The first of five sea days before our last port of call. Rob was in the doghouse with Linda and was a tad hungover. The Macmillan coffee morning and auction was held on the Terrace Deck today. It wasn’t particularly well attended but still managed to raise over £1,000.

At noon the clocks went forward one hour, putting us three hours behind the UK. When the clocks go back it’s done at 2:00 in the morning which gives the hard working crew an extra hour in bed. When the clocks go forward it’s done at noon to give the crew a shorter working day. The bar staff, waiters, room stewards etc. all work eight or nine month contracts with a 12 hour (or more) working day and no days off.

We spent the afternoon by the Crystal Pool who’s roof has been closed, for the rest of the cruise I guess. It was really hot under there.

Another formal night and probably the last one where I’ll wear the white jacket. The quiz in Champion’s was on recent history. Apparently, recent means less than 110 years! We were abysmal and only scored 14/20. The Syndicate Quiz was packed and the dreaded table 39 were on minus two. Only Barbara, Phil and I were playing as Rob and Linda took part in the music quiz and Yvonne went to bed. The winners, table 44, scored 18/20 and got an enormous cheer and round of applause. Table 39 scored 16 even before the deduction. We chose white wine! Yes dear reader, we were the winners.