Mohammed, our waiter in the Lido buffet, told us the weather
is always rough approaching the Canary Islands. The ocean is choppy today. Bill
is careful to stay on his scooter at all times to avoid falling. We talked to a
woman in the elevator who fell (on this ship!) 19 months ago and broke her
pelvis in three places. She fell while she was balancing on one leg and putting
hand lotion on her other leg.
We have a large group of staff who run to help us in the Lido. There
are three gorgeous girls from Bali. I have a hard time telling them apart and they
know that. One of the Bali gals covers her name badge when I see her so I know
that’s Maria but I can’t separate out the other two. Our primary helper is
Rumi, from Indonesia. Sometimes the waiters are more
attracted to Bill. On our last cruise, there was a waiter who called him “Mr.
Bill” and ran to help him. One of the attractions is the chance to drive our
scooters, which I have to admit are really fun.
At the show last night we sat behind a man who had Cochlear
implants and Bill chatted with him quite a while about how he lost his hearing
and learned to use the implants. Our new
friend, Bob, was on the other side of me. We have talked to him several times because he is having trouble with his scooter. He is going to rent one on board ship
but is still dickering over the price ($375-500). Sandie and Don sat on the other side of Bill.
Both of them were previously widowed before they met and married. He had a bout
with lung cancer and now has back trouble so he is also using a scooter.
The featured show last night was a singing group called The
Knights (Brits).They sang some of the old British rock and roll along with a
song from Les Mis. They ended with “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. I used to dance to that song when I was with
the USO during the Vietnam War. I still dance but now I dance in my chair.
We have not yet been to the main dining room. Most of the
clothes I brought with me are too dressy. And we both brought clothes for the
Formal nights but have not taken them off the hangars. It was really hard to
pack for this cruise because of the potential for both hot and cold weather. We
are now into the cold weather part and I wish I had packed more with that in
mind.
In book club, we are reading Hideous Kinky by Esther
Freud. The first setting is Marrakesh and the characters travel around
Europe. On my own, I am reading The
Goldfinch, which my good friend Maria recommended to me. Its main
protagonist is a scumbag but is a sympathetic scumbag. I am rooting for him to solve
his problems and find true love.
