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It\u2019s red and gold gala night and I\u2019m wearing the twenty pound dress I bought in the charity shop in Aberdeen.<\/p>\n\u2026and it\u2019s rough.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing this in the Commodore Club. A duo is doing Carpenter covers, and I\u2019m waiting for my mock-a-rita.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s red and gold gala night and I\u2019m wearing the twenty pound dress I bought in the charity shop in Aberdeen.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very pleased to have felt no seasickness at all in spite of the big seas.<\/p>\n
After my post last night, I raced downstairs for the variety show advertised, pushing my way to the front as you can when you\u2019re a single. So when a band turned up and started doing covers, it was clear A) the advertised act hadn\u2019t made it and B) I was trapped. I was right in the middle of the second row, with two slow moving elderly couples on either end. I gnashed my teeth and raged internally for the entire 45 minute set list. So much for my stoicism training, back to square one it seems.<\/p>\n
The compere explained after the show that the scheduled entertainer had had a problem with his travel plans, hence the last minute replacement. Also (to add insult to injury) we were missing an aurora right then. Arrgh! (Yes, my life is so tough).<\/p>\n
After dinner, skipping dessert again, I went up on deck and was underwhelmed by the auroral display. Anytime before a few days ago I would have been amazed, now I\u2019m just blaz\u00e9.<\/p>\n I stayed up for another hour, and then went to bed. I woke up again around 4 am, when we were leaving Narvik, and could see the aurora right across the sky, from our balcony, but wasn\u2019t impressed enough to go up on deck. You could only tell to the naked eye that it wasn\u2019t just light cloud cover because you could see the stars through it.<\/p>\n Decided to give Zumba a go this morning, and loved it! It\u2019s like a cross between yoga, Latin dance, and aerobics. Terrific fun and a real workout. I can remember the first time it was in fashion, Jane Fonda and Olivia Newton John were doing it and it was called jazzercise. No need for leg warmers, though – I was sweating like a pig at the end, and was pleased to have a chance to cool down during the lecture on meteors.<\/p>\n Amazingly found a washing machine free in the very cutthroat passenger laundry, so did \u00a0my washing whilst catching up with my Duolingo homework. Joined Simon for lunch, we decided to avoid the bunfight that is the buffet and had sushi instead. We were the only guests in the Japanese restaurant, I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s viable TBH. Delicious sushi though.<\/p>\n Watched two recorded talks by the spy, fascinating. He argues we (the UK? The West?) have been at war with Russia for several years, we just haven\u2019t known it. I can remember when Russia were the good guys, after the wall fell in the 90\u2019s. Thanks, Putin.<\/p>\n Quick nap and then time to dress up for the evening. It\u2019s just nonstop around here, I can tell you. Need to get back to work for a rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2026and it\u2019s rough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3cf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11020,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/random-bolognese-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":0},"title":"Random Bolognese thoughts","author":"Interloper11","date":"October 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Am in a local restaurant, it\u2019s 7:45 pm on a Tuesday night and it\u2019s empty. Never fear, it will fill up in the next hour or two, it\u2019s just way too early for Italians to eat. Note they are playing Elton John\u2019s greatest hits. I saw this cartoon and wanted\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0595-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5287,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/13\/puzzle-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":1},"title":"Puzzle","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In a possibly prescient move, I ordered a couple of jigsaw puzzles a few weeks ago. One was the London Underground map, a very clever design and a blueprint for such maps around the world, and one of World War Two planes, because you got some huge discount for ordering\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/A83EA9DF-7CC1-44F2-8CDE-5F41322BC4D4-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2557,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/04\/go-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":2},"title":"Go team!","author":"Interloper11","date":"June 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spirit of sporting endeavour (curse you, autocorrect! We aren\u2019t all barely literate Americans. I will spell the Queen\u2019s English in the way I was brought up, without your childish corrections. Don\u2019t you underline my words in that aggressive dotted red line, you upstart!)\u00a0as epitomized by our (possibly briefly)\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/ED840C6D-04DF-43DF-BA4B-66E2A7344C98-1024x471.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/ED840C6D-04DF-43DF-BA4B-66E2A7344C98-1024x471.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/ED840C6D-04DF-43DF-BA4B-66E2A7344C98-1024x471.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6135,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/01\/let-me-show-you-the-receipts\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":3},"title":"Let me show you the receipts","author":"Interloper11","date":"February 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"$446.08 over two days - spendthrift or responsible? Allow me to plead my case. Yesterday was a very cheap day in fact. The 11.5 k walk that shredded my feet was completely free, unless you want to count being dropped off and picked up by my husband in his gas\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DE67ADB1-930D-4455-8164-229ACA4B1593-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6100,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/22\/pleasantries\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":4},"title":"Pleasantries","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Went out for dinner last night to celebrate our empty nest once more. The restaurant was busy which is always encouraging to see - I like local eateries to be doing well. The couple at the table next to us were notable only in their innocuousness. They were both dressed\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8202,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/04\/guingamp-to-treguier\/","url_meta":{"origin":12291,"position":5},"title":"Guingamp to Treguier","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A very pleasant Sunday cycle. 43 km which was lovely on an ebike but looked like pretty hard work for Simon on his non ebike, known locally as a muscular bike for good reason! Not only was it non electric, it was also non functional in the lower gears, making\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/F3053B64-46BE-4C48-AB25-A357164A203C-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_3925-300x225.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")