When Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” he probably didn’t have in mind a Mediterranean cruise, but somehow this expression is what comes to mind to best conjure up the carefree innocence, idealism and pleasure of a sea day. So shoot me now for even daring to mention classical literature in a blog, but hey-ho, 416 years after the Bard’s original thought it’s probably acceptable, even if I am mischievously off-brand!
Anyway to prove my point - we have a leisurely breakfast before taking (quite) a few turns around deck, I get ridiculously excited because my Marine app shows that we’re to cross paths with Queen Mary 2 during the morning, and the breeze keeps the deck temperature at a modest roar, not UK inferno!
Meanwhile bits of work keep interrupting but we don’t mind (too much) and my office is just perfect. We flit between all the above, slipping pool dips in from time-to-time.
I also replace our (sadly) now cancelled 2023 Japan circumnavigation with a repeat of our 2001 sail down the Amazon when we first met John and Sheila, details yet to be finalised but at least that’s in the bag now.
We take lunch (succulent seabream and chips for me!) with champagne and then Chardonnay and then return to our usual places for the afternoon session.
We’re horrified to see our Cawthorne living room temperature soar to 45 degrees … of course Barnsley isn’t really that hot, but our floor-to-ceiling windows act like a greenhouse.
At 14:00 there’s a gelato moment, just three flavours, but eight different liqueurs to dress them with, all very tasty! Delightful music from the resident pianist Filippo accompanies the experience.
Work, more pool, lots of chat with fellow guests and a few sangrias make the afternoon idyllic, and before long it’s time to shower and dress for dinner.
It’s formal night tonight, and we’re delighted to see the dining room both much busier and so much more well dressed than last cruise - it’s fascinating (for me!) to observe how mass behaviour varies across even a small population size of a few hundreds - a stochastician’s best-ever dream! Mathematics and Stochastic Processes excitement aside, dinner is splendid, we enjoy goats cheese soufflé, tuna carpaccio, duck à l’orange, lobster risotto, cheese, pear tatin and apple & raisin cobbler.
We were lucky enough to be on Quest in 2018 when Sir Tim was setting this show for the first time. Since then we’ve seen a few incarnations but the current one has evolved into a splendid performance. Well done to Sojourn‘s current Company of singers and dancers - brava and bravo!
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