Keeping the Elephants away
Walking down the street, a lad passed a window where an elderly lady sat, tearing up newspaper and throwing the scraps out the window. Curious, he asked her what she was doing. I am keeping the elephants away she replied. “That’s silly, you can’t control elephants with confetti,” the lad respond. The lady replied indignantly, “Well, you don’t see any elephants do you?”
The Novo virus is the latest “elephant” for cruise liners. When we took an Alaskan cruise on Holland America, the captain and crew would not shake hands with passengers - you could only touch elbows. On most ships there are ample dispensers of anti-viral spray and lotions. On Queen Elizabeth, the Lido restaurant does not allow guests to get their own coffee or juice at breakfast. Crew members with surgical gloves will get your drinks for you. The British guests (many of whom have been on the ship since Southampton) are feeling put out - Cunard apparently adopted this strategy after New York, and again after San Francisco. Although breakfast is a cafeteria format in the Lido, crew serve all the portions, or have pre-dispensed portions on plates. It must be working - Jean and I are still healthy and well.
Yesterday we feared that the door to our balcony door was broken. No matter how we tried, we could not get it to open. This morning, now that the winds from the South are no longer over 50 knots, it opens quite easily. Most of the walking on the deck was restricted as well. Of course, there are lots of places to walk indoors on the ship, so it’s not a problem, other than the unexpected lurching and swaying from time to time. I have great admiration for Magellan, Drake, and other explorers, who circumnavigated the globe in ships only 200 feet or so long. The Queen Elizabeth is wider than those ships were long.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteTravel is filled with experiences but make sure that the novo virus is not one of them. So how long are you at sea? I hope it remains smooth. I imagine being sea sick is as bad as a novo virus.
Today we had a conference call with the airport. Things are moving ahead (at a snails pace). Actually it is fine with us and it seems that the people in charge are finally competent, the last word I would have used to discribe them previously. Our lawyer is going to amend our original contract and a boiler plate one will be sent from the airport for a starter. The timetable for completion of this contract is June so we will hopefully have plenty of time. The actual artwork won't be done until the end of 2013 and technically finished by Jan. 1, 2014. Let's not calculate our age by then...regardless it's an adventure that I hope finally happens.
Enjoy yourselves. We live vicariously through your discriptions. Love, Jane