9 & 10 Feb - Back at sea, new passengers, same old problem in the launderette (this time I find a Chinese ally and try  my "cunning plan"). More painting classes and pictures of stuff...

Back at Sea with a New Load of Passengers

For the second time a complete change of atmosphere has occurred. 

At Rio the passengers disembarking were quite disgruntled and the new passengers were grateful to get onboard without having any delays due to sit-in protests and the like. All of the previous problems with this cruise is "old news" to the passengers getting on yesterday and many of them have openly declared a dislike for "whiners" who can't hack a nine day, non stop luxury cruise without "crying" for their money back. I overheard a furious argument between a "NYC'er" and "Valper" over this matter and at one stage thought it might degenerate into blows! With a bit of luck, these disagreements will gradually fade away as people begin to enjoy the cruise and not look back in anger.

Our new table companions didn't show up for last nights dinner and we both felt a little lonely without Irene and Tony being there to discuss the day's events and generally indulge in a mild leg-pulling session. If we get a no company tonight, I'll request a change of table and go for private dining.

Launderette, Open Warfare and the "Cunning Plan"

Yep, I got into more scrapes despite Ann warning me to "go easy" on other users of the laundry room. 

This time I was totally innocent (honest Gov'). 

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I went to iron a shirt at the laundry on deck 6 and joined the queue with no problem (I'd taken along a Long Island Iced Tea, so was feeling rather mellow) when this Chinese man turned up to check his tumble drier. Sure enough, somebody must have opened the door of his drier and then failed to restart the machine, all of his clothes were still wet... he went ballistic... not sure what he was saying, but I'm fairly sure that every 2nd word would have started with "F" in English. To add insult to injury, it seems somebody had added a pair of trousers and a couple of shirts to his load along with a pair of black wool socks, which had left bobbles of black fluff on all of his white shirts... a veritable verbal firework show!

I took sides with the Chinese guy and agreed to wait with him until the "Tumble Drier PARASITE (TDP)" returned and help him try to get some recompense.

I was still ironing my shirt when the TDP returned. 

He was a 6' 4" German with very wide shoulders and biceps the size of my thighs... I was all for a tactical withdrawal. However, the Chinese guy (5' 2" bag of bones) waded into the attack, big style!

To my amazement, the TDP backed down almost immediately and offered to pay for the damaged shirts and apologised for the inconvenience. A credit to his nation, and a relief for me!

See the picture below to preview my cunning plan to avoid further misunderstandings and strife in the laundry.

Painting Classes

I still go to most of the painting classes run by Dianne, but they are getting very popular and sometimes there's just no seats left for new people. Me and Ann have started to paint some freelance pictures out on our balcony. We've both developed a different "style", mines an unplanned brown mess, while Ann's is far more colourful and developed. This is probably a hobby we'll take back with us... so watch out kids, the house will be full of our "happy artistic accidents" in no time!!

Casino and Craps!!

Ann finally braved the Craps table and WON!

She won 90 dollars, which I quickly turned to a deficit on the Blackjack table... as we left the casino, Ann started to (sing very softly) "Who lost all the chips; WHO lost all the chips... YOU F** B*****D; YOU F** B*****D; YOU LOST ALL THE CHIPS". Fortunately, we went on to play some slots and I won 120 dollars to even things up... nice song though (grin). That's my "fun wife" LOL

Ann's picture of the glacier (from memory). Not bad, but the boat is definitely dodgy

Mine, a Valparaiso impression, done in the style of a five year old!!

Blood on the floor warning... should work a treat!!

Sunset on the Tropic of Capricorn... and a very fat face!!

More Later...