Hacker alert

 Diva was shocked when she looked at her phone in the morning. A red warning message from McAfee stating that the onboard wifi has been hacked and she should disconnect immediately. Although they realised it was probably a false alarm, in the light of recent events, they informed Reception, who sent the butler to ‘sort out the phone’. Diva insisted on speaking to an IT person and one eventually appeared and explained that this message was connected with O2, whose service appeared to be confused by the satellite communication from Florida. This was a less than satisfactory explanation in many ways but Diva decided to accept the false alarm diagnosis, whilst being relieved that TSH, unlike some other guests, is not doing banking transactions from the ship.

The IT has improved but is still not reliable and the TV has also been unavailable at times.

TSH and Diva took an excursion on Orkney to see some of the ancient remains, especially the Ring of Brodgar, which is very atmospheric. That evening was Venetian night and they were surprised to be invited to dine with Captain Arma. There were many cruisers with many more days, so it was unclear why they were singled out for this honour. It was a pleasant table of 5 people and both TSH and Diva ate the excellent filet mignon. Captain Arma explained that neither he nor the doctor is allowed to be ill as they are the two people legally required for ship operation.

At breakfast, a nearby guest ordered his eggs ‘broken’. ‘Scrambled?’ asked the waiter. ‘No, broken.’ ‘Sunny side up?’ ‘No, broken.’ Turns out broken is something to do with mushing up the yolk whilst leaving the white intact. On what planet of the spoiled incompetent can grown men not mush up their own yolks? A power game.

Wildlife sightings:  Cormorants, swans, greylag geese, sheep, Aberdeen Angus, highland cattle (predominant colour used to be black but Queen Victoria liked the red ones, so breeding proceeded accordingly and now the predominant colour is red).