It's nice to have a day at sea to relax. It's amazing how fast the day goes by even when you are doing nothing. But it is regenerative. When you are at sea, your world is reduced to a very finite world. There are very few "shoulds" and "ought to's." (Is that grammatically correct? Why would "to" have an apostrophe but not "should?" I ought to look that up when I get home.)
As I was saying, your world becomes finite. No chores, no shopping, no cooking. No mail to deal with. o e-mail to deal with. No unfinished projects triggering guilt (like a quilt). No board work. No bored work. No stress.
I started the morning at the Knitters and Knatters Get-Together. (Don't ask me what a knatter is.) I had made several Candy Corn Coffee Cup Cozies for Halloween and I wanted to weave in all the ends so as to finish them off before Halloween. That is the boring part, so I hadn't been working on them diligently. The knitters and knatters (about 20 of them) were a nice group of ladies and the time went by quickly and was not boring at all.
Today's lecture was Sink the Bismarck! I remember the song, but I really didn't know anything else about the Bismarck, so it was an interesting presentation.
The two of us spent some time sitting on our balcony enjoying the lovely warm sunshine. We saw an airplane and one other ship. The sea was calm and flat and went on forever, it seemed. (Finite world, remember.)
Next, we went to a lecture on the sinking of the Bismarck. It was filled with interesting anecdotes. Why can't I remeber one to put in my blog? DId I take a little nap? We had a light lunch in the Internationl Cafe and sat in the atrium people-watching and working on my blog. On this segment of the cruise it is harder to play Guess Who Is British. But there are many other possibilities. Guess Who Hasn't Bought New Clothing in 20 Years. (Usually men, but not always.) Guess Who Hasn't Been to the Optometrist in 20 Years. (This is getting harder now that large lenses are coming back in style, but I'm certain Mr. and Mrs. Magoo on the other side of the room don't have those gigantic glasses because they are stylish.) Count the Men Wearing Gold Chains. (Self-explanatory.) Who Has Had Some "Work" Done? And for women: Who Has the Same Hairdo She Had in High School?; for men: The Combover World Championships. If you don't want to have to keep track of all these different games, there is the one-size-fits-all game: Don't You Have a Mirror in Your Room?
We had an awkward dinner with a Canadian couple and a French couple. The French Couple spoke much better English than I can speak French, but it was still hard to have more than a superficial conversation with them. The Canadians (from British Columbia) spoke to the French couple and to us as though we were children who could not understand English (loudly and slowly).
It soon became apparent that they both had the same philosophy of touring, and it was the opposite of ours. Ours is: research, plan, learn, get as much as possible out of your visit. Their approach to travel is: show up, wander around, do what the "locals" do (whatever that means). They don't do tours. They get off the ship, find a taxi, and just have the driver drive them around, or take the local bus. It works for them and they have a good time doing that. I think they miss out on a lot. But I didn't want to stir the pot, so I didn't say anything while they went on and on about what savvy travelers they were. The Canadians had also mentioned that they were visiting cousins in London who told them where to go, so it's not like they just wandered around London with no plans, despite what they would like to think.
I embrace being a "tourist," engaging with a tour guide who, in many cases has studied for several years and passed a licensing exam, and trying to understand the country by learning about its history, art, and natural history. Enough of that. You have to approach it in the manner that suits your personality, and what works for me might be tedious for someone else.
Back on the ship we had a pleasant evening. We went to a production show called Boogie Shoes. We had seen it a year or two ago, and on seeing it again were reminded that it wasn't one of the better Princess shows. It was very disjointed. There was no theme at all. Some of the numbers were annoying - bright lights shining in your eyes, or shrill singing. But it wasn't so bad that we walked out.
After dinner we went to listen to Derek Floyd again. A nice way to end the evening.
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