28th August 2014

We woke up very late this morning, and even so, there were only a few people at breakfast, indicating that our fellow passengers had “chilled out” a bit more than we had!

In the morning, we attended a lecture on the Aurora Borealis. The Oriana will be sailing to the northwest of Iceland next March to witness a total solar eclipse (the next one after that will be in 2090!) and will also be tracking the Aurora. It promises to be an incredible cruise.

Sue went shopping and read her book while I attended the next lecture on WWII spies. I learned that Germany didn’t have any effective spies in Britain, as we had broken their codes. As soon as their spies arrived, we caught them, either hanging them or turning them into double agents to deceive the German High Command. In fact, Hitler even awarded our most successful counterspy with the Iron Cross.

We met up again in the cabin and had lunch together in the Oriental. Afterwards, we sat in the Crow’s Nest, dismayed to find that a thick fog had set in, with drizzle. The Oriana dolefully sounded her horn every few minutes, warning other ships and rogue icebergs to get out of our way. I read my book while Sue moved to the rear of the ship to read hers, as the movement at the front made her feel a little woozy. Later, she went to see the Oriana Choir perform in the theatre. The choir was made up of passengers who had been practising various songs all week. One of the choristers was the secretary from Meadows Primary School, called Mrs. Friend, though I’m still not entirely sure. Sue reported back that the concert was excellent, and perhaps I shouldn’t have completely chilled out by napping in the cabin and joined her to watch it.

During the afternoon, the skies cleared to a brilliant azure blue. Although the sea wasn’t flat and calm, there were no white caps on the waves. After coffee, we chatted to a nice couple from South Wales and then took a couple of turns around the deck, using the binoculars to spot the various ships dotted on the horizon. Somewhere during our run through the fog, the oil rigs had disappeared. Perhaps the ship’s horn had been sounding earlier to mask the crunch of the rigs as we sailed over them; they don’t seem to move very swiftly!

We returned to the Crow’s Nest and sat reading, enjoying the warmth of the sun streaming through the large panoramic windows, until it got a bit too hot for comfort. Consulting the Horizon (the onboard magazine), we decided to visit the Tiffany Lounge, which was about to host a quiz. After a moderately successful quizzing, I read my book while Sue visited the Library and returned with a stack of women’s magazines that she flicked through until she had to start the dreaded job of packing. I finished a chapter and joined her.

Packing didn’t take too long, and we changed for the evening meal. As we left the cabin, we noticed many suitcases had already been left out in the corridors by passengers who were obviously keener to leave the ship than we were. The meal was excellent, as always (well done, P & O chefs), and we sadly said goodbye to our fellow diners before heading to the other end of the ship to watch another tremendous performance from the Four Tunes, which earned a standing ovation.

Returning to the cabin, we packed the last items into our cases and left them in the corridor. They looked rather lonely, as most of the others had already been collected.