Thurstday 5 March

We had breakfast in the Lido, a bit of a late morning, then we went with Becky to an activity table to do some of her new puzzles. The Christian Fellowship meeting was nice, sedate, but nice to be there anyway. About thirty people. Next service will be Sunday when the Captain will take the traditional (Anglican, I presume) Sunday service.

The weather has been foul, driving rain with 50 knot winds and a medium swell, so we hugged close to land; this meant two things – I got a bit of phone and internet access, but all the casino activities were cancelled. Simmo and Alison had been planning on playing in the Blackjack tournament and Bingo, both of which were cancelled because of off-shore distance rules. Little cost for these competitions but they are fun to enter. Lots of people were playing games from the activities rooms, others are spending at the bar and café, so it’s all good for the ship! We’re travelling a little faster than was scheduled, because it will get us to nicer weather more quickly.

I went to the dance class, which was waltz; fairly straight-laced but there were men for us ladies to dance with, so that was fun. One of them (Ed) cottoned on to the fact that I have a little dance ability, so he’s going to make sure he keeps an eye out for me tomorrow night. Tonight was formal and the seas quietened down considerably during dinner. With the gala ball being Roaring 20’s style; quite a number of the guests, particularly late seating were suitably costumed, so they’ll probably have great time dancing.

I’m not into Charleston, can’t remember Foxtrot and Quickstep well enough, but I went down to have a look a little after we’d come back to our rooms, assuming Alison had put Becky down for the night. They were doing various dances and there wasn’t a spare chair around the dance floor. So I went and stood back beside some tables to wait and see if there would be any offers of partners. Michael, who I had danced with but wasn’t such a good lead, asked me for a foxtrot; I explained I couldn’t remember it and he said they just do basic social, so that was nice, with a few feather steps, etc. Then while I was waiting again, the lady I had danced with the other night walked past, so I asked her if she wanted to dance and she did! We did a waltz, fairly simple with a few spins and stuff, but she was so good at weaving in and around the crowd. After that, Ed from this afternoon asked me; however, it was a quick step, so he said he’d be back for the next dance and we did a rhumba. Then the demonstration dancers were on, so I called it a night: 3 dances was just perfect.

Glass of wine, cheese and off to bed.