There is a lovely lady on Ventura,

80 + ,weathered, wrinkled,still beautiful face,fashionably dressed but in an understated, simple, elegant manner. Today in the Saffron restaurant I was seated next to her and her companion.She looked at me and smiled, he looked at me and growled. I could not quite make out what their relationship was.There were no wedding rings. "I could not go on my balcony this morning,it was too windy,"I heard her say."My" balcony,of course, did not have to mean she was in the cabin alone. She leaned towards him and said something quietly. "I am not paying for that,"exclaimed he loudly."We have already had two trips on a coach, a cake and coffee in Madeira,it is all going on my credit card."^He has money to smoke like a chimney,he sure smelled like one,it was quite offensive and unpleasant. I cannot imagine what it was she wanted that warranted his reaction at lunch where all food,coffee,water, except soft drinks and alcohol, is included. At the end of the meal he marched off before her. This reminded me of another couple dining together on anther ship a year or so ago. Aren't you having any dessert, asked one lady another lady,part of the couple in question.Oh,no,replied she,my husband likes me slim,I cannot have cakes.I looked at the husband,expecting an Adonis. What I saw was an elephant with two chins not far from becoming three,a sprawling belly that the tight shirt could not contain,red swollen ankles,feet in slippers shaped like a dolphin's flapper.Sweet Jesus, I thought then, what life can this woman have being belittled by this thing.And there are many women who put up with this kind of indignity all their life. As I write I am sitting in the atrium of Ventura, where a dance class is taking place.Some dancers float,some stomp,some,well...been there,done that!