Days 26-27 Jan 31-Feb 1

Day 26 (Theatre) Thursday Jan 31
Went to the ‘destination’ lecture given by Peter Crimes this morning on Chile, given to an absolutely full house,which was very good. Learnt, as well as some history & geography, that both Puerto Arenas & Valparaiso have many pickpockets, I’m going on trips in both so should be OK, the others are planning to ‘go-it-alone’ so will warn them. I am going to Santiago from Valparaiso since I don’t suppose I shall see it any other way.
Helen Kay from ‘Antiques Roadshow’ then gave a very amusing & informative talk about her experiences doing the show, and some background stories. She is doing another lecture later so must make sure to go.
Hilary wanted to join in the quiz today but there wasn’t room for either of us (already too many in the team) so she went to the dance lesson & I went to try & do my washing, but full up, see above for ‘not enough machines’.
There was a brilliant lady harpist this evening, Shirley Dominguez, who plays the harp like a guitar really (not physically, musically). Apparently she is one of Cunard’s most popular entertainers and it’s not difficult to see why. Missed Alan, Alan & Susan (the latter 2 from the quiz team) performing as ‘adda’ in the Karaoke this evening, they were apparently the stars of the show so must make a point of watching them next time.
Day 27 (Frustrating) Friday Feb 1
Today was supposed to be on shore in the Falklands, so we all got up early. Unfortunately the captain announced just before 7 a.m. that there was a Force 7 wind predicted to increase to Force 8 by the evening so it was too rough for the tenders to ply backwards & forwards. A Sea King helicopter flew out to track our course and even almost landed the winch man on the forward deck (which I didn’t see), but much more spectacular were 2 Tornados who flew past (several times) very low and then flew vertically into the sky with a victory roll at the top. All in honour of the ship, because of course she took troops to the war in 1982 but only to South Georgia, not actually to the islands because she was too valuable a symbol to risk her being bombed by the Argentinians.
Lots of people were very disappointed, Sylvia was very upset & Alan got angry with the captain because he thought he was a ‘wimp’, the seas did not look too rough. But seeing as some of the people on here can barely make it up and down a fixed gangway I’m sure he made the right decision. It is very clear that the Americans on board have no idea how important these small islands are to the British, after all people gave their lives to get them back. There was to have been a memorial service at 12 at the War memorial in Port Stanley for people who had come to bring wreaths, I don’t know if they threw them into the sea instead, it must have been very sad for them.
We almost won the quiz (Trisha & Hilary also joined ‘The Good Girls?’ team), only lost it on the third tie-breaker. I finally managed to do my washing, and then finished my third book, only one to go, but there is a library on board so no shortage of reading matter.
A Celine Dion look & sound-alike performed for us this evening, I thought she was pretty good but Sylvia didn’t like her at all, it all goes to show we have different taste, & what a boring world it would be if we all thought alike. I have given up dancing, though I may go to some of the lessons. I’m just not confident enough to do the actual dances in the evening & I think it’s a bit desperate to hope that a dance ‘host’ will dance with you, when they’d rather dance with the people who know what they’re doing, mentioning no names!