Pollywogs
are now shellbacks
The
highlight of the morning was the crossing the equator ceremony with King
Neptune. Grant was to be one of the pollywogs and was a little concerned about
what might happen. I suggested he not carry anything he didn’t want soiled and
to wear washable clothes. It turns out he was the one that the ship’s doctor
(he was actually the one to do it this time) does surgery on the pollywog. As
usual all kinds of old food was extracted from Grant. At the end the doctor
declares that the patient died but Nurse Listerine Liz applies a, well you
really couldn’t call it CPR, and Grant was miraculously revived.
Along the
way, the Captain got thrown in the brink (the swimming pool), and various other
fun, but clearly stupid, things were done to great laughter. The band was
renamed Jane and the Tuna Fishes.
Kiss the
Fish
I did it
again. I swear it’s the same fish. Ugly, rubbery, but with no odor, thank God.
WWII lecture
Today was
the battle of Midway and more history on the new Lexington. The speaker then
told us of his training as a pilot from an aircraft carrier and the experiences
of first landing on the ship. Apparently there was an air strip in Florida
painted exactly as an aircraft carrier so they could avoid destroying the ship
until they had some skill. He said the ship looks about the size of a
fingernail until you start to head for the deck in which instance the rear end
of the ship looms huge.
Weather
Bright sun,
temps in the 80s, wind Force 5 so pretty brisk. The ship is challenging to walk
on and so you walk gingerly and cling to the rails.
Low vision
I met Sharon
again and spoke more with her about the challenges of her visual loss. She
didn’t bring her white cane which she now regrets. Despite her pin that says
visually impaired, people try to test you, especially if you appear to be well
compensated. (I know what that’s like). She was pushing a door to go into the
grill this morning and some one slammed it in her face. As she said: something
like that ruins her whole day.
She has a
guide dog named Blitz who she dearly loves. She didn’t bring him on ship
because he couldn’t go off the ship without going through quarantine so it
seems useless to bring him. He’s a yellow Lab and she told me how that system
works in Australia.
Wine tasting
This is done
on each leg and allows us to try out wines without spending a lot of money. Ed
enjoys wines more than I do but they did have Asti Spumonte which I do enjoy. There
was a german reislng that was tolerable for me.
Captain’s
reception
I’m still
not sure why we are invited but it is a small group with many of the officers
and department heads there. The chef is always present and puts on a great
appetizer selection.
I asked the
Captain about the laws about marrying at sea. He said he is legally able to do
this as the ship is registered for Bermda and the marriages are thus registered
in Bermuda. These are in international waters.
If someone
wants to get married on board and have their own minister perform the ceremony,
that must be arranged through headquarters.
Speed demons
Many
passengers are using electric scooters on this trip. I rarely saw them before.
The dining servers seem to delight in taking turns driving them around to store
them during dinner and then to bring back to the passengers for use. It is
actually pretty funny as we have begun to grade them on their driving and
turning skills.
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