The clocks went back last night, and again tonight!
We are now only 9 hours ahead of west coast time, one hour east of Greenwich Time, catching up to you! GMT +1
We sailed south of the tropic of Capricorn yesterday and it is really amazing how those 'tropics' really do define the tropic from temperate climates. The humidity has decreased and the sun, although still scorching, has moderated as well. Weather wise we are now well under the 'protection' of Madagascar from the rather rough Indian Ocean that we have seen the last couple of days. That search for the plane debris is away on the other side and much lower down than we are. In that part of the world it has some of the ugliest weather conditions in the world and the further south you go the worse it gets.
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When Fellette and I were doing our walk around the ship this morning we noted how empty the ship seems to be at certain times and places. It is always busy in the upstairs buffet lunch at eating times, but many, many times when I am going somewhere there is hardly a soul in sight. The stairways are often empty except for some staff wiping and cleaning. Upstairs the sports deck is virtually empty and there are little places to soak up the air or sun where you have complete privacy except some soul walking by once in a while.
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Today at lunch we sat with Moe's old table mates, from Montana, and we were having a lovely conversation about Africa and the sort. Along came the bitchiest lady on the ship and sat down next to me. Choke. Now I have not written much about the passengers on board and will not dwell upon it, but this lady deserves some ink. I noted her last night at the dinner table with what can I only assume is a slave or her husband, some distance away. They were at a table for two and she was berating a server for some minor issue and as usual she had this stern, unhappy face on. Today, this constantly negative lady sat within a foot of me and I was afraid of catching something that you could not get off with soap and water. I was pleased to hear her frustrated husband say to her… 'tell me exactly what you want to eat', upon her uttering some words he diligently went and got her a plate with smoked salmon on it, and he arrived at the same time as some poor attendant had returned with a certain type of milk she asked for. We were out of there in five minutes. Unfortunately I found out later that she is French Canadian, gad, the stereotypes that she has spread in her travels are too much to bear. Once in a while one hears about a person missing at sea on a cruise ship, I wonder….
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The life of a captain on a cruise ship cannot be a bowl of cherries methinks. This old ship chugs along at sea, day after week after month going from port to port, same routine every sea day and getting in and out of some ports requires a high degree of seamanship. Yet one incident and your career can be knocked off the rails. Also, satisfying all those passengers that suck up to him must be an appalling job. His wife is on right now for a couple of weeks but his home and family life must be quite a challenge I would think. Every day he goes on the intercom and gives us some information and we are all generally listening to the voice of 'god' and hang on to his every word. There are those that corner him at every opportunity, some to look important, some to complain about some minor issue. He must have heard everything that people can possibly say in his many years as a captain with Holland America.
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There are about 70 people getting off the ship on Friday in Durban to go on four and five day Safaris with Holland America tours, some of them get up to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The average price is say, around $5500. That comes to somewhere around $385,000, for Africa alone, they also had overland tours in the Galapagos, Peru, China and India as well. Now HAL will only get a percentage of that but there is still big money in the shore excursions aboard as you can see. It is possible for people to spend more on these overland tours than on their accommodation on the ship. Well, you can't take it with you the saying goes and there appears to be a fair amount of surplus cash in the pockets of many an old codger on board this ship.
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We had a ship's tour of the galley today, about 25 of us in this group. This time it was strictly a tour, no food, fortunately. The kitchen employees 96 people and in the serving staff there is a further 122. The place is large, but smaller than I thought would be needed to look after the passengers and crew, potentially over 1900 people. Some interesting facts: six pastry chefs, four in the bakery, two butchers, 36 dining room stewards, 28 assistants, nine room service stewards and nine wine stewards.
Every single function in the kitchen is broken down to the finest details so as little as possible goes wrong. Soup is made in 80 gallon cauldrons by one soup chef. Per week, approximately, they serve: 8500 pounds of meat, 3800 of poultry, 2575 of seafoods, 12,500 of vegetables, 1800 of watermelon, [?] 200 gallons of ice cream, [with no kids on board!] and, 232 cases of beer, 450 bottles of champagne and sparkling wines and lastly 1636 bottles of wine. The place is of course sparkling clean and everybody is smartly dressed and groomed. There is another kitchen apparently for the crew where among other things they consume 2100 pounds of rice.
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The other day we received an email from a friend of a great many years. It was a bolt out of the blue, full of laughter and fun, it was if it was written by a person who was bubbling over with happiness. It brightened up our room that morning, and day, more than you could ever imagine. We have been through many years of life together with her, but the one thing that I remember, fondly, is the day that Fellette gave birth and she phoned me from the hospital telling me she was holding our new son in her arms. I was in the darkroom at the time I took the call and after I wiped the tears from my eyes the first person I told, after my dad our new baby, Wally, was Luci. Thanks for that kiddo!
Well, that is about all the news that is fit to print today, slow day at sea…
The facts and figures given are to the best of my knowledge, correct. Please forgive any errors.
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Interesting facts:
Life expectancy of women in: Japan 86.2, Canada 82.9, USA 81.4, South Africa 53.2, Zimbabwe 44.3.
Pics.
- 1, 2 & 3, empty decks.
- Procedure regarding making and serving Cappuccino.
- Soup making.
- Happy chefs.
- One happy dishwasher.
- One busy pie cutter.
- Buns fresh from the oven.
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- Captains table set for tonight.
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