Laundry, lunches and loopy Internet

A flight of wines in the Glass House

The evening began with rain. Was this a forerunner of what would greet us at home or, worse, at Ponta Delgada? The sky lowered and the rain dropped off the balcony archway onto the seating below. This is really the first time that we’ve seen proper rain for months. And so we headed to, you’ve guessed it, the Glass House, for dinner as the main restaurant menu was uninspiring to say the least. 

It was jam-packed with people and we had to wait for ages to be served food but we managed to get a flight of wines to keep us company in our sojourn. Very delicious they were too. When the food came it too was equally delicious and we had a fine evening. The theory is that people are heading for the paid restaurants because they have not yet got rid of their on-board spending money and so use it for food and wine and, if they have loads left, jewellery, watches and fine wines. Needless to say, we were not in that position. 

The morning dawned bright and clear with only a few blobs of water on the balcony rail to tell of last night’s rain. Gabrielle did her usual “I’m pretending to be asleep” thing so I got on with showering and dressing while she grumbled and pulled the covers over her head. What would her mother have said?

It was another sea day before we landed in the Azores so we prepared for a morning walk after breakfast and also a washing load so we took back “cleanies” rather than “dirties”. It was sobering to think that our expedition was nearly over and that 65 days had nearly passed. 

The news that our home town would see snow added to the sense of excitement of getting back to a country where there are shortages of fruit and vegetables in the shops (and none elsewhere in Europe?), the government is lurching from one crisis and controversy to another, and Johnson continues to plumb new depths by intending to award his father a knighthood in his resignation honours. Nope, can’t wait to return. 

Our fun facts today are that we’ve covered 311 nautical miles at an average speed of 13 knots. We have 213 nautical miles to go to Ponta Delgada - our last stop on this grand tour. The temperature is cool at 20C and rain is expected this evening and the Officer of the Watch was hedging his bets on whether we shall get into port tomorrow or not, because of strong winds. 

As mentioned, there was a laundry frenzy this morning with everyone dashing to get their washing done because the hot water was turning off while the ship was going to be in port the next day. Everywhere in the corridors, people were dashing around with bags full of clothes, desperately hunting for a free machine in one of the three laundrettes. And, when their washing was finished, hoping against hope that no one would snag the free dryer before they could get their stuff transferred into it! Frenzy! And much strategic running about and timing to get the right machines, usually foiled by some little old lady who you can’t roll over to get to the machine first. 

So today has been a busy one for booking up new adventures using the Internet. However, one has to contend with the inconsistencies of the online system because, unless you pay a shed load more money, you can only connect on one device at a time. If for example your transaction on your laptop suddenly demands verification from your bank app on your phone, you can’t do it, because if you change the connection to your phone your laptop will throw a hissy fit and void the transaction. Therefore, do all the work on the phone and then most things will work, albeit a little awkwardly. 

Lunchtime libertines, that was us today. We are so bored with the offerings in the buffet restaurant that we decided to go off piste and have baked potatoes with cheese. And then I spotted the bread puddings! Oh yes and very nice they were too. Not sure how we’ll live with ourselves. Or rather how I’ll live with myself because Gabrielle would certainly not have bread pudding. Did I mention the custard? Mm-mmmh!