Day 73 of 102. Mostly written around 07.30hrs the following morning.

This westbound transit of the Indian Ocean is becoming increasingly pleasant.  As predicted, the seas are less turbulent, and although not spectacularly hot, I would describe the weather as perfect and just right for both sunbathing and taking exercise.

We had entered yet another time zone, creating again in theory a twenty five hour day. We are now just six hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

I attended one Cunard Insights lecture (that’s how they are referred to these days; they were once referred to as Enrichment!) just after the Captain’s eagerly awaited noon-day address. I caught up with Jo in the Kings Court; she suggested lunch al fresco in the Boardwalk Café on Deck 12. It was a lovely afternoon, so why not? I must have eaten something which didn’t agree. Suddenly, I felt slightly ill and spent an hour or so in my cabin relaxing and flicking through the TV channels. I felt better and resumed walking prior to an Officers’ cocktail party for full World Cruise passengers in the Queens Room.

I attended this, but stayed away from the fine buffet on offer. I joined a couple from Bolton, and fortunately, I had company for much of the evening, only just making it in time for dinner at a shared round table in the Britannia Restaurant. A lady described how her father had been on the Lancastria, and survived its catastrophic destruction off St. Nazaire on 17th June 1940 with the loss of around 4,000 men women and children who were being evacuated. I have items from Lancastria’s days as a Cunard passenger liner which I plan to copy, perhaps like my Laconia first World Cruise portfolio. One does meet some fascinating people on one’s travels.

I meant to take pictures of the cocktail reception, and even returned to my room to pick up the camera phone. Then, I became distracted and forgot!

Jo had gone to the movie “5,000 Blankets,” a very poignant true story which I saw on a previous voyage. We both then watched an extremely funny Irish comedian whose stagecraft was very skilled and kept the audience (and the usually hard-to-please me) highly amused throughout.

I retired to bed almost immediately after the show. The day certainly felt twenty-five hours long!

Many thanks for reading, David, 08.02 hrs 25/3/23.