2 day at sea
Woke up at almost a normal-person hour for my first morning on my sea bed.
Snuck out like a cat burglar so that Helen could continue her rest. It was about 5am.
Bernie is also an early riser, and some years back we developed our cruise pre-dawn habits. We gravitate to where the earliest coffee can be found, normally in the buffet area. That is also where the earliest breakfast becomes available. There is also always a lovely sea view from there; not the best on the ship, but darn near.
Bernie beat me there by about half an hour. Some ships don’t start the coffee until almost breakfast time, but this one had the urns in operation already. Perhaps it is one of those that makes sure java is available to the late celebrants and early risers 24 hours a day. I like those.
We sat and chatted about nothing and nonsense. Helen always asks me later what we’d talked about, and I never have a very satisfactory answer that I can give.
After about an hour of this, the food stations started to open up. I fetched a plate of potatoes with a couple of sausages and some pastries. Bernie had a full breakfast with bangers.
By then, the skies were bright, and we could see land on both sides. To our right was North America proper, and on our left Vancouver Island. We were passing Port Hardy, and soon passed Cape Scott; the northernmost part of Vancouver Island. Open ocean after that.
We headed back to our rooms to pick up the girls, and Phyllis for a dining room breakfast. For Bernie and I it was in reality second breakfast.
There is always a lovely selection of meals in the dining room. The buffet food is just as fine, and faster, but there is no rush onboard. Phyllis, at age 96, doesn’t do that well fetching goodies at the buffet, so we have ourselves waited upon. It is no hardship in any way.
Most of us had versions of American or British breakfasts, but I went Asian, and had soup, rice, and salmon. They cook the fish perfectly every time.
Our next group even would be lunch, and we are all together again at dinner. Those meals consist of what would be supper in a land restaurant, with a salad/soup/appetizer round, a major entree, and desert or two.
I don’t recall what everybody got up to during the day other than myself. After breakfast, I attended a salmon cooking presentation in an area called Test Kitchen. It has some sort of relationship with an American TV series of the same name. Their hook is that they check various cooking methods and procedures with Scientific analysis. I like that, as a lot of kitchen lore seems like nonsense to me. It was very interesting, and now I want an instant-read meat thermometer for my next birthday.
I also squeezed in a morning nap.
After a wonderful lunch, I had another sleep, and not much else. Supper was wonderful, too. In the evening, Lola and Phyllis hit the casino, Bernie went exploring, and Helen headed to the comedian show. I walked about a bit, and then watched a movie in our cabin.
By bedtime, we were all finally on the ships messaging system. It works a lot like texting, but there is no ring or buzz to let you know a message has arrived. You wouldn’t think that would matter much, but it is actually a very big shortcoming.
The big headline of the day was that Phyllis managed to have a fall in her room. There doesn’t seem to be much lasting damage, but at the time she couldn’t get up. She was smart enough to crawl over to the phone, and call the desk for help. They sent three people at a run to rescue her, and tried to get her to visit the infirmary. She wouldn’t, of course.
Lola took her to the front desk and they made us a couple of extra room key cards for Phyllis’s door. That way any of us can check on her anytime if she doesn’t answer her door. This year she is using a walker all the time.
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