Sun 5 Feb 2017: still at sea

We're sailing.

Sailing north.

Sailing. Sailing. Sailing...

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It's time to fill some space with a description of our cabin.

There's the bedroom area. Remember the bedroom? With its double bed and the sunrise/sunset window? Deb has fixed that.

As the ship pitches and rolls, the curtain swings. So the light is let in -- sunrise -- then blocked again -- sunset. Over and over. And the light shines directly onto my pillow. (Then it doesn't. Then it does. Then...) I suggested sleeping with our heads at the other end. Deb couldn't handle that radical a change. She has, however, jammed the curtain in place. With a small towel to hold it closed. Brilliant! Though today, the cleaner took the towel to be washed.

Deb will fix the curtain again. Though the problem is not so bad now. As we head north there are more hours of darkness anyway. So less sunlight to shine in on us... on me.

The bed is closed in by walls and a cupboard. I know when Deb gets up in the morning. She has to sit on my legs on the way out of bed.

The bathroom is all in one. Toilet, handbasin, shower. Room enough to pull the shower curtain round when we shower. The curtain would swing and slide all over the place -- annoying when you're trying to use the toilet -- until we learnt to hook it through the shower handrail. The handrail is to grab when we're in the shower and the ship suddenly rocks. Another rail near the handbasin for when we're trying to brush our teeth.

There's a rubber mat on the floor which is an open rectangular mesh form. It's soft to stand on. Water drains through. And it feels dry again remarkably quickly.

There's a cupboard -- with a fridge ! Not that we ever put anything in the fridge. It's just nice to know that it's there :-)

"Deb's corner" has a couch along two walls, five cushions on one side, three on the other. Surrounding a coffee table. Deb has dumped various jackets, jumpers, knitting, books, magazines, on the couch. With enough spare space for her to sit with her feet up. She has left mittens, gloves, hats on the table. Today, they keep sliding off, onto the floor, as the ship rocks.

Next is my corner, with the couch that can unfold to a bed. It's made up of cushions on springs supported by wooden slats... Sit on the wrong spot and the slats are very uncomfortable. I sit on the right spot and stretch out my legs on the couch, for reading. Also convenient for the powerpoint behind me, to recharge the tablet that I read from.

Then there's the desk, facing forward. I sit at the desk to type this journal. Days like today I sit with my legs braced and one hand ready to catch the tablet. (Which is used for reading *and* typing.) Two good points of this desk: portholes and heater.

The heater is under the desk. As I sit here, my legs are very warm. Some days, too warm.

If I sit straight I can see forward, through a porthole. Occasionaly the porthole will be drenched with spray from a large wave. A little bit of water seeps in, there are towels which came with the portholes, someone's idea to absorb the water. Not that there is much of it. The sea is not really too rough.

There's a second porthole between "my" couch and the desk. Deb will stand at that porthole to check the weather. When I'm sitting on the couch I can take advantage of Deb leaning next to me.

On the desk and table -- and in the drawers -- is some amazing non-skid rubber matting. It's like a finer version of the bathroom matting: soft rubber mesh. Non-slip. Put a cup on the mat on the desk. The cup will not slip. The mat will not slip. Brilliant!

And that's our cabin!

With enough space in the middle to make it a challenge to cross the room. On our way to dinner tonight, the ship tilted and we both crashed into the wall by the door. Nothing damaged!

As we're constantly being told: One hand for yourself, one hand for the ship.

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Tomorrow, we continue to sail north.

Woo. Hoo.

:-)