Trivia, as usual (we got 19/20 this time, but another team got a perfect score!!), followed by a final lecture by Martin Bell, this one about his role as UNICEF ambassador at large. He showed some harrowing footage of Yemen Congo and Somalia. Yemen is in the news again pretty much as he predicted. All failed states – and he added Tunisia to the list. He ended by showing the video from the war in Bosnia, accompanied by a haunting song, he had showed in the first lecture.
Shortly, after, Robert Macomber, the naval historian and novelist, presented his final lecture. We had been told to bring a beverage of any kind, not necessarily alcoholic for the topic was grog, as in the history of grog in the Royal Navy. Well, what do you think I got – yes a daiquiri made with dark rum. So rum and lime – making me a rummy and a limey just like the British sailors!! ☺ Too bad there was no Pusser’s rum, which Macomber did, of course, mention. He interspersed the history with toasts, starting with one to Samuel Cunard and then proceeding with the Royal Navy’s toasts – one for each day of the week, and ending with a toast to fellow sailors, i.e. us. He also included a US Navy toast and a CSA Navy toast, which was, at the time, considered raunchy.
“Here’s to our ships and our lovely women. May the first be well rigged and the second be well manned.”
Of course, we toasted the Queen! The lecture was both informative and fun. He is a very good speaker, though he did not draw the same crowds as Bell. I think that is because the majority of cruisers on board are Brits and Bell is a Brit – most would know him from his BBC and MP days. Macomber is American!!
Went out on deck and watched the sea for signs of animals and saw lots of turtles which just seemed to be floating on the water, but they came to life and flippered furiously as the ship approached. I hope they dived! Also saw a smallish shark – looked reddish to me, but it could have been the light. The ocean was filled with what looked like the detritus of thousands of jellyfish – they may well have actually been jellyfish!
The how tonight was an “original” work presented by the QE Theatre Company – “an elegant thriller set in the gatehouse of a large country estate in 1945”. In reality, a very bad whodunit with a very unsatisfactory ending.
Paul and Olga joined me on the deck afterwards and we just stared at the stars, totally mesmerized and philosophizing about life in the universe.
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