Lincoln's Birthday

In my early years, today was known as Lincoln’s Birthday, but one doesn’t hear about it anymore. Times change.
I had a lovely three days with friends from Helderberg Village, where I wintered for four years, from 2004 through 2007, prior to taking my first World Cruise on the Crystal Serenity in 2008. Mostly, we just visited and went out to eat. I was happy to again meet up with Fienie’s daughter, Maryna, and look forward to seeing her in Zürich at some point. I also bought myself two cotton jackets in Somerset West, and one afternoon I played tournament bridge at Helderberg. It was rather interesting to see many of the people I had previously known, and to note that some had aged noticeably, and others, not at all. Practically everyone seemed to remember me., but when asked if I would consider going back there, I realized how much more interesting it is to be on board the Serenity! In fact, I have again signed up for next year, and it now appears that both Philippe and Gayle as well as Marlyse, will be joining me, this year, for the final segment from Rome to London.
Fienie, Loyce, and Zelda brought me back to the ship on Wednesday, and first we went on a sightseeing tour of the ship, followed by lunch at the Lido, and finally, a coffee at the Bistro. They were properly impressed by all the services on the ship, and in the afternoon we played tournament bridge here, before they had to hasten home (probably hitting commuter traffic at its worst).
Our dining table is still a favorite time of day, and tonight we are going to meet at the Silk Road for a Japanese dinner. Yesterday was the first of the new segment, and I played bridge in the tournament with my friend Harry, but we came in at the VERY bottom! I sure hope that will change the next time we play together (tomorrow).
I had been suffering the signs of a head cold, and bronchial cough, and so determined to take life easier for a couple of days, and am much better, already. That means that instead of going ashore in Port Elizabeth, today, I just took my time and went up to the pool to take a sunbath. It is terribly windy, but quite pleasant, and in the end, I ate up on deck with two others, who had also chosen not to go ashore. I also managed to get a laundry done, and answer a few emails, and then determined to write this blog, chose not to play bridge this afternoon. Still want to take my computer to the computer room and find out how to reduce the number of pixels in my pictures so I won’t have so much trouble uploading them.
Yesterday was the Captains invitation to meet the various officers on the ship, and I wore the headpiece I had bought two years ago, in Egypt, and it made quite a sensation! In addition, Joe, the Ambassador Host who is sitting with us in the dining room, insisted that I dance with him, followed by Norman, who was at our table last segment. Norman insisted he wanted to dance with the lady in the spectacular headdress! It now becomes more and more difficult for me to refuse to dance (as I have always done for the past two years!) but I still get in a panic every time I am on the dance floor.
Tomorrow is another day at sea prior to landing in Durban where I am registered to visit a Zulu village, and after that, two of our half day stops have been cancelled due to pirate danger in the vicinity, so we will skip the Seychelles and the Maldives, and go directly to India from Kenya.
Well, friends, hopefully I will be able to post this on my Blog, and I will try to find out about posting pictures, also.
Til next time, Cheerio!