So now I know what taupe looks like. It’s one of those catalogue
colours that I’ve always wondered about. I mean, how is that different from
beige? (Neither of them is a colour I’ve ever had anything to do with,
personally. I’m into primary colours, me.) But the décor on the ship is
definitely taupe, and beige, and grey
and pewter and black, with muted aqua highlights. Sophisticated, I guess.
It’s an At-Sea day today, so there’s time to register such things.
Also, to be entertained by the programme of lectures and activities that are
laid on by the Silver Spirit team. First,
though, I had work to do: an interview, no less, with Steve McCurry. Hang on,
don’t click away, to save you googling I’ll tell you that he’s the man who
produced what’s been called the World’s Best Photo: Afghan Girl. You know it
from the National Geographic cover back in 1978, you’ve seen it often, and even
only once seen you’d never forget those green eyes looking right into yours.
Brilliant photo.
Steve himself is a quietly-spoken man of 68, not tall, fairly
forgettable physically, to be brutally honest, which has without a doubt been
to his advantage in his career, slipping under the radar, not intimidating his
subjects. He’s travelled the world, mostly to less developed countries, and
produced a huge body of work. Comfortingly for the rest of us, he’s a great
proponent of the iPhone camera and has even included phone pics in his books.
So there’s hope for all of us.
I also learned how to make rhubarb panna cotta at a cooking demonstration,
tasted the Danish version of Calvados (they cheat by adding aquavit), and at a
different lecture learned how unsafe hotel safes are and why you should never
give your real name to the Starbucks guy if you’re carrying a hotel umbrella.
This travel security lecturer is totally paranoid, but also an amusing speaker,
and his next talk on identity theft might be pretty handy in these
treacherous times.
The sun shone all day, the sea sparkled, the ship creaked quietly
(hopefully not the inserted section working loose), and we set out on the Trivial
Pursuit marathon, our group of six achieving a moderately respectable third
place in the first skirmish. We finished the day’s events with the Captain’s
Welcome cocktail reception, a formal affair which my Amazon owl dress allowed
me to just scrape into, although many guests really, er, pushed the boat out.
Pearls, diamonds, sequins, long gowns, bow ties… not all on the same people, I
hasten to add. And then I took a pleasant wander around some other decks,
discovered the Art Café with its truffles, the boutique with a very eclectic
selection of fashions, glitzy watches, jewellery and perfumes (had a spray of
Chanel #5 to waft me to sleep), and finally got some fresh air up on the top
deck to observe the sun starting to sink, the North Sea uncharacteristically
turquoise and peaceful, breaking long and slow under the bow, and the sky
streaked with high cloud. The sun set, infinitely slowly, tonight at 11.40pm. It
may have felt weary: sunrise tomorrow will be at 3.56am.
Highlight of today: a big squashy hug from lovely little Miriam, wine
waitress, who remembered me (and my owl dress) from our Christmas cruise to
Antarctica on Silver Explorer.
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