Fashion frenzy

Gabrielle's outfit for the Fashion Show - not her choice but she made it work

We decided that we needed a night in with room service because we were tired and wanted a night off the sauce too. This even though there is half a bottle of pop in the fridge and the remnants of the previous night’s red wine too. Tomorrow’s another day, was our reasoning. Once Gabrielle returned from her rehearsal for the fashion show we ordered two mushroom and cheese omelettes with a side order of fries. And it was delicious. The room service food is top rate and worth having. And a good part of the menu can be ordered at any time, day or night. 

After an early night and slightly less haunted sleep than the previous night (chillis and alcohol) we were ready to greet the big day. Gabrielle rose and moaned because I had dared to get out of bed at 8:35 and make a cup of tea. She eventually emerged, growling, at 9:20 with vows to give me an untimely and deeply unpleasant death. But then a shower brought back the sunshine. 

During the night and into the morning the ship rolled fairly dramatically because of a lateral swell that made it yaw on a regular rhythm. In bed it’s ok because you can hang on by gravity, but getting around the place, let’s say you quickly understand why there are handrails everywhere and why they place discreet pouches with sick bags in them on every landing. Breakfast buffet with tray balancing was interesting and one had to be very mindful of others when wandering along with cups of hot tea. It was going to make for entertaining watching of the people on the catwalk in the afternoon!

Gabrielle remarked that the dress rehearsal for the fashion show was chaos because some who had not been there for the first one had now turned up and others who had been there were changed about so that everyone was confused about who should be where and when. A quick trying on of her outfit established that it could be de-grannified and given a certain amount of Gabrielle Hadley spark. However, the label on that hat was clearly going to be a distraction. 

The ship has slowed to around 14 knots because of the swell, which is anticipated to be with us all day and even to increase for a while during the night. We’ve covered 341 nautical miles since midday yesterday and there remain 850 nautical miles to Ponta Delgada. We’re actually halfway on our journey across the Atlantic and are coming up over the Mid Atlantic ridge - the longest mountain range in the world, yet it’s all underwater and largely unknown. Iceland is a part of it and it’s still growing from volcanic activity. We have 3000 metres below the keel at the moment and the temperature has dropped to 21 degrees C. 

The final promenade in the Fashion Show

And so it came time for the fashion show and we trooped off to Carmen’s - the nightclub venue - where all the fashionistas were gathering. We were early and Gabrielle headed off to go backstage and finalise arrangements while I picked a prime location from which to take photos. The place was filling up quickly and in the end there was quite a good crowd. Given that the ship was wagging and that the people who had been dragooned as models were all amateurs, the show went off slickly and well-presented. No one fell over, no one missed their cue and everyone walked around the catwalk with a smile on their faces, evidently enjoying themselves. Some of them were decked out with jewellery from the on-board jewellers and were rather pleased with themselves. When you have £27,000 worth of emeralds and diamonds round your neck, you can afford to look a bit smug. No one did a runner though … as there’s nowhere to run to out here.

Gabrielle of course hammed it up and mugged to the camera as she passed by me, but that was all part of the fun. Then, when it was all over, we headed down to the shops for a swift glass of pop and some more photos of the team. I felt positively under-dressed but sipped my pop and took pics and generally tried to blend in with a very excitable bunch of ladies and one gentleman. It had been a lovely experience for all concerned and Monica, the lady who had organised it, was very pleased with the outcome. Returning to our cabin, Gabrielle divested herself of her borrowed clothes and returned them - and when she went back to the shop, it was full of people obviously motivated by the show. She’d been promised a bottle of wine as a thank you so she didn’t want to mess that up!