We’re in Tenerife today, on Thursday, November 1, a national holiday in this outlying Spanish island off the African coast. This is All Souls Day, the ecumenical version of Halloween, and most of the shops and all of the banks are closed.
This week started in Southampton in the kind of weather that makes you understand why the English emigrate to sunnier climes. The rain was biting and cold, with clouds covering every inch of the sky. I went to the crew bus, which predictably went to a mall, where I found an Apple store and sorted through almost 500 emails, starting on the day I left the states. I had a sandwich at a Quizno’s in the food court, which was a little odd, but then again, English food being what it is, maybe not so unusual. I looked in vain for a cafe I heard had broadband, so I still haven’t put up anything on this blog.
Big changes in the band I play in. In the time when Jan’s folks crossed the Atlantic (1970s) the Queens Room band was 15 strong. Since Cunard was acquired by Carnival, the band is down to 6. Even making the six show up appears to be a problem, though. The piano player who was supposed to show up did not. This may be a case of confusion on the part of his Ukranian agent, especially if it’s the same guy who sent Vladimir to the Queen Mary rather than the Queen Elizabeth. (Vlad has since shown up, much to the relief of the guitarist, Stevie whom he is relieving. Stevie has been on this ship playing guitar and socking away money to make down payments on London properties for an astonishing 27 years.)
Anyway, we tapped one of the lounge pianists to play with us, but after two less-than relaxing days at sea, the replacement for Sergei, who in turn was to have replaced Adrian Cross, arrived from Cornwall. Bruce is on leave from the Mary, and was given 5 weeks’ contract here. He’s a fine and fearless piano player.
Another change in the bass chair brought Pedro Martin Alvarez, who did a contract a couple years ago with the show band. He moved in to my cabin on Sunday. He’s been living in New York, so his English is pretty good. The horns are still USA: Stew is from North Carolina, Peter is from Plano, Texas, and me. Two Englishmen and a Spaniard make up the rhythm section.
Anyway, if I were joining this ship and saw all the awful weather in Southampton last Sunday, I’d probably have some second thoughts as well.
So we land in Madiera and are boarded my the MCA, the governing body of English ships at sea, and as all you seafarers know, that means an inspection in advance of the World Cruise. Sure enough, our drill falls on the morning in Madiera, and we are inspected by the MCA. The drill, which usually lasts an hour at the most, drags on to two and a half. After the drill and with the approach to Madiera at full-tilt waking me up around 4 in the morning, I was glad to retire to the cabin and sleep after lunch. I’ve been learning the wisdom of a siesta.
But I did get to get off this morning and walk to the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is a beautiful town. The landscape looks distinctly Mexican here, with dry brown hills and a large mountain in the distance. The town is occupied by retirees of every persuasion, including the English. The mountain in the distance is the highest peak in Spain, even though the Spanish mainland is several hundred miles to the north.
Until today the only thing I knew about Tenerife was that there was an incredibly horrific and entirely preventable collision of two 747 aircraft on a taxiway in the Tenerife airport which resulted in several hundred deaths. Now I know there’s a lot more to Tenerife.
Paul Edison
On my first sea day, the phone rang in my cabin and I was surprised to hear Paul Edison’s voice. We were on the Star Princess together for several months in the Baltic a couple years ago.
Unfortunately for Paul, his baggage was lost by British Airways, which has been unable to catch up with him despite two days in port. Paul has no clothing with him and, because of Cunard’s strict policy of dress on formal nights, he’s been a prisoner in his cabin for the two sea days. I saw him late this morning coming into town to do some clothes shopping, but I had to give him the bad news that, because of the holiday, most of the shops were closed. He told me that he’d talked to his wife back in Florida and the passing of the hurricane had left his house flooded. Some guys have all the luck.
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