Thursday May 23, 2024 – At Sea on Route to Southampton
Our final day at sea on the second segment of the cruise which was the Canary Islands part. Tomorrow we dock in Southampton and are greatly looking forward to be joined by Anne’s sister – Patsy and and her husband – David Hubp for the next two week segment around the British Isles.
Today, we had planned on going to the 9 AM lecture, but never made it. We were late for the 10 AM as we were chatting with a charming gentleman over breakfast. Andrew Roberts spoke on the evolution of the Southampton Docks. Most passenger vessels used to leave from Liverpool until one decided to move to Southampton, where there was easier and quicker train service to London. Soon all passenger liners were going to and from Southampton. The commercial port was developed as container shipping became more prevalent and it is the principal port for the import and export of vehicles with a specialized automobile docking facility.
Keith Muras gave his final lecture on Cold War, Proxy War and a Railway. He gave us all his email – keith.muras@gmail.com. The focus on this talk was Angola, situated north of Namibia and surrounded by the Congo (Zaire) and Zambia. A “proxy” was developed as the country was divided between two strongmen rulers, one who cast his lot and allegiance to the Soviet Union and the other was aligned with the USA and its allies. Even though the USA and USSR did not send people, they did send equipment and armaments for the two to battle it out.The USSR did send fighters from Cuba to assist in the civil war.
We skipped the evening show – The Flyrights – as we had a zoom meeting to attend. Apparently it was supposed to be a Pride and Prejudice performance but one of the performers had a medical emergency that was being sorted on the ship, so this had to be postponed.
Roger & Anne Travels 