More musings....

Almost back to reality now – although the big leap back to work is not until Monday (just as well really as I've developed a stinking cold). I've spent today trying to finish off the left over bits from the holidays. You'll notice the plural there – my darling boys did their best to sort things out when they got back but it's not quite been up to Mum's standards.

Yesterdays post was my travelogue so today I thought I'd add the behind the scenes bits and pieces – the human elements! I love people watching and believe you me, with 2,500+ people of various nationalities on board there was plenty of watching (and listening) to be done. There was a fairly even mix of Brits and Americans and I have to say that there were very little obvious outward differences – gone are the days when we Brits would poke fun at the American mode of dress for their garish colours, we're up there with you now!

The other large group were the Spanish speakers – how fast (and loud) do they talk???? They had absolutely no regard for anybody else in the vicinity, shrieking and yelling at 100mph and, on one occasion, even playing their I-pod through speakers round the pool at maximum volume! My dear husband could barely contain himself – well OK, actually a couple of times he didn't and gave them such evil looks...

Feeding time was another experience in the buffet area – seriously, you would think that there was never going to be another mealtime. The plates were piled so high I was surprised they could carry them – and then they left half or more of what they'd taken! On a serious note though we had an outbreak of Norovirus – I couldn't believe how quickly and efficiently the crew put their contingencies into place. No more self service, even the plates and cutlery were handed to us. This meant that staff were diverted from the restaurant which in turn reduced the level of service there, but it obviously worked because within about five days it was back to a free for all in the buffet!

One thing that did upset me was that people seemed to forget their manners when speaking to the waiting staff, for most of whom English was not their first language. They resorted to grunts and pointing – no please or thank you, sorry to sound pedantic but I was always brought up to believe that manners cost nothing.

Anyway, enough ranting for now. Each night there was a cabaret show in the ships theatre – you know the type of thing, bit of singing, dancing, comedy, magic. We went along most nights – there's not a lot else to do in the evening anyway, bit windy for a stroll when you're at sea at night! One of the comedians was a guy called Tucker – we all thought he was very good – cross between Brian Conley, Norman Wisdom and Lee Evans – good clean humour with a little innuendo thrown in. He was gifted about 10 minutes of material by the late arrival of several audience members who all fell for the same trick of thinking a door to a cupboard actually led somewhere! I'm laughing just thinking about it but you probably needed to be there to get it!

Enough for now – need to keep you wanting more (anyway my minds gone blank so you'll have to wait!), I'm off to bed with my paracetemol for company - I must try to be more considerate tonight and not cough so loudly hmmmmm.....