Postscript from a Mill Pond

---

The next day we cruised very slowly across a very still North Sea, so calm it looked like bath water. It turns out that the average speed of these ships is about 19 miles per hour but we must have been tootling along at about 10 or maybe five.

After our first day at sea we did wonder if we had made a huge mistake going on this trip at all and when asked by others on the cruise we just said that the jury was out. I don't think we will ever go cruising again, certainly not on such a big ship because although it says in the blurb that you will meet like minded people they were in fact few and far between.

We thought there would be lots of people who were interested in art since we were planning to go to the Hermitage and other National Galleries such as Oslo with their fantastic Edvard Munch collection; we thought there would be lots of people who were fascinated by the history of the Baltic region and how the politics of the various eras such as the Vikings in the past and the Communists more recently have affected the culture and development of the region. But the only on board lectures (and lets face it we had oodles of time for such things some days!) were about forensic science and lifeboats! All the other events in the Broadway Showlounge were for those who wanted to be entertained but had no intention of engaging the brain. And judging from the terrifying size of some of the passengers it seems that an awful lot of people seem to go on these cruises to take advantage of the copious amount of food that is available 24/7. One man marching round the deck each evening boasted that he was 19 stone (and he was one of the smaller ones) "If I didn't do this I would be 24 stone in no time!"

On our last evening on board, the sun went behind a cloud but left a pool of glistening light on the horizon. There was a mist and the total effect was very eary. One expected the Marie Celest to appear at any moment complete with albatross but there was nothing just a still pale sea over which we drifted along, barely causing a ripple.

As we ate our dinner we were overtaken by a seagull.

---