< Continued from page 1
26 April, Monday
We are up at 7:30 and met our concierge. Jacqueline is from the former East Germany, having been 14 when the wall came down. Breakfast was served to us at 8:15 in the elegant Queen's Grill dining room. This is our third meal here, and we have yet to see our table-mates. We are not yet certain they are aboard.
QE2 is off our port-bow. It is cloudy and very windy. Very very windy. Pam went to play deck quoits as a way to win tickets for prizes.


It was so windy over the upper decks that one of her quoits, thrown outside the target, was blown across the teak deck into the target, thus scoring her an unintentional point, and winning for her an initial ticket.

We went to clear UK Immigration in the G32 nightclub. The inspectors were wearing civilian clothes; unlike the overly militarized US officials. Our passports are stamped as of 01 May in Southampton even though that is still five days and thousands of km away.

John went to the art auction, which droned on an on at a very slow pace. What was interesting was that the auctioneer sold nine prints of Gordon Bauwen's Queen leaving New York painting for $300 each ($406 total price). The 295 numbered prints are valued at $1500 each, but are only signed by the artist. This was the first time the prints were offered for sale, and it was interesting that he moved nine in less than a minute.

At the cheaper end of the spectrum, many people spent their morning lining up in the grand lobby to buy commemorative t-shirts.

Thousands of t-shirts were sold in two hours.

In the afternoon we both play shuffleboard, on the theory that it is windy and we can pick up easy tickets. We are the only players, and get four tickets for winning, coming in second, and being insane enough to try to play a deck game in a wind storm at 8 degrees.

We went for our first afternoon tea in the Queen's Grill Lounge near our dining room. This is the only private tea venue on board. After a delightful tea and treats, we retreated to our suite, and John had a bath and enjoyed our private Jacuzzi.

Pam writes: They even made me some wheat free scones one day at tea, now I must have them again. At tea, you come in and tell them what kind of tea you want. We mostly had earl grey and then they come around with sandwiches and sweets. You can ask for scones any day but we didn't actually know this and mine had to be made special anyway. Patrick asked if I would like them one day and of course the answer was yes.

One of our staff delivered canapes at 17:30 as we were dressing for a reception, We had both been invited to the captain's reception for Grill passengers. This was a great opportunity to get autographs. John brought along a colour image of the Bauwen painting of the two ships leaving New York, and was able to get it signed by every senior officer, and by Pamela Conover, the CEO of Cunard. It is a most wonderful memento.

Dinner in the Grill is appallingly slow. But at this fifth meal we do actually get to see our table-mates. We entered the dining room at 20:00, and managed to get out at 22:25, just in time for the late theatre stage show. My goodness, I am so disappointed with the dining room service. What is the point of charging first class prices, or of paying them, if the service is shoddy and inattentive? I should have bought Britannia class tickets instead of Grill. Service has been appalling. Water is a scarce item. Plates sit uncollected for long periods, so much so that food becomes crusty. Water glasses are NEVER refilled without a request. In fact, the ice totally melted in our glasses. Bread rolls are also a scarce commodity a second time round. Waiters bring or suggest wheat foods for Pam. It is so slow that we almost did not make it for the show. This has to be corrected, and I shall act in the morning.

The show this evening is Appassionata, which we had seen in March. It is the best show aboard, and we would not miss seeing even a repeat. It is great. Amazing dance performances astound us.

Now to bed, and the clocks move ahead one more hour. This makes our sleep a bit shorter than desirable.

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