'Making do' with Mary?
This header isn't really meant to be rude - it's just that I was thinking about QE2 last night; her style - her quiet dignity, her class and her quality, and the phrase 'Making do' became linked with all the 'noise' on board QM2 in my mind!
Would anyone ever even dream of 'Making do' with QE2? No - absolutely not!
It's not that Mary would bite you if you were rude about her either - although she might go off in a sulk for a while…
...Or she might give you a bit of a hard time in the launderette, for example.
In there, there are always around 4- 5 people in a space that's no more than say 8' x 3' and The Aussies don't seem to 'do' queues.
After the incident the other day, when the iron started smoking, there was another this morning, one that could have happened as a direct response to my overnight thoughts of QE2!
While I was ironing, now halfway through dress shirt number 2, (these shirts take care and a little extra time, you understand) a discussion regarding Launderette Rage began. “Did you know there was a woman who attacked another woman with an iron last year?' a Guest asked the assembled company.
'No? - Never - my old man would have killed her', responded another.
Then to me, 'Excuse me - how much longer will you be here for - there's only 2 irons in here...and he's on the other' she said, with her pointy finger going in the direction of an elderly man with a bit of a shakey ironing hand.
I replied that I'd nearly finished - and with that she started calling me something like a bl**dy pom!
Mindful of recent experiences, I wonder just how far Mary’s ‘getting her own back’ might reach!
For instance, yesterday, there was a lady in a lift who, after 4 others got in, started screaming - 'Get me out' etc, Get out you ***ing crowd'
I guess the ‘crowd’ had been made to seem even bigger owing to the fact that three of the inside walls of the lifts are coated with mirrored glass!
On my visit to a talk in the ships hospital, the Doctor had described the type of psychosis that can be bought on by the use of scopolomine (anti-seasickness) patches; maybe this poorly lady was possibly using the patches….and who knows, she might well have been talking in affectionate terms about QE2, too!
Importantly, there are many on board here who have sailed on her, and out of those having seen her post-2008, most are convinced that ‘Oh-she-was-such-a-lovely-ship’ is rusting and rotting away in Dubai.
Hopefully some are now better informed – once they get home, they may just fish Rob’s good ‘labels’ out of their pockets and have a look at the Forum.
Btw - the Lifts / Elevators on Queen Mary 2 deserve a topic of their own!
They are stunning in every respect, and for the purposes of this 'Live from...', it might be better to leave something about them till later.
Despite these somewhat difficult events, Mary is full of lovely surprises too, and in many respects, she really does seem to be emerging as the worthy successor to QE2. The crewmembers whose first ship she is, refer to her as My Ship - isn't this a good sign?
And there’s the lovely lady from Liverpool who has done the World Cruise no less than 10 times! Being extremely helpful, she’s told us exactly what to expect for the World Cruise dinner – beginning with ‘everyone one wears their special best frock’, and finishing with the words ‘…and everyone gets absolutely plastered’!!
Our departure from Durban was delayed. However the long harbour walls, car-parks and other vantage points were packed with onlookers – and there were at least a hundred small craft that had assembled to accompany us out of the harbour. They all waited and waited, and finally came with us, enjoying (I’ll bet!) at least 9 blasts of the whistles. It was long after dark.
This had been our final call in Africa. Sadly we didn’t get nearer to ‘big game’, Zulus, the lovely Garden Route or the great Drakensburg mountains. However our delay was due to the late arrival of the adventurous Guests who had travelled overland from Cape Town to Durban while we rounded the Cape with Mary. She showed us the last of African coast; the skies and sea did change just a wee bit as we sailed across the oceans, from the South Atlantic into the Indian Ocean.
One of the best surprises has occurred since we left Cape Town; having joined a 'hosted' table, can you guess what's happened?
One of the other guests at the table is a already a Member of The QE2 Story Forum - he's Solent Water, and although yet to post on the forum, he’s definitely a real, genuine QE2 fan, with a love for QE2 that ‘knows no bounds’!
And... a couple of evenings ago, we were also joined by 2 more guys who have performed on QM2 over the past couple of nights, as well as over many years on QE2! All three have said they will happily contribute to the Forum, hopefully they won’t keep us waiting too long!!
We left Mauritius last evening (more soon about that lovely Island),
several Sea Days before Fremantle, with the clocks going forward for the next 4 – yes, that's correct, it is four, nights in succession!
Thank you to EveryOne for your posts, messages, etc.
Hi Skilly, It’s really good to hear from you – hope you’ll get shore leave before much longer!
Perhaps we’ll miss each other by just a few hours, possibly in Freo, as well as Auckland…
If you look west – you can’t really miss The Mary – the only place where she looks ‘normal’ (whatever that is) is in Rio!, We’ll be looking out for you, and if our paths cross, we’ll will be waving as hard as we possibly can!!
She comes highly recommended – just keep out of the Launderette, don’t plan taking a voyage that has more than 6 formal nights in a row, and maybe wise to give the Veuve Cliquot a bit of a wide berth – an Aussie told me it’s US$ 20 a glass, although as yet, this is unconfirmed!
We are due in Fremantle at about 6-7.00am (tbc) on Thursday, 17th February having sailed across on the ‘Great Circle’ route. I’m not sure exactly where we’ll join the ‘lane’ into the harbour, or where we’ll be tied up– I’ll post more when I have discovered the details.
(There’s a chart up on Deck 12 showing that we’ll be arriving in the area from the west, before we actually coming into the harbour area from the north).
It might be possible to ask the Deputy Captain more at dinner this evening, - providing the ironing’s done!
Rosie
Topic: Live from RMS Queen Mary 2 (Read 49696 times)
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Dec 26, 2020, 07:37 PM