Sunday May 12, 2024 – At Sea Between Southampton and Funchal, Madeira
Another day at sea on our way to Funchal, Madeira where we will spend 2 days. The first lecture was by the British Diplomat Keith Muras talking about his time in Moscow and the story behind the KGB. It was formed by Stalin and called the CHEKA as a force with wide reaching powers to enforce and control the population after the revolution, eliminating the Romanov Tzar regime. They could decide how to do surveillance, force people to give up secrets by any means available and undertake the necessary punishment that the infraction needed. They were only reportable to the Leader. As subsequent leaders of the USSR came to power, they maintained and expanded the powers, calling it by different names such as OGPU, MGB, NKVD and eventually the KGB. It was not until the time of Gorbachov that he gave orders to eliminate the all powerful KGB as his Perestroika’s and Glasnost theme of openness presidency was formed. When Putin came to power it was reinstated under a different name, however it is still often referred to as the KGB. This has three Chief Directorates – 1) Intelligence Gathering; 2) Internal Security and 3) Army / Border Control. Under this structure there were 9 directorates dealing with political and ideological issues and five Departments and Services. Keith mainly focused on Internal Security whose mission was to secure the State against A) Citizens who were undertaking actions against the dictates of the Government / Leaders and B) Residents and Visiting Foreign Nationals. He further mainly focused his talk on point (B) Resident Foreigners like himself and his family. They were under constant surveillance (80% overtly and 20% covertly), having microphones in the various rooms in their homes where everything they said or did was listened to and transcribed. The objective was to find weaknesses that could be exploited when the time was right.
He spoke to us about a personal story as a way of demonstrating the extent of the surveillance, not only about being followed when walking about or driving around. On one particular day, he and his wife had his parents-in-law visiting from the UK and they decided to pack a pic-nick lunch and drive to a nearby city to see the amazing church. When they arrived at the nearby town outside Moscow (they had to get permission to travel outside their home giving all details and no variance allowed), his mother-in-law wanted to visit the toilet, before going into the Church, with it’s onion shaped domes etc. There were 2 public toilets, but were disgustingly dirty. So they decided to head out of the city and find a place where trees permitted a “nature toilet stop”. He found it strange that it appeared that he was not being followed / surveillance that day. However, as soon as they stopped the car, (an unauthorized stop) there magically, were people that came out of the woods, along the road and all descended onto the scene of the “mother-in-law nature stop” preventing it from happening. They were instructed to get back into the car and were taken off to the local “Police HQ” to be detained and interrogated. All were instructed to remain in the car, the toilet break / use was denied, and only Keith was allowed to get out of the car and go to be interrogated by the leader. This began by a rebuke and “scolding” for breaking the law, but soon became more of a chat as the chief wanted to know more about the Falkland War which was underway at the time. He was soon instructed to go and get the pic-nick lunch they had packed in the boot /trunk of the car and bring it to the Chief’s office so they could share the tomato and cheese sandwiches they had in the pic-nick hamper. He indicated that his wife had a reputation for the excellent sandwiches and the real objective was for the Chief to eat the wife’s delicious sandwiches and chat for 3/4 hour about the Falkland War. The poor mother-in-law meanwhile was bursting, while sitting in the car. The key point here is that the authorities, knew all the details about what type of sandwiches they had, where they were and indeed every detail about the day’s adventure and they were just looking for an infraction.
The second “lecture” was not a lecture at all, but the first interdenominational Church Service conducted on Queen Anne by the Captain – Inger Thorhauge. It was well attended and all was going exceptionally well, until the microphone stopped working before the second lesson. Technicians were summoned, the reading put on hold. The 3/4 full Theatre converted to a religious venue remained quiet. Minutes passed and eventually a “make-ship” alternative was found and a loudspeaker was placed in front of the podium to which was attached a microphone and the service continued as if nothing had happened. The pianist filled in the silence with some generic music, which was well done. All in all, a very nice service.
This was followed by a talk by Philip Birkenstein on the history of Faberge and in particular the 38 years he has been head of the creation, selling and distribution of the works of Theo Faberge. He promised that there was to be an unveiling by the Captain of the special Egg, created for the inaugural voyage of Queen Anne. Only 24 of these eggs were to be created and as usual the first 4, go straight to museums, so in fact only 20 of these eggs will be available for the general public, priced at a modest US$25,000!
The Captain’s noon watch comments indicated that we had travelled some 671 nautical miles from Southampton and had 675 nautical miles to go to Madeira and we were traveling at an average speed of 6.27 nautical miles/hour.
We missed the unveiling and lecture by Dr. Sandie Sowler on Animal Migration as we had booked lunch at the specialty steak-house – Sir Samuel. This is equivalent to the Verandah restaurant on the other Cunard ”Queens”. Ekatarina (Katia) was there to greet us with her infectious smile and we asked if she could give us some of the Cunard Sake we had at the Ají Wa, Japanese Restaurant a few days ago. Sir Samuel is located on the starboard side across from Ají Wa on the Port side aft 10th deck. She stated that as long as she was there, she would be happy to give us some, which we greatly enjoyed. Our Sake education continued thanks to Katia, this time we learned that the Cunard Sake was actually – “Cunard junmai Daiginjo Genshu” served Mokkiri Style. Mokkiri refers to the generous overflowing style of serving more than you asked for as a sign of generosity. Genshu refers to the fact that no water is added – it is full distilled strength. Junmai and Daiginio refer to the way the rice is processed. We had a nice steak meal with salads, soups and veggies ending with a Rum Baba served at the table with your desired Rum. We were disappointed that the delicious berry Pavlova, available at the Verandah restaurants on the other ships was not available.
The afternoon was time for a siesta as we had a busy evening. We grabbed a quick bite in the cafeteria before going to the “Bright Light Society” of “Noir” at 7:00 PM. We were not sure what to expect, but as we entered the special room, like a lounge bar with stage, we were greeted by “Ramon” and waitress, obviously in “dress for the performance” who welcomed us to “His Party”! It turns out that both he and the “waitress” were actually from Argentina and we chatted in Spanish. We were directed to seats, where we could get the best view near the stage and pianist, and after ordering a couple of Beers (Guinness), we were ready for the show. It was a murder mystery, with the “murder” of an establishment, a waiter & waitress, a male and female detective and a pianist / singer. A few members of the audience were spoken to before the show, while all were taking their seats / ordering drinks, and asked if they want to participate during the show. If one does not want to participate, there is no problem, but if one does participate, instructions and script were presented and called to the stage as the murder mystery played itself over an hour or so. There are three shows, so “Noir” will be replaced next week. As seating is limited, one has to book in advance, but there is no cost other than the drinks one consumes. It is lots of fun and certainly well worth while doing.
We took our Guinness across the hallway to hear the Irish duo sing Irish music, which was followed by a sport related quiz show. The Pub by this time was completely full. We ended up with 9 out of 20 correct, so came close to the bottom, but did not get the “booby” prize, however we had a lot of fun. On our way to the theatre we walked by the Queen’s Room and listened to a couple of songs by the 4 women group – IDA, which we had heard in the theatre a couple of days ago. We were able to make it to the 10PM show which was brilliant. Berni Flint was brilliant both at playing the guitar, singing some old Simon & Garfunkel songs as well as other songs from that era, while at the same time, regaling very amusing stories / jokes, and simultaneously having all the audience in great outbursts of laughter. A fun full day at sea.
Roger & Anne Travels 