This is all too exciting to not share immediately, plus I’m awake at 6:30, Mom’s asleep, and I don’t feel like doing Sudoku, so there you have it.
The less exciting than disgusting item involved dinner last night. The early seating was sparsely populated, and we shared a table with one couple, currently from Vegas, originally from Memphis and the woman of the couple had worked in the Pentagon, so we had some things to chat about in common. Unfortunately, her husband didn’t seem to understand basic courtesy. He said the humidity in the Shetlands had wreaked havoc on his sinuses, and throughout dinner, he continued to prove it by blowing his nose loudly and frequently at the table. UGH! And, like the average restaurant, there were tables close enough to share in this little ritual. No telling how many of us got dinner with a show. UGH!!!
The saving grace of the evening was immediately after we left the dining room – the string quartet was just about to begin a performance, and we got two seats literally right next to the cello player. I was able to follow the notes on the page as she played. I tried to make out the notation that indicated when she used the bow and when she plucked, but my eyes aren’t that sharp and I was reading at an angle. Still, in addition to the wonderful music, I got to follow along. It was a very nice way to spend an hour.
Going back to our room, Mom played Scrabble on the computer for a while, and I found a movie on the TV that was pretty good – I think it was called Belle – I missed the very beginning. When that was over, we flipped around the channels and eventually settled on some news. I was dozing off, and Mom finally got tired herself, so she went to the bathroom to take her meds, and it was lights out.
We both became aware of water running and splashing, and both thought “Is the sink faucet running?” Mom got up to check and discovered the toilet was overflowing and the floor of the bathroom was filling up. If you’ve never seen a ship’s bathroom, there’s a lip between the bathroom floor and the carpeted cabin floor. However, there is no drain in that part on this vessel, only in the shower, and it also has a raised lip to keep the water contained. As a result, there was a growing pool of warmish water accumulating, and due to some slight rocking of the ship, the water was starting to splash on to the carpet. We grabbed the bathmat and the bath towels to try to contain the splashes, and I called the services desk to report our dilemma. We were also using a cup to try to bail some of the water into the shower stall to minimize the splashing.
In minutes, a man from maintenance came up to look and ask if we’d flushed something we shouldn’t have – would someone really admit if they had?? But we hadn’t – just the usual stuff one flushes… In a little bit, and officer with a walkie-talkie showed up to see what was going on, and I heard him get a call that someone on a lower deck almost directly below us was also having an overflowing toilet. By this time, we’d gotten out of the way, and several people came and went. The desk called back to find out if maintenance had showed up, and I mentioned that we’d need fresh towels. A young man from housekeeping came and sopped up the water, gathered to soggy towels and mat, and disinfected the bathroom. He also left us clean towels.
A little bit later, two other men came up and futzed in the bathroom for a while, then told us all was fixed. Mom went over to give it a test flush – huzzah! – and all was right in the kingdom again. By this time, it was nearly midnight. It took me a little while to unwind, but I finally fell asleep. As you might imagine, I was a bit nervous when I went into the bathroom this morning, but no overflow, no flooding, no issues. Life is good. Except that I got barely over 6 hours of sleep, the sun is rising, and I’m too wired to drop off again. Maybe I’ll try when I send this.
So there’s your at-sea update. You’re welcome!!
