FEBRUARY 18, 2008

ESPECIALLY FOR PAT: Let us hear from you. Are you still alive? And Teddy? And Sylvia?
LAUNDRY ROOM: Pure and simple: I hate it. I drug a bag of dirty laundry down and Ed said he was going to bring the other bag and then go exercise. One of the washers is out of order (and I was later told by a woman that it had been that way last week too). There were two ladies doing their laundry so I waited for a washer. Still Ed hadn’t arrived so I called and asked him to bring the other bag down please. Turns out he hadn’t headed for exercise either, nor breakfast. And here I thought I was doing a good deed.
So gradually, 4 washers opened up as the ladies moved things to their dryers and did their ironing. No one else was around to use the washers, so I managed to get all the loads into a washer. In walks another person (I’ll spare you the gender info) and found out I had all the washers available (3) start making not so subtle remarks as if he should be able to waltz in and immediately get a washing machine. As soon as a washer was finished, I gave it to him. Then he started in about the dryer situation. Well you can imagine how this set with me. (Ok so I just realized I gave away the gender). Additionally, another gentleman (he at least was nice) had put his clothes in the dryer and when it stopped he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Since they weren’t dry yet, I put another 4 quarters (no slugs, no Grand Cayman coins in the money from the purser’s desk this time thankfully) and turned it on again.
A lady we see often came in to see that by this time there was a washer available, so she asked me to hold the washer while she ran to get her clothing. Job done and she’s now reading her novel. Sometime during all this, the dryer gentleman comes in and I told him what I had done so he wouldn’t wait until a full 40 min had gone by if they were already dry. He looked a little puzzled, thanked me, and offered me a $1 bill. He did explain that he didn’t have quarters; bless him. I told him to put it in the collection plate sometime. This sounds harsh in the reading but it wasn’t in person.
Then the remaining two folks in the laundry begin to ask me if my clothes are dry. I checked one dryer which held Ed’s underwear and some of the seams were still damp, so I continued with that load. Eventually, I took one load out and a lady came over and felt it and told me it was dry enough. I bit my tongue.
I managed to get everything folded except for the last dryer full and still no Ed. So I called and asked him to come down and get some of the clothes since I can’t manage all of them alone. He was just getting into the shower (it’s now between 10:30 and 11 am).
So basically, I’m dripping sweat—truly, irritated with these folks who presume to know how everyone else should behave when many of us have been waiting for a long time before the latecomers even arrive.
Eventually, it occurs that there are two washers empty and one dryer empty. I looked at the lady who remained (the man I tried to believe didn’t exist) and said: “Isn’t there someone we can call and tell them to bring their laundry down quick because there’s a washer available?”
The folks who were off the ship to see Ayers Rock came back last night and were crowding the laundry room until closing. And one washer out of operation.
So when I’m in a better mood, I’m going to write a sandwich letter to the suggestion box (compliment, complaint, complement) about fixing the washer.
TRIVIA: After all of this, I climbed up to the Lounge for trivia. Val and Eric were already there and another couple we had not met before joined us. It’s fun to see how we all work together and we’ve all decided our team would have a better chance if we kidnapped one of the home schooled kids on board for our team.
We started discussing how badly some people behave around these competitions. Murray told the story of one cruise where some passengers came to a fisticuff over the answers to a trivia question. The Captain had to break it up. Eventually, the staff refused to do the trivia games. Isn’t that amazing? We’ve seen some odd behavior on ships before as well but never that bad. And these are ADULTS???? We just have fun with it all. It’s nice if you win, but the best part is racking everyone’s brains for the answers. We believe it’s keeping all of us out of Alzheimer’s wards.
LUNCH: Ed went to lunch and I had a fruit. Then I went to the library for the crossword puzzle and the USA times. I’m trying to finish the last Vanity Fair issue so I can start putting them in the library for others. I made a good dent in it before going to:
JAPAN’S DEVELOPMENT IN MICRONESIA: These lectures are being done by a professor from somewhere who has had a lifetime interest in this area. His presentation style is somewhat choppy but I wasn’t planning on taking a test on the content anyway. I have little interest in battles or wars; however, I do have an interest in the odd fact now and then that come out in these presentations. I do needlepoint while listening. (And by the way: this needlepoint kit, which you pay $7 for, has “Princess Cruises” on the pattern. I’ve made my own writing and it says: “Dr. BonBon”. Why should I pay them to advertise their company?)
The two main things from today’s presentation was about the buildings the Japanese constructed in Micronesia vs. the one’s the American’s made. The Japanese buildings are still standing even after being blown to smithereens, and many are being used as home. The American ones were temporary and clearly long gone. What does remain of anything Ameican (or Auzzie or others) are the hulls of ships and such and to be honest, Japanese ships as well.
The Japanese had relocated many of their citizens to these Micronesia islands and thousands died of starvation and other atrocities because they were essentially abandoned by the motherland. He has pictures from archives of the facts he’s sharing and they make things come alive.
RABAUL: East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea, is our next stop and the Patter has a little squib about it. I never heard of the place prior to taking this cruise (or of Chuuk—another port soon). It says that the eruption of Rabaul was probably the most important eruption of 1994. It’s all news to me.
PORT TALK: was on our next stop Rabaul and was at 10 am this morning when I was in the laundry. (no I’m not going there again….at least not for a while). The Brisbane couple were really annoyed with his inaccuracies again. Because of conversation at supper I’ve come to the conclusion that the American(s) believe the battle of Rabaul to be significant; other nationalities don’t.
As a follow up to this: I hear many people complain about the speaker for the port talk. I agree with much of it as I’ve described before. In the afternoon, I was in the area of his desk reading. Several people came up and congratulated him on several qualities in his talk. So I can see why nothing changes.
DINNER: Well, for the first time in a long while, we were a full table this evening. We discovered (because we are almost always one of the last tables to empty out) that when most of the people leave the dining room, we can hear everyone at our table. Folks at each end of the table (it is oval) have problems hearing at various times.
I’m working on my weight and so I ordered a fruit plate. Rod brought me a scoop of my favorite ice cream also. Hummm I’m gonna have to find a way to deal with this.
ENTERTAINMENT: It’s someone doing Nat King Cole songs and such, so I’m passing. I knew Ed would want to go.
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE: There’s a big whoop tee do art auction tomorrow afternoon so there’s not much being offered. They’ll wait a long time to get us to buy a piece of art anywhere but especially here.
And I see the drink for tomorrow is a 24K Golden Rita. I defy you to identify the alcohol in any of these drinks though. Still I like slushies. At the Rainforest yesterday they had a delicious mango slushie. It cost $3 AUD and was about 6 oz. Oh well, it goes to help take care of the animals there….
BOAT BUILDING CONTEST: Remember how funny this was on the Diamond Princess in December? Well there’s one on this ship now. I’ll keep you posted.