On our cruises we try to get a cabin (sorry, stateroom) on the side of the ship closest to the land so as to get the best view. Thinking the boat would be meandering past majestic scenery I managed to get the last stateroom on the right side of the ship or starboard side, to be nautical. So far the only thing worth seeing on our side has been a pod of whales apparently but the CB and I didn’t see them. The coastline is somewhere over the horizon and has been all of the time we’ve been at sea apart from when we’ve pulled into ports. So lazing on the balcony, sipping pina coladas and waving to the locals as we glide past has had to be replaced by the occasional extra-curricular activity. Most of these have involved drinking including a blind wine-tasting.
I know that if you do enough wine tasting of the swirl, sniff, sip, swallow, spew (this last part is not mandatory) variety, you end up blind. Not this one however which involved identifying particular grape varieties. The answers were sav blanc, chardonnay, malbec and cabernet. My answers were verdelho (which was derisively laughed off by the adjudicator), sav blanc, shiraz and cabernet – one out of four. But then I did have a cold so the nose or sniff part of the process was removed from the equation. A shame really because being able to recognize the nuanced subtlety of the warmer south side of the hill in northern hemisphere dry grown rieslings is something I am particularly proud of.
While on the subject of drinking, a get-together of all of the Aussies was organized. Every cobber on the boat turned up – 32 in total. And it turns out I’m the only one of the 32 who’s still working. Embarrassing. The Canadians had organized a similar get-together the previous afternoon. No one turned up. Trudeau must have had them in lock-down.
I’ve never been particularly religious – too much pragmatism and not enough faith in my largely scientific evidence based brain. Notwithstanding, I have no issues with those who are and I absolutely respect their right to worship whatever or whomever they like. But I was a bit peeved the other day when, after visiting the slave fort at Cape Coast in Ghana we were herded into a historic church, presumably to see historic churchy things. Instead we had been press-ganged into a church service. A truly unique experience and one scam I never expected from a fine upstanding organization like the Catholic Church, subjected as we all are to daily scams. That reminds me. I must check on my bitcoin investments which I must have set up when extremely pissed one day because I don’t remember doing it.
To finish off Ghana, they have the most belligerent speed bumps I have ever encountered. Most of our speed bumps you can drive over at a reasonable speed. These, which occur every few hundred metres in every village you pass through are the type that launch your vehicle into orbit if you hit them at more than 10km/hour and forget about your suspension when you return to earth.
We’re jumping around a bit here but I keep thinking of things and couldn’t be bothered going back and cutting and pasting into chronological order. So now we’re in Abidjan, the old capital of Ivory Coast or Cote d’Ivoire as the French call it. As previously mentioned the CB and I like to take in the local history but in this case we did a cultural tour. Talk about contrast. This cultural centre featured magnificent paintings and wooden sculptures with common themes – slavery and rape which were discussed in some horrific detail.
A few steps and 180 degrees away we watched a drumming and dancing demonstration that must have lasted 40 minutes. The enthusiasm and joy were palpable. And speed!! Remember Road Runner – legs going at 100 miles an hour and body stock still. It was like Riverdance on steroids turned up to warp speed except instead of dancing from the knees down in one spot, this was whirling dervish stuff, mostly from the hips down but with arms and legs flailing rhythmically in all directions. The beat was provided by traditional percussion instruments which were supplemented and complemented by a modern drum kit and a bass guitar. Just brilliant.
Incidentally, I love guitar music. There are two bands on this ship but not one guitar player (I don’t count bass guitar). There are three keyboard players, two bass players, two drummers and a couple of trumpeters. Last night we watched a cabaret called “Six Strings”. Now what do you think would figure in this? If you said guitar, go to the top of the class. But the only guitar in the show was one the dancers passed around while the singers sang “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. No one actually played it. And they did some of my favourite guitar based songs – Hotel California, Sweet Child Of Mine, Whole Lotta Love. I almost volunteered. Almost.