Day 15 24 January 2011

Another warm and sunny day in what seems an empty ocean, cruising south towards Montevideo. Today, we have seen other vessels in one tanker and one container ship but otherwise we have the sea to ourselves. It has been a lazy day of reading, watching the waves, walking around the deck and in my case catching up with my Open University creative writing course. At the moment I am attempting with little success to write poetry.

The passengers on a round the world cruise are not drawn from one part of society. They are cosmopolitan and have come from many different backgrounds and places. One of the few things they have in common is that they tend to be retired since who else could take three months off from work. Although, even this is not universal with a small minority still working. I suppose they also have in common the money to pay for the cruise. But in almost all other areas they are a broad group. We have met on this ship: colliery managers, bank managers, care home owners, school teachers, police officers, antique dealers, hairdressers, nurses, shop floor foremen, cleaners, football and cricket fans, non-drinkers and headmasters. They have presented views that are religious, racist, homophobic, caring, Christian, socialist, conservative and fascist. These are just the people we have met who are a small subset of the 1800 passengers.

People do many different things while on a sea day. There are fanatical bridge players who seem to want to spend each waking moment with a pack of cards in front of them. Many people sit on deck sunbathing in many different postures. Some lie motionless in the full sun, while other hide in the shade. Many read and by observing the titles you could undertake market research. A few embroider, cross-stitch or knit. On one side of the ship you are allowed to smoke and the smokers cluster there. A few walkers circle the deck either intent on power walking or out for a slow stroll. They zig and zag their way through the sunbathers. Few things galvanise the crowd but at 4pm, the tea and cakes appear on deck and cause the groups to stir and hasten for the best cakes.

Tomorrow, we are going on a steam train and a coach to see the sights of Montevideo.