There are times in life when you really do have to pinch yourself to see if it is real. Yes it is! Fifty years ago, I had left school, was working in Bournemouth on England’s south coast, selling ice cream as a summer job. My future then was unclear other than I had passed the entrance exam for the Nottingham City Police cadets, had been accepted (dad was at school with the recruiting inspector...) but there was a waiting list, so I was advised to “go out into the world, get a job meeting people, then come back when you are 19, to join the adult force”. Good advice. However, if you had told me that fifty years later, I would be a New Zealand resident and on a cruise ship to China and Alaska, I think I would have thought you were nuts. But here we are, still at sea in Australian waters, one day out of Darwin.
One of my favourite snacks when working for a knitwear company with a good canteen, was a bacon and fried onion sandwich for morning tea. So passing the omelette station and seeing cooked onions in a bowl, I managed to make up my own bacon and onion roll for breakfast! I just love the food options on this ship!!! Those who know me well know that I just love food, period.
We skipped bowls this time as it clashed with another lecture, this time on the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour and Darwin, plus the intelligence background to it. Fascinating.
When asked why the Japanese didn’t invade Hawaii, we were told that the Japanese never intended to, they just wanted to attack the US navy to reduce their defence capabilities in the Pacific.
On the way out of the theatre, I was sure that the guy ahead of me was a former colleague from Bendon, so I tentatively asked if he was from Auckland. He had spied me from a distance earlier and he wasn’t sure either, so we re-established contact. He was the head of design when I was there and we hadn’t seen each other for 25 years.
After a light lunch (soup and raw vege’s(!) honest, because we were too late for the Aussie pie buffet), we headed to Alana’s dance class. A revision of cha-cha and samba.
Quiz? 15/20. Not enough to win but good fun with Marcos.
By dinner time we were hungry but I managed to restrict myself to just 2 rolls, but managed all 4 courses (included NZ lamb shank, so we raised a glass to Marilyn) and coffee.
Bearing in mind the success of “Pearson and Harvey” in the vista lounge two nights ago and the prospect of a brand new show, we were seated at 9:15pm for a 10pm show – and the place was packed!
Another superb show with funny man Robert doing another funny Frank Spencer take off and the “Billy Connolly” colonoscopy skit. A standing ovation again and well deserved.
As usual, back to the atrium to finish of the evening with a dance or three, though we have half forgotten Kingsley’s samba sequence we only learned a few days before we left NZ. I am sure days at sea rot your memory cells.
Darwin again tomorrow and based on previous visits, it will be rather warm, certainly warmer than Auckland, Sydney or Nottingham.
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