Well, back in the ship routine again! I have totally given up on breakfast now so I have an extra 30 minutes in bed while Bob goes off to scoff his eggs and bacon. We have tea and coffee in the cabin and that’s all I need first thing.
Up in time to get to art at 945. The sea is flat calm again today and it is hot and quite humid. We are passing through the Madagascar Basin, steering pretty much ENE in a straight shot at Reunion. Apparently this is one of the areas prone to giant, freak waves so I hope we don’t meet any of them. We get all these interesting snippets in the noontime briefing which is given by the Captain and one of the other Deck Officers.
In art I finished off my elderly Indian man and started on an elephant taken from a photograph. The point of it really was to practice drawing a figure in proportion. It’s not too bad so far. It looks like an elephant!!!!! If it comes out all right I might try some more. I’d like to have a go at a rhino too. Bob has been working on a whale’s tail breaching the sea in a shower of spray. It’s good. The best he’s done so far.
We didn’t have a full two hours today as the clocks went forward an hour at lunchtime so that cuts us short. We have another hour to move on before we get to Reunion. At that point we will be 4 hours ahead of the UK.
Had lunch – sushi and sashimi for me, and I had 2 slices of roast lamb as well. Bob had an absolutely fantastic steak, kidney and ale pie with mash. The pie was enormous and I have to say it was divine. I had to have a taste!!! Just lovely pastry, melt in the mouth and a rich filling.
After lunch we went to a show in the Planetarium. It was a conventional star show this time, centring on the stars visible from the North Atlantic. We lay back and the commentator worked through a number of the constellations and main stars while the domed screen over our heads spun and changed and lit up appropriately. Very interesting. I still don’t think I would spot these things without help. Some of them need a considerable stretch of the imagination to match with the name.
Spent the rest of the afternoon out around the pool. It was really hot and nice. Had some swims. Read. There were apparently whales off the starboard today but I didn’t see them.
Tonight after dinner we went to see the Royal Court Theatre show. It was a comedian, Paul Melbourne. Quite funny. We certainly get a good variety of acts aboard.