On Tuesday, April 28, we finally woke up early enough to enjoy a full service breakfast at the Britannia restaurant and attend the morning lecture “Meteors, Meteorites and Comets”, by Howard L.G. Parkin. While the Royal Court Theater was fairly full, by the time his lecture was over, it completely filled out for the next lecture: “Survival in Solitude”, where Terry Waite told us how, while working as negotiator for the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was taken hostage in Beirut and survived for 5 years, 4 of which he spent in solitary confinement, enduring torture and a mock execution.

After the lectures I went through an easy immigration procedure (basically checking the passport), while my wife was scheduled for the following day; then we headed to lunch.

The ship rocked quite a lot, because an emergency repair forced the propulsion system to be stopped. The considerable fog, so much so that it made the horizon completely disappear, added to an innocuously ominous atmosphere. The ocean, mesmerizing as it is, becomes ineludible when there is fog in the horizon.

We finally spent a lazy afternoon in the stateroom, something we were both looking forward to. I enjoyed reading some poetry, and we watched Pride and Prejudice before heading to dinner.

The evening was filled with entertainment, first by US comedian Rondell Sheridan and his routine about old people on a cruise, and then a Dixieland Jazz concert at the Golden Lion Pub.