Show time on Silver Spirit

TSH and Diva went to the after dinner show – ‘Gran’ Amore’ – for the first time on this voyage. It was billed as a blend of opera, classical and musicals – a combination they have been to in the past and enjoyed. The opera was fine – the entertainers have good voices. But the rest of it was songs they had never heard of or songs they didn’t like or (mostly) both. With really poor choreography.  It was a bit like Dirty Dancing. The ‘before’ part before Patrick Swayze came on the scene. 50 years out of date. Not the fault of the singers, who were trying their best. Who dreamed that up?

TSH and Diva left well before the end and went to the bar to listen to Angela Grace, who is an excellent singer and performer. Accompanied by an excellent pianist who is also a performer. Angela is a Scottish woman who is more accustomed to pub singing and told us she really had to be persuaded to take this contract. She seems to sing every night and is building a loyal clientele. She sings many kinds of song but concentrates on popular music from the 60s onwards. Beatles, Abba, Elvis, Adele, Dolly Parton etc. all sung in her very personal husky style. It is like a breath of fresh air in the stilted old fashioned Silversea entertainment world.

And Angela can handle a crowd. So when two elderly women approached her to ask for ‘something they could dance to’, she switched to late fifties rock and roll that they could jive gently to on the tiny stage. At this stage, Diva’s attention was distracted because a (presumably) drunk young guest in a tight silver dress took a fancy to the pianist and decided to sit beside him. He gamely carried on and Angela smiled broadly. She smiled even more broadly a few seconds later. Diva returned her attention to where the dancers were.  They had both vanished!! Not into thin air but both had taken a tumble and were on the floor. TSH actually saw the sudden collapse happen. The Captain, who happened to be sitting at a nearby table, looked confused and appalled. Angela quickly recovered herself and launched into one of her favourites – ‘Stand by me’. The floosie on the piano stool eventually wandered off. A side-splitting farce like this has NEVER happened on Silver Spirit before.

One of the guests on the ship lives in Mawdesley and in around 1980 taught at Twiss Green Primary in Culcheth. Her mentor was Mrs McFarlane, who was the reception teacher there for many years.

Overheard in dining room: ‘Is the salmon wild?’ ‘No, sir, it is grilled’.

Ireland

In Dublin, TSH and Diva went to the excellent EPIC (Every person is connected) exhibition about the history of Ireland and the achievements of its people around the world. There were separate exhibitions for sport, music, politics etc and the scale of the influence is both huge and impressive.  We all know about Terry Wogan and Bono but Rihanna, whose real name is Fenty, was something of a surprise. The one where they were claiming influence on Israel because a politician there was related to a former Chief Rabbi of Eire was maybe a bit more tenuous.

Eire, like everywhere else, is struggling with the volume of traffic in its cities. In Cork, Diva and TSH walked around the city and found that the pedestrian crossings only allowed a short time to cross and then it was a long wait for the next chance. In Dublin, by contrast , it felt as if the pedestrians were given priority, as the coach seemed to spend as much time at crossings as touring the city.

In Belfast, the excursion was to the impressive World Heritage site at the Giant’s Causeway. The visitor centre explains the geology, natural history and mythology very effectively. This was a really good excursion, with a drive along the very scenic coast road. The weather was mostly clear, but the mist came down just at the right time to prevent viewing of the fisherman’s rope bridge. After preparing for the cooler weather (as forecast) for the Giant’s Causeway it actually turned out to be quite warm and outer clothing had to be removed. Diva & TSH were surprised that people were allowed to walk on the Giants Causeway and one individual was even flying a drone over it to take photographs.

Leaving Belfast lough, TSH and Diva waved to friends in Port Patrick (Scotland). They couldn’t see the friends but the friends reported that they saw the Silver Spirit.

It was very evident in the three Irish ports that people are united in not wanting a border between north and south and that they are very concerned about what might happen after Brexit. They were also anxious to remain neutral about Irish history and succeeded to a much greater extent than did the  journalist on board who claims to be neutral about the Trump presidency. TSH and Diva are picking up his anti-Trump bias loud and clear and they agree with what he is saying, so the Trump supporters must be furious. There was one difference in the narrative between Northern Ireland and Eire and that was in the account of the nineteenth century Irish potato famine. The extent to which the Westminster government did or did not help was told differently. Both accounts were probably accurate but there was a difference in emphasis.

A very scenic morning cruise through the Scottish islands followed.

Overheard in dining room: ‘Can I have the meat without the marinade?’

Overheard when looking out to sea at Northern Ireland small islands and off-shore rocky outcrops: ‘Which one is Iceland?’

Changes

On arrival in the Cork area, the cruise director announced that the Silver Spirit was unable to dock in Cobh as originally planned. The berth was occupied by a Celebrity, so Silver Spirit had to dock instead in Ringaskiddy. The tours and shuttles ran as planned but the driver of TSH and Diva’s shuttle did not know the changed route and had a navigator on board to help. There was nearly an accident at an early stage, as a man was working in the road with his back to oncoming traffic and totally focusing on his phone call.  Fortunately he turned round just in time!!

Impressions of Cork: Pleasant town with wide streets and waterways. Modern town centre contrasts with old city originally founded by Vikings. Memorials to Irish people who died during the long struggles against the English military.

The Silver Spirit itself has changed greatly since TSH and Diva were last on board for the Circle round South America. It has been cut in half and a new centre section inserted, to increase the number of passengers by about 50. It has also been refitted in the style of the Silver Muse, so the décor is paler and more modern. There are two new specialty restaurants, both included in the normal price. Indochine is Asian fusion and there is a pizza restaurant which is open for much of the day as well as the evening. They seem to have dropped afternoon tea but there is an all-day deli/café which serves a range of snack food including cakes. The pool area has heaters over the tables and there are also removeable glass panels between the tables and the pool itself. This makes it into an all-weather dining area for both lunch and dinner. La Terrazza is bigger and has more of a café feel at lunch time, although there are still table cloths in the evening. All of the food seems even better than ever.

Captain’s Table

The food on Silver Spirit has improved so much (from a high standard already) that it has been ‘taken to another level’. Everything is beautifully laid out and Diva will be photographing some dishes. Many waiters remember TSH and Diva and they feel very welcome in all the public spaces.

On the first formal night, Captain’s Welcome Party, TSH and Diva were invited to dine with the Captain. It was a small but international table with the Italian Captain, two people from USA and two from Germany. Diva does not often choose fish for a main course but her Chilean sea bass was excellent. Her photogenic ‘vegetable plot’ starter and beautiful (to the sight and to the taste) lemon meringue pie are pictured below.

On-board lectures are brave. One lecturer is talking about the future of the UK, which is controversial at the moment. The other is talking about the Trump Presidency and it is only a matter of time before he provokes a riot.

An enjoyable day was spent in Falmouth with a walk in the morning and lunch on deck – burger for TSH and beef sandwich for Diva.

Tolls and Tantrums

TSH and Diva got really confused this time. For many days now, TSH has been advising Diva to save all her pound coins so that they were organised for the toll for the tunnel under the Thames to get to Greenwich. The evening before departure, Diva decided to look for another way, Googled ‘tunnels and tolls’ and determine that the fee was £2.50 and could be internet-paid in advance. Which she did, whilst TSH supervised. Turned out she had paid for the Dartford tunnel and the route was through the toll-free Blackwall tunnel!!

The arrival was good. The only wild animal spotted en route was a small rabbit which ran into the road and required avoiding action from the skilled driver. TSH then managed to drive into (and out of) the pedestrian pier area just before the bollards went up. Diva found two porters with trolleys and the luggage was taken to the Silver Spirit whilst TSH and Diva went to return the hire car.  At 13:00 they achieved Diva’s challenging aspiration to have lunch and prosecco in La Terraza.

And then they went to their suite. A small sticky patch on the desk-top led Diva to get out a pack of wipes. Being thorough, she proceeded to wipe the whole length of the top and was appalled by the debris she collected. The butler – who is responsible for suite cleanliness – appeared and tried to whisk away the evidence but Diva refused and insisted that a manager was called. A minor tantrum was called for. He offered a re-clean and TSH and Diva retired to a lounge. When they returned, Diva found more dirt. The manager was summoned again and this time Diva really came into her own. At one point she asked him for a job and said she could minimise such occurrences, which he admitted he had no idea how to prevent. Very disappointing and distressing.

All,packed

TSH and Diva are more organised than ever before. The suitcases - all 3 of them - are sitting in the hall packed, locked and labelled. The hire car is in the drive. Hand luggage to be finalised at dawn. Diva plans to spend the first part of the journey learning to operate the built-in sat nav. But there are maps and she has her phone so the destination should be achievable. TSH is topping up the pond so that the resident newts do not run out of water during his absence.

7 sleeps to go

Clothes are on rails ready for packing. Or swapping out when others are thought to be better. Wide range of weather expected so lots of options needed. TSH has got the wrist bands out. Diva has found the Stugeron. Nearly good to go. Excitement mounting.