At Sea

After departing Valletta, Malta yesterday evening we set out for the open ocean. We’re on-route to Piraeus – near Athens, Greece.

Early this morning I dropped our passports off in reception – a part of the process required to gain entrance to Egypt later in the cruise. I gather their immigration processes are somewhat laborious. While navigating the ship, I was struck by the number of staff on every stair-well (there are many) directing passengers to and from the passport drop-off. Many of them either didn’t seem to know the way to reception, or back to their own rooms. It beggars belief really – we’ve been on board for a week now.

I wish I had brought my noise cancelling headphones from the cabin.

Ever since arriving in the bar this morning, I’ve been unable to ignore a table circled by several older people who are systematically complaining about anything and everything on board the ship. For the last half hour they have had nothing positive to say about anything. The most vocal is an elderly mansplainer who seems to have very strong opinions about everything, and doesn’t mind lecturing anybody that will listen.

One of the main sources of their ire this morning seems to be the repeated changes of time-zone we are passing through. After several days, several of them have not figured out how to change the time on their phone or watch. I know exactly how to solve the issues they are complaining about, but I’m keeping my mouth shut. I’m here for a holiday – not here to become a free service desk for everybody on-board.

Oh my word – the ring-leader is driving me round the twist. He’s now complaining about being bracketed with people (in his view) older than him that are “on their last legs”. At least he’s straightforward – he’s prejudiced against everybody equally.

Deep breaths.

Huge positive for the day – the coffee machine has been repaired in the Crows Nest. I can now get a cappuccino without walking half the length of the ship. It’s something of a revelation. The other places with coffee machines are more cafes than lounges – you can only get away with sitting around for so long before the staff get twitchy about you nursing a half-empty cup. I guess it makes sense – there are several thousand people on-board, and only so many tables.

I guess the challenge for the rest of today is to actually slow down – to stop going from one thing to the next all day – to stop trying to figure out what I might get done. I’m supposed to be on holiday.