Just cruising

With thanks to Silversea for this cruise

 It's our last full day at sea, and it's been a gift: sunny, warm, calm and, despite our being plumb in the middle of one of the busiest bits of water on the planet - and one that the marine traffic app shows is heaving with boats - there are scarcely any other ships to be seen. Or even land, come to that. Clearly the English Channel is much bigger than I'd thought.

So, people were all over the outside decks and in the pool, but it still didn't feel crowded - just 300-odd passengers will do that. Both of us finally, and none too soon, starting to feel almost normal again after our bout of flu and subsequent respiratory problems, we enjoyed a breakfast of Swedish pancakes and tried not to think what we've been missing out on for the last two weeks.

At-sea days are always agreeably laid-back, so that's exactly what we did, at various locations around the ship, always finding somewhere comfortable to sprawl, with nobody else close by. Guernsey slipped past starboard, and then the Isle of Wight, port - neither of them close-up. The Captain announced our arrival times tomorrow, and we'll have to be up early to witness our passage up the Thames and finally through (not 'under') Tower Bridge at about 8am, no doubt causing some cursing amongst rush-hour traffic.

This evening there was the usual Farewell from the staff in the theatre, and then we had perfect Châteaubriand for dinner in the restaurant, sharing a table with six others who included two very relaxed and chatty concierge staff, open and easy about sharing their peculiar lifestyles, and dropping tantalising hints about the stories they could tell about what the guests get up to. Too discreet to share, alas.