One thing I expected from this trip was to discover new things about myself, as I moved well out of my comfort zone. Of course, I expected this to be a bit more deep and meaningful than the first such discovery - which is that I possess an innate desire for the horizon not to move whenever I look out the window. For the last 12 hours or so the ship has been travelling in what is classified as “rough” conditions, with waves overnight reaching heights of up to 6 m. Up until this point, I had been coping quite well being at sea, as the sea was calmer, and all that really told you the ship was moving was the very occasional wobble and some minor vibrations. Last night, however, I was overcome by queasiness and had to retire early, barely managing more than a few mouthfuls of a very tasty steak.
Fortunately, the crew on the Queen Mary 2 are accustomed to the situation, and our Butler (more about him in the next instalment) supplied us with anti-seasickness pills to sort me out. After sweating it out over a very restless night I woke up feeling considerably better. I'll keep taking the pills for the rest of the journey and hope for some much calmer seas.
Yesterday's activities were a rather strange mix of the elegant and the depraved, in equal measure albeit not at the same time. Let's start with the depraved: a half-hour lecture on the top 10 serial killers of all time. Not perhaps what you would expect to be the chosen topic for the retirees, particularly given the warnings for graphic crime scene images, but perhaps one of the most well attended events we've been to yet. I guess you should never underestimate the appetite for gore! It was rather disturbing in parts, and I've realised there were many serial killers who I'd never heard of, but that's probably one piece of knowledge I don't really need anyway.
The end of the lecture was rather comicly interrupted by good old Commodore Bernard Warner, (who reminds me of Captain Birdseye without the beard), who had an important announcement that we would now be docking in midtown Manhattan as opposed to Brooklyn as originally intended. That should be a much better view and approach, albeit requiring us to reorganise the meet up with the hire car and the directions to Boston. The Commodore continued to make his usual noon announcement, in his usual speaking style with long, deliberate pauses between each sentence which make you want to poke him until he switches back on to normal speed. Much to the annoyance of serial killer guy, who was dying to show us more gore. Just as he was about to continue, the Commodore's announcement was translated into German, French and Spanish. That might be have been the most entertaining part of the lecture, which tells you something!
The natural follow-up to blood and guts, of course, is a cocktail reception with the Commodore and deputy captain. Once again a formal night, and a chance to mingle with fellow guests. We met an American guy who must've been 70-odd, who told us of his role on the ship as “dance host”. It wasn't immediately obvious what that was, but it turns out he gets free boarding and food in return for dancing with the single ladies on the ship. Interesting guy - although perhaps a little more interested in himself than we were, if you know what I mean. Still, it was good to hear how he came to that line of work. Hats off to him, I can certainly think of worse ways to end up at 70.
I leave you with a quote from my book, the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which I started to get me in the mood for the historical sites of Boston:
“So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do”
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