All at sea

The panel comprised of Alexander McCall Smith, Fiona McIntosh, Paul Cleave, Dr Anita Heiss and Graeme Simsion, again hosted by Nick McKenzie. The subsequent lively discussion left the audience in no doubt of the importance of books, even if they are supplemented by current technology and social media. A visit to the book shop after this, with a queue that stretched out the door, further confirmed the importance of books. We opted to visit the bookshop later and retreated to the well-stocked library instead.
After time spent in the library (Wallsy) and a rest in the cabin (yours truly) it was time to dress for the gala evening. The theme was black and white, for which I donned a black evening dress and white jacket. It took much longer to get Wallsy dressed in his Mess Dress complete with dinner shirt, bow tie, braces, cummerbund and jacket, than it did me!  Quite the reversal of roles.
Dinner was again delicious and I am grateful for the care they take in ensuring I have the next day’s menu brought to me so that I can choose meals which will be made without my specific allergens, no small undertaking when you think of the number of people on board and the possible range of dietary requirements.
We sat and enjoyed the music and dancing provided by the house band after dinner. There were some over-achievers on the dance floor, who, while making entertaining viewing did rather frighten those less competent (such as Wallsy and I) away from our own particular brand of movement to music!  We chose to watch and listen instead.

Thursday was an ‘at sea’ day and the first day of the Literature Festival events. We began with an 8am breakfast in our cabin before setting off to the Royal Court Theatre for an audience with the inimitable Alexander McCall Smith. Alexander is not only an engaging writer, but a very entertaining speaker, as evidenced by a theatre with a capacity of 850, being full to overflowing for this opening conversation. Journalist Nick McKenzie had his work cut out keeping Alexander on track.

We opted for coffee following this, and we were in line for the opening of the Britannia Restaurant for lunch at midday, in the hope that I would be out in time for Sue Williams’ workshop on writing biography at 1. This was not to be. Lunch, seated in the stern with views of nothing but the wake of the ship and the horizon disappearing into the distance,  stretched out to 1:30, by which time we needed to move back to the theatre in order to secure seats for the afternoon panel discussion, titled, ‘Do books matter anymore?’  I think the question is answered to the affirmative by the fact that we are all passengers on a ship filled to capacity with readers, who have gathered to hear prominent authors speak about their work.