Monday 13th January

Well it did get gradually worse last night. We went to a pre-dinner drinks party where the captain informed us that we would continue to head south to skirt the storm some 750 miles to the north of us. Dinner was formal but was sparsely attended, pity really as it was fillet steak. The comedian had to work hard, both to amuse the few and keep his balance, we staggered to bed after the show and strapped ourselves in for a night of crashes and lurches, one minute up high the next plummeting down to hit what seemed like a solid wall. Fortunately Carol has at last found her sea legs (I knew I’d packed them) and we slept OK, just as well really as we woke to a force 9 with waves reaching 8 metres high. Spray was flying past our cabin high up on deck eight (just behind the bridge). That must be one hell of a storm 750 miles to the north. We are now as far south as Portugal heading South West and passing just north of the Azores. If we keep on this heading we will also pass to the south of Bermuda. Looking on the bright side though, there were plenty of seats at breakfast and I had a full English again. The clocks went back an hour again last night making us two hours behind UK and they are going back again tonight. I like getting an extra hour every night.

I am going to have to have a serious word with Carol about cabin etiquette if we are going to share this space for four months. Start as we mean to go on if you get my drift.

Now she has her sea legs she was up and showered first thing, which is fine I have no problem with that and Carol being Carol was busying herself sorting through what washing needed doing when I finally went to my ablutions. I closed the door behind me and (not to put too fine a point on it) settled in to my morning routine. There I was, sitting contemplating life as one does with the ship bouncing around like an excitable colt, when the lights went out. Uh oh! power failure was my first thought, but as the aircon was still whirring away and the ship had not gone silent as they tend to do when the power goes off, I quickly realised that Carol, on her way to the launderette, had whipped the card out of the holder by the door thereby switching off all the lights in the cabin, leaving me alone in the buff in a tiny room that was as black as the inside of a cows belly, half way through the job in hand. It was while I was considering my next move that I realised with horror that removing the card also signals to the steward that the cabin is now empty and can therefore be made up! An inconvenience had become a crisis that had to be dealt with, and quickly, were I not to be discovered by the steward, lurking, in the buff, in the dark, having ‘in effect’ called him. In an increasing state of panic I also realised that being halfway through the task in hand, so to speak, the paperwork needed to be completed. This is not easily accomplished single-handedly, but in the dark, in a force nine gale, it is damned near impossible – one hand is required at all times for personal safety. But terror leads a man to accomplish feats that would be otherwise impossible and the speed at which I managed to do the necessary shoot out of the bathroom, retrieve my key card, deposit it in the slot by the door and retreat into the comparative safety of the bathroom was remarkable by any standards, let alone under the conditions imposed by the weather. I didn’t hear Carol return, what with the wind, the creaking and the aircon I assumed she had stayed in the launderette. After shaving I got in the shower but within seconds of getting wet, the lights went out again. It appears that Carol had returned, not noticing that the lights she had inadvertently turned off were back on, fussed around for a while before deciding to return to the launderette to wait for the wash to finish so she could transfer the load into the drier. Once more whipping the card out of the slot by the door as she disappeared leaving me almost back where I started, but this time without a card. Lady luck was with me this time however as the wash was completed and only minutes ensued before she was once more back in the cabin. I wouldn’t mind but when I remonstrated with her, she just collapsed into fits of giggles. Women!

Went to a lecture by Dr. Ellen Baker on working and living in space, she had completed three shuttle missions and was on board the first shuttle to dock with the Russian space station MIR. She had some cracking stories and pictures about incidents in space. It makes current sea conditions seem mild in comparison. Shots from the shuttle of the UK were impressive. We could see our back garden (almost).

We are currently crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge – so what? we asked. Well it seems that right underneath us is a crack being pulled apart by the continents of North America and Eurasia as a result molten rock is pouring out beneath us. Great! So not only is the sea boiling on the surface it is boiling on the seabed.

By afternoon conditions had settled somewhat, though we were told to expect more of the same for the next 36 hours. Dinner was not well attended again. We had a quick look at what was happening in the theatre and decided that piano playing was not our bag, so we repaired to the Golden Lion. Where there was yet another piano player this time singing to someone else.