Quizzing in blackpropaganda

One more aspect of the cruise - most days we took part in the morning and afternoon quizzes - twenty general knowledge questions ( sometimes rather different) so not more than 25 minutes taken up - unless some dispute about the answers. On the second day a chap came over and asked if he could join us - and from then on we made a team - sometimes his wife joined us as well.
Trevor was such an interesting character with a background in the army, politics and life in general - a Yorkshireman translated to the south of England - on his third marriage - we never asked what happened to the other two wives.

In the main the same people did the quizzes - sometimes six in a team - so we were pleased to do well. Some people clearly wanted to win - and did complain about the answers - although why they wanted a lot of ship’s key rings goodness knows.
Actually we won three times - first a cruise bag - and we gave that to T - then a mug (ours) - then without T we won an alarm clock - this was the best prize. Very superior to the one we won on Fred Olsen.

It was a great way to start and finish the day before getting ready to eat - and we had plenty more to so on ‘sea days’ when we had no land falls - eg - 4 days across the Atlantic. I also took part in a dozen water colour classes which were challenging since the tutor used techniques which were new to me. I also took part in the choir which eventually put about six songs together and sang to the passengers. The best bit was all the choir member on deck singing ‘O Canada’ as we left Canadian waters - a stirring anthem.

And I went to nearly all the lectures (12) given by a bird expert which were really fascinating - and he was a good lecturer.

Of course, some people did nothing apart from read books, and sleep. At times I wanted to let someone know that I thought the man over there in the lounge seemed to have died - when of course he was fast asleep.

Smokers were confined to the starboard sector of two outside decks - and they congregated like lost souls apparently shunned by other people!! When the weather was bad they could not smoke. One lady never got off the ship, inhabited the smoking area, sunbathed, knitted, sewed - and drank copious amounts of wine. Occasionally she was visited by the husband who shared her wine and smoked a large cigar. I would have loved to know more about them!!!