We started the day as usual with walking our mile round the decks which was incredibly hot and humid today as we are nearing the equator, and then the stretch class which was luckily in an air conditioned room! We had breakfast and then I went line dancing while JL went to the pool. Before starting the cruise I thought line dancing would be fun but probably not great exercise, but I'm quite surprised at the aches I am feeling from all this kicking and small leg movements!
We met in the theatre for the third and final talk by Sue Holderness (Marlene), who this time was reflecting on the role animals have played in her film career. We got to hear and see some behind the scenes tales of the various animals that have appeared in Only Fools and Horses, such as the crocodile in the Miami episode, and Marlene and Boycie's dogs.
After lunch, JL went to hear his drugs man talk about heroin smuggling, and I sat on the balcony to type the previous day's blog. It was still very muggy but there was no sunshine, and I think I even felt a few drops of rain. I did however have the enjoyment of watching the sea birds which have started to fly close to the ship, diving from great heights into the water to try and catch the fish that the ship has disturbed.
I tried to have my daily Internet time after that but shock horror - there was no signal!!! Apparently the satellite signal is very dodgy as you get close to the equator, as the satellite receiver needs to have an angle of below 85 degrees to the satellite - or something like that, I didn't really understand! I just knew it meant no Facebook or emails - aargh! Since none of the 4 mobile phones I have brought with me actually work at sea, I did have my first moment of feeling completely isolated from the world...! I just kept reminding myself that there is a contact service with the ships through the P&O website, and I can make calls from my cabin for around £3 per minute, so in an emergency it'd be fine... If those things aren't reliant on a satellite signal that is...!
At 3.00 we met by one of the outdoor pools for the infamous 'crossing the line ceremony'. As I'm sure you know, permission must be sought from King Neptune for ships to cross the equator, and he was there by the pool to give the ship's officers a series of tests to see if they were worthy! They had to beat a team of pirates. These tests included each team member putting on a wet boiler suit and swimming a length of the pool before passing the suit to the next member; each paddling a length in a life buoy; collecting a load of plastic toys from the pool in the fastest time; catching ping pong balls from a large tub of custard in their mouths; and finally kissing a dead fish. High class entertainment! You will be pleased to know that they passed their challenges, so after a custard fight King Neptune granted us permission to cross the equator - phew!
I then went back to the room to do some exercise, while JL went to the cinema to watch a dreadful sounding film called Edge of Tomorrow. It was then time to get ready for formal night, which this evening was preceded by the Captain's gala party. This is very exciting for 3 reasons. 1. You get free champagne. 2. You get to meet and have your photo taken with the captain. 3. It is the only night of the cruise when you can order... chocolate covered strawberries!!!!!! You can probably guess which of these things most interested me and which most interested JL! So we joined the long queue to meet Captain Angelo Vago, had several glasses of champagne (well, I only had one!), heard his short speech, headed off for dinner, then back to the room for our strawberries :-)
We also went to the evening's show which was by the ship's theatre group and was called Stop in the Name of Love - it had a loose storyline of 3 couples, interspersed with lots of Motown music and dancing.
The best news is that there was a brief window of opportunity when the Internet came back in the evening before going again! I'm crossing my fingers that it will work ok today so I can send this...
[JL: Brazil and Recife tomorrow. When I read in our programme that Recife was one of the ports we visited, I was a little concerned as I had read an article in the Guardian newspaper which had Recife at number seven in the top ten of most dangerous cities in the world. This is the place where a few years ago the police were routinely shooting dead stray "surplus" children in the streets. Now it's all gun and drug related violence and daily shootings. Lovely. However Emma has the answer (my wife has an answer for everything under the sun): she has four mobile phones and one Ipad onboard (don't ask)... So she says to me:"I'll take two phones tomorrow, the crap one that doesn't work anywhere and the good one. If we get mugged, I'll give them the crap one and hide the good one at the bottom of my bag. Sorted!" If there is no blog tomorrow you'll know why. Please, come and get us!]
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