Christmas Day, 2015.

In the five years I have been cruising I have seen once only the correct way of buttering a bread roll.You do not cut it in half and butter both sides and then bite off as you go along.You break off a piece,butter it, should you wish to do so,(and I mostly don't, as the bread on every ship is baked daily and the rolls are mostly the best ever,often wonderfully inspiring,some with seeds, some with olives,except on this cruise,where there are very disappointing, even though the sliced fruity bread is delicious, but not really to be eaten with soups and such,as it is more like plain pudding and very much to my liking)and then put it in your mouth and eat it.Why,on the vast scale of things, with so much misery in the world, should it matter how bread is eaten in public.Well,in my humble opinion, it does matter,it is to do with good manners,with culture,with breeding. People stare at me, when they see me breaking off a bit and then placing it in my mouth,now and then I hear them whispering and even pointing at me,yes,pointing, This is how utterly ignorant some travellers are.I had roast chicken the other day, and, as with all birds, you can hold the meat with your fingers, and there was this idiot saying to her partner - look at that woman,she walks as if she owned the ship,but holds the chicken with her hands. Yes, you dumbo, I can, and I do. Anything that flies, can be taken into one's hands and one day, if a pig flies, you can take it into your hands,too. Majority of people have quite appalling table manners-talking with mouth full,not holding the cutlery correctly,leaving a tea-spoon in the cup when drinking from it,leaning on elbows on the table,licking a knife, yes, some do this utterly disgusting thing,too, and slurring, are people deaf? Not every-one was born with a silver spoon in the mouth. My family was so poor,I had my first new dress and shoes when I was 15,until then I wore hand me downs from my older sister.My dad,the nicest,the kindest and the most hard-working man in the world, had eaten everything with a spoon when at home, so as not to give my mom unnecessary extra work washing up,we were six children,the household on mum's shoulders,but in company he out-mannered every-one. My Swedish friend Helen had taught me how to eat a prawn, ladylike,her family owns an island,she knew all about the fish and what to do with it once it is on the table. In the self-service restaurant people pile up the food high,mixing it all together, the eyes being greedy, the belly often cannot take it all in so the food is thrown away. And, of course, the bigger they are, the more they pile up.The other evening while listening to Mr Jerzy's piano recital, I noticed a fine figure of a man standing and looking intently across the landing, obviously expecting someone, he was dressed in the full sailor's finery,trim, good looking.I caught an eye of an elephant wobbling across towards him, with a baby elephant behind,the baby shouting daddy,daddy.The mother elephant was quite a shock to do system,gormless,formless green garb with a green short wrap that came to her waist,from top to toe two meters wide,short lifeless hair that hadn't seen water for a good week.The back of a 94 bus from Acton to Piccadilly looks more appealing. Woman, for cry now loud, don't you ever take a look at yourself in the mirror?And even if you do not care, how you look, what on earth are you doing to your child?!You had dressed it in an off the shoulder garb more suitable for a thirty year old, and not a 12 year old girl.And the husband,cant you put your foot down and say to that ignoramus - you can kill yourself by stuffing yourself, but do not send my child to an early grave.