It's Monday 27 August 2007 and we have returned to the Island Star cruise ship after our excursion to Pisa.
Something had taken up residence in our cabin! We dropped off some things and picked up others and went up on deck where Cissie and Ada waved us over to their table by the Pool Deck bar. "Have a Heineken Light," they said, "They're two-for-one!" They started telling us about the karaoke they had been to on the previous night. "Are you going to have a go?" So it came out that I played in a band. The name though was a bit much for Cissie... "Creeping what???" she spluttered. It got worse. Just about every day, at least three times, she would stop whatever she was doing, fix me with an eye and say hopefully, "Is it... Grumbleweeds?"
"No..." we'd say, "it's Creeping..."
"Creeping!" she'd cry triumphantly.
"Yes! Creeping what though?"
"Creeping Lightfield?"
No... Creeping Bent..."
"Creeping Bentfield!"
"Well, you're not the bent one..." commented Ada as a gorgeous girl walked past in a tiny bikini and I went momentarily cross-eyed.
We had our meal in the Beachcomber restaurant onboard. This was open 24 hours every day. It had two identical halves and one was open whilst the other one was being cleaned and re-stocked. There was plenty of choice, starters, salads, themed main meals (one night it would be Italian, another Chinese etc.) and there was always something for those who had simpler basic appetites. There were plenty of sweets and desserts also, accompanied by fruit sculptures such as this rabbit.
There were mousses and flans, puddings and custard, ice creams and cheese and biscuits. There was a huge bowl labelled Berry Sauce which was absolutely luscious.
This was the most relaxed of the restaurants aboard. There was also a steak restaurant, a second Silver Service restaurant and a mid-range restaurant. Add to those an on-deck grill serving burgers, hotdogs and chicken etc. and there was plenty of opportunity to pile on the pounds. You could literally eat all day. Indeed there was breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, evening meals from around 5:00pm and the odd midnight snacks! I actually lost 4 pounds during the week - chuffed or what?!? I think it was all the running from one restaurant to the other...
Exhausted by eating we went up on deck and helped ourselves to a coffee. It was getting nicely into twilight. A splash caught my eye. Then there was another. Could it be? Oh yes - there one has jumped clear of the water for a second. "Dolphins, if anyone's interested!" The ship's rail got suddenly full although there were only a few dolphins and they weren't frolicking out of the water too much. Keeping an eye on where the last one surfaced meant you missed the next and most people soon got tired of trying to spot them. I did manage to grab this shot - the only one of half a dozen to actually feature a dolphin, though the quality won't win any competitions!
Miss Franny was too busy chilling out to take much notice anyway. A full moon hung in the sky, reflected in a long trail on the water. I was torn between feeling amorous and keeping an eye out for werewolves - you can't be too careful...
As it got colder with the disappearance of the daylight, we moved back indoors and watched the casino players for a while then took up a couple of seats near the ship's photographers who had set up a makeshift studio with a simple white background along one of the walkways. The best part of a bottle of wine followed by John Smith's dark nectar made me rash. "Come on then, we'll have our photo taken!"
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments must be passed by moderator before appearing on this post.