, March 27. Calm seas again, cloudy, temperature is moderate, 75C ?
Yesterday was one of my most relaxing days for me on the voyage to date. I have settled in my head most issues that have bothered me for years regarding relaxation, doing nothing and feeling OK about it, and also the various mysteries of fellow passenger's strange behaviour and personalities.
I spent a fair amount of time on the balcony off our cabin yesterday. The temperature was perfect, the sea hypnotizing, and my mind was in the right place. I was really at peace with the world, to coin a hackneyed phrase: Our kids are doing fine, as the grandchildren, my siblings are in apparent good health and the business is in good hands and doing well. I was thinking about how many more days do I/we have where we can be in such a place, physically and in the mind? The years are marching on for us and one never knows how or when or ever if we will be able to enjoy travel as we do now, but those thoughts can only dwell in our mind for moments or even seconds lest they overwhelm you.
I am beginning to enjoy the balcony more and more as the cruise goes on. There is lots to do on board but some of it, as far as my interests are concerned, are places to go and things to do if I don't have better things to do. We enjoy the company of our table mates and a few others we have met and most certainly Jim and Gail but we generally lead a pretty quiet life at home and enjoy each other's company and I appreciate some alone time once in a while. I checked my blood pressure the other day and it was about the lowest I have ever seen it. Maybe that is a hint that I should relax a bit more eh?
Enough Babble…
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The feel of a ship underway is a sensation that I feel very comfortable with and enjoy immensely. Down in the bowels of the ship are these massive generators turning over to generate the electricity to turn the propellers, day and night, endlessly, through rough seas or calm seas. The engine room no doubt is a hot place and the noise must be deafening but they never, never stop. And that is what amazes me about a ship like this, the maintenance goes on while we are underway.
If a generator has a malfunction, we passengers would likely not be aware of it as all are not in use at the same time. The same goes for almost everything on the ship, there is a back up or contingency so the pleasure of the paying guests is not disturbed. That makes me wonder if I will be able to sleep on land in South Africa without the purr of the ship? Even when docked, the ship generators are going and so is the air-conditioning which makes for a sort of white noise that we no longer really 'hear'. The painting goes on, also endlessly, and the lifeboat maintenance seems to be ongoing.
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Looking beyond Cape Town, we have only 25 days to go, 16 of which are sea days and nine ports. Of those nine ports there are five of more than general interest: St. Helena, Ascension, Gambia, Senegal and Cape Verde. None of them are what one would call ideal vacation spots, far from it actually. In a sense I would rather go to see what those places are like visiting another tropical paradise, like Tahiti. Unfortunately I have a negative vision in my mind of Gambia, Senegal and Cape Verde, but that is the exciting thing about travel, in all likelihood my opinion will be changed when we sail away from them, Doug says hopefully.
Speaking of 25 days, man, that is a little over three weeks! Could it be that after sailing from Cape Town next Wednesday I could be cutting the lawn in a little over three weeks? Hard to believe.
Fellette has found a scrabble lady and today will be her second time with her. I am not sure but I think Fellette is not too keen on fostering the relationship, time will tell. Also, the Amsterdam Choir was finally organized and she is involved in that as well.
Desmond Tutu is joining the ship tomorrow as is the CEO of Holland America, they will be on until Cape Town, [four nights], no doubt there will be some interesting goings on while we are off ship.
We have been advised that to speed things up tomorrow we are docking around 4.00 am to allow South African customs and immigration staff to process the ship. We, and others going off have been advised that we can disembark between 6.00 and 7.00 am. Heck, it will still be dark out there, spooky, spooky!
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There is a possibility that I will not be able to do a blog while we are on land.
The gentleman we booked through said there was internet in the reception but who knows what it is like. Having said that, in reality it could not be much worse than on the ship methinks.
I will do it daily and if I can, get it posted, otherwise, I will publish them after we rejoin the ship.
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Interesting facts: Economist 2010 figures.
Divorce rates per 1000: US 3.3, UK 2.9, Canada 2.2, Brazil .8. The facts are interesting but the reasons make for very interesting discussions.
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