Friday February 03, 2023
Yesterday there was a changeover of Captains with Andrew Hall replacing Assam Hasheem who will return when e get back to Southampton to cross the Atlantic to New York at the end of April. We were glad to have a day at sea to “catch our breath” after three busy days in the UAE.
The first lecture was by Andrew Barber Intelligence officer & Military Historian – The Rise and Fall of the East India Company. This private company, sponsored by the British Crown was at its apogee some 100 times larger than Apple, Google, IBM, Facebook etc today. Not only did it have control over trade from the east, but it had a standing army and would go to war as a proxy for the British Army. It was only when the tribal warfare in India became so large, that it needed the full force of the UK military.
Next came the very knowledgeable Zena Thewlis who discussed the various paintings and history of the artist Vermeer. He only painted some 30-50 paintings in his life as he had other “jobs”, but the interesting legacy he left were the scenes of home and daily life.
The third lecture of the day was – Raymond Hammond a Futurologist – The World in 2040. All were gathered and a full house was present, but unlike all other speakers, he was late and 2, 10, 15 minutes went by and no lecturer. Eventually an entertainment department staff member got onto the stage and told us that Raymond was a “No Show” and that he didn’t get onto ship in Dubai as planned. So we played Chess and Rubikub, had lunch and got into our daily afternoon routine.
The show was the formal dance show by the singers and dancers of Cunard doing the show – Apassionata
Roger & Anne Travels 