Dancing on a tilting floor

Saturday 8^th December

Once again Trevor phoned at 10 to see how I was (slightly more voice, no longer drugged from the cough mixture). That’s one way of making sure I get up instead of me continuing to lie there, rocked by the high seas. I must be adjusting to life at sea, as I have not been seasick this time, not even nauseous, and I’m sure the ship has been as rocky this time as on other ships.

Because it was a sea day, the dancing classes resumed (12.15 to 1.00). Today it was foxtrot. I gather the Americans do three different styles of foxtrot, which has made it confusing when we dance in the evening. Their main one has been ‘social foxtrot’. I’m used to what the Australians call ‘slow foxtrot’ and the Americans call ‘silver foxtrot’. This is what we learnt in our lesson. It was lovely to move in the way I’m used to, even if I have no chance to actually do it on the floor at any other time. We learnt the feather and three step, followed by natural turn, followed by feather and three step in the opposite direction (i.e. ladies forward and men back). Rather difficult to do in high seas when you suddenly find yourself going downhill, or the floor drops out from under you. I did not attempt rise and fall. I wasn’t going up on my toes with a floor like that. The steps were easy (6 forward, 6 back) but turning the body in the right direction was more difficult. I practised along my corridor, to the amusement of people who suddenly opened a door. It started a few conversations – all good fun.

I don’t know where the afternoon got to. Life on board ship is lazy but fun. There are always things to do.

For the first time Nadiya and Volodomyr ran an Intermediate dance class (5.00 to 5.45). We went over the steps from the earlier class, concentrating on footwork and diagonals (impossible with the unpredictability of the ship) and then learnt the impetus turn. Again there were not enough men so I managed to go through it once with Volodomyr and was awarded a smile and a ‘Good!’ When I told him I hadn’t danced for 23 years, he said it must be ‘body memory’ – a good term.

It was a bit of a rush to get to the dining room before last orders (6.30) but I made it with five minutes to spare after a shower and a change of clothes into semi-formal. As I was feeling better I went to the dance practice and later to the dance evening, but left about 11.30.

I’d bought some new cough mixture from the onboard shop and was able to sleep lying down, a great improvement. Once again, the waves rocked me to sleep. Of course, a Temazepan would also have helped! I often woke up after a wonderful sleep to hear others talking about the storm in the night or the violent movements of the ship. See what I missed out on.