I have been waiting with abated breath how far the SUDANESE SPRING will go.

It reminds me of  Czechoslovakia in 1968,when the political change was so near and yet so far.
The problem is that once a man sits himself in the seat of power,it is very hard to let go. And it gets even harder to relinguish it  when he gets his snout in the trough.

In Las Palmas yesterday the UK immigration officers boarded the ship,

to carry out on board face to face passport  control.
This morning without any waiting whatsoever I sailed through it, and I even had the time to joke with the very handsome officer- please make sure it IS me, after 3 years on this cruise I am not so sure myself if I am who I say I am!
He burst out laughing and was still laughing as he was seeing people who followed me.And that is the way to do it,in a pleasant, civilised way.Thank you, UK.
We have three days to go before the Queen Victoria docks in Southampton.
We are sailing through the North Atlantic Ocean, humorously referred to as "The Pond".[My lovely god-son Adamko on his first holiday in Croatia called the Med a big swimming pool.]
The Atlantic Ocean occupies roughly 106,400,000 sq km.The deepest point is the Puerto Rico Trench at a depth of 8,605 metres.

The entertainment.

Philip Hitchcock is a very likeable magician.He has performed on the London Palladium,at he Tropicana in Las Vegas and does the cruise circuit,too.
Georgina Jackson is a BBC Big Band and Ronnie Scott's vocalist and trumpet player [I love jazz and have been to Ronnie Scott's}.She has a pleasing voice and a pleasing personality.
Jacqui Scott had starred  in many London's West End musicals-Evita,Cats,Miss Saigon,Chess.She belts out the songs for effect  rather than emotion.
Mike Doyle,the comedian, has done three Royal Variety shows and two Royal Garden parties  at Buckingham Palace,three his own TV series and five TV specials,so he has the credentials,and he is good,but not in a class of his own,unlike  the crossover singer  Roy Locke    [not cross-dresser,  crossover, being able to sing different genres of music, like Catherine Jenkins},truly a king amongst princes.
And we have  the broadcaster Jennie Bond on board   [yes,that Jennie Bond]  talking about the British  Royal family. Not being the lover of things royal, her lectures are of no interest to me.

Since the evening of 15 April we have been sailing towards the Canary Islands,

where we should be docking tomorrow morning.
On the port side we passed Cape Verde.
On the starboard side  we passed Africa.
Starboard side is the right side of the vessel or an aeroplane when facing a bow or a nose.
After Namibia  there was at a smaller or greater distance  Angola,Congo,Cameroon,Nigeria,Liberia,Sierra Leone,Senegal and yesterday afternoon we sailed adjacent  to Mauritania.Where,I hear you ask.
I could find some reference to this country in dictionaries,but no travel book in the ship's library.The country  lies in the North West Africa,in Sahara.Lonely Planet in their beautifully illustrated "The Travel Book"[updated in 2018, truly  the nicest present any-one could be given] says:...Before  recent security issues made Mauritania out of bounds to traveller,it was traditionally the safest trans-Sahara route for overlanders...How very sad that from the safest it has come to persona non grata.
This afternoon we will be crossing  the Tropic of Cancer.Thanks to the proximity of the Canary Islands  to the Tropic and the African coast,the weather on the Canary Islands is subtropical,it rarely falls below 18 C.
It has  been mostly windy and often cold since leaving Namibia,cannot wait for tomorrow.The weather on the  Canary Islands  has never let me down.

Singapore was the 82nd country I have visited,

for one day only,on this World  Cruise.
It is  very well run  and very easy to negotiate,all three  Hop On Hop Off  routes  start from one point and return to the same point,the stops clearly marked,the bus drivers helpful and polite.
I had the time  to see the whole of the island,not in detail,of course,leaving the yellow line last,as I wanted to linger in Orchard street,the shopper's paradise,to look for sexy evening ankle boots on a low heel[ found none].
Singapore is one place I would very much like to visit again,if not for anything else, then for the spectacular Changi airport,easily a small town in itself now, that  two days ago,on 17 April,  Jewel Changi Airport   was opened.
It has the tallest indoor waterfall,gardens, a hotel,and about 300 shopping outlets and eateries.It promises to be quite an attraction and I am attracted!

We had The World Voyage Country Fayre on 17 April,

many "pre-loved" [as they are now called] clothes, shoes and various nick-nacks had been donated by the travellers.I volunteered to help and was allocated to host the  Buzz Wire Game Stall nobody wanted [I said I would do anything], as it was not glamorous, the 2nd Hand Rose stalls  were much in demand both by the volunteers,all women,and the buyers,and of all the stalls they  made most money.There was a raffle at the end of the two hours and a live auction,where The Chart of The World Cruise went for $4,000. The auction made in total just over $9,000.The money will go to various charities, including one in the Philippines,as  much of the crew is from there.I am very happy some money is being donated to the Help For Heroes.So little is being done for the soldiers who return from the senseless wars damaged physically and mentally.Every little will help someone and their families.
Today I received a lovey  thank you letter signed by the captain Mr Tomas Connery, Sadiki,the Social host and Sally, the Entertainment manager.

I have had lovely neighbours since Cape Town, an English couple, Mr & Mrs Jackson,

where I have had several different people since 10 January, as only about 700 out of  2000  or so are doing the full cruise.There was a delightful American couple, he about  10-15 years younger than his  elegant,beautifully turned out,confident and  charming wife,it was obvious he adored her,neither of them had an idea where Slovakia was,and to their credit never pretended otherwise.I never heard them boast about where they had been,what connections they have,no pretentiousness at all.They were replaced by a Chinese [or similar}pair who left their good manners at home.I was glad  when a pleasant looking woman and a man were seated at the table.He knew when to talk and when to stay schtum,she chattered endlessly and was  a tad too loud,but her voice was pleasing and melodious, Welsh,I thought, by birth,but didn't  ask, I never ask questions.
  I talk a lot,too,but hope never to the annoyance of my neighbours.To hold an animated conversation, serious or lighthearted, is one thing, to be loud is most unpleasant.
And talking about  loud.There was an Australian  couple in the self -service restaurant the other day,both beautifully turned out and well groomed.
She:If you meet someone, do not let me stop you, do not think about me,have a nice time.
He said nothing.
She:Like this neither of us is having a good time.
He:I didn't want to come, you insisted.You didn't want to travel alone.
She: You could have said no.
He: How many times you phoned me, ten at least.
She:You should have said no.
I really felt sorry for them.I know how hard it can be to be alone.Yet hell can be other people.
I finished my meal as quickly as I could and left.
Mr Jackson and his wife are delightful and it is going to be a pleasant ride to Southampton.

To date,Thursday,18 April 2019 we have sailed since Sunday,10 January 2019

61,343.796 km.
To  the end of the cruise,28 April 2019, we have  7,809.884 km to go.
For me the cruise had started and will end in Southampton,England,and the km reflect this distance.
Today at 12.30 we are crossing the Greenwich Meridien, from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere.

Namibia is the 88th country I have visited.

It has 2,533 794 inhabitants [2017], occupying 823 328 sq km.
London has 8,787,892 [2018] population[I have looked up several sources  and the figures are different],  living on  1,579 sq km.
It was surprisingly cold [20 C]  when we docked in Walvis Bay,the town that has nothing nice to say for itself other than it has the largest and most important port in Namibia.
Treasures of Namibia was the name of the tour I had chosen to participate in,as I very much wanted to see the prehistoric  Welwitschia Mirablis Plants unique to Namibia, and  so called after Welwitsch,a Portuguese botanist,born in Austria.They produce two leaves only in their lifetime.The two large woody leaves  lie on the ground, animals nibble at them,but cannot swallow. There is a conelike structure  between the leaves,very hard to the touch.The plants have a lifespan of 500 - 2,000 years.
We had to privilege to see lichen plants,too.Lichen is a "symbiotic association of a fungus and an alga,"it is a kind of crusty patch or a very,very low bushy growth that comes to life  in contact with water,as the tour guide had demonstrated.
Then there was the Dune 7 of the Namib Desert, at about 55 million years  the oldest in the world,where tourists come to wallow in the soft warm sand,and the  surreal moon landscape where Mad Max 2 was filmed.
The Namib Desert is a home to  The Palmato Gecko and The Desert Sidewinder.
The tour guide informed us  that in the arid nastiness that rarely sees water live various animals including giraffe,zebra and baboon, and told us to watch put for them.
My eyes were peeled yet I saw nothing and expected to see nothing.I told Okey,the very likeable guide, I did not believe an animal could live without water or food and therefore no animals other than those that live under  the ground can live in the Namib Desert and the surrounding land.Maybe, I said, years ago, when there was water and living edible plants, but not now.He was quite taken aback,I do not think any-one had ever doubted his word,
We passed the uranium mine owned by the Chinese,all uranium is shipped to China to use for nuclear energy.There is an 80 km long pipe that supplies water for the mine.The Chinese are paying  for it all. Any work [ the little we have seen] being done in Namibia is done in partnership with China.Should Chinese banks call it in, they would own the best of  Namibia,if not all of it.
We passed salt mines,they produce 500 000 tons of salt a year, 80% being exported to South Africa.
We stopped in a delightful oasis for the most excellent drink, delicious bubbly and very,very tasty snacks,included in the tour price.They also sold  incredibly looking oh so tempting cakes,but I left my debit card in the truck,so could not buy any.The almost five hours of the tour passed so very quickly.Even a bumpy ride was somehow an acceptable  part of the whole experience.
And as we were saying good-bye, I was so very happy to hand a bag-full of clothes to Okey to give to his wife.Not everything I wanted to leave,but most of it, I simply had no room for it all.   Oh,and the weather inland was at least 30 C,The Namib Desert is never cold.

Port Elizabeth

was the first port we docked in in South Africa.It exports 8,000-10,000 cars a month.It may seem a lot,but it is not, and the number  reflects the decline in motor industry worldwide.And that decline can  be sen all around Port Elizabeth.It is a drab, sad city,as if carrying the problems of the whole country on its shoulders.80% unemployment is a horrific figure.And this is what Port Elizabeth has.The surrounding land is acidic,nothing can be grown,so agriculture in the area is non-existent.There are two patches of rich soil, one of them grows citrus fruit only,with 80% of it exported.

Volcanic Experience 2

As we were driving down the new coastal
motorway towards the road that would take us across the island  to the volcano,the temperature began to fall,the rain drops began to beat against the windows and the fog began to appear like a speckled hen.We made our first stop.Outside an Australian woman was shivering in  a  skimpy top,so once inside the bus I had  lent  her a long sleeved T shirt I was hoping to have the opportunity to give to someone.We continued towards the highlight of the tour.The temperature outside had dropped considerably,in the bus almost as much.The rain was pounding down with greater and greater intensity and the swathes of fog had quadrupled in size.The trees and the greenery gradually disappeared  until  the terrain became one black mass with formations of lava strutting out, often in spectacular dunes.Some scenes from The Star Wars and The Planet of The Apes had been filmed there.The bumpy road with more holes than Swiss Ementhal made me thankful I had light breakfast.Then we stopped.And there it was-Piton de la Fournaise  shrouded in white  mist,not an outline to be detected.As a consolation prize there was a "dry" toilet in a shack a short walk away.I did not dare to investigate.So we boarded the bus again.The temperature inside 13 C, outside 11.A German man and his wife with a massive mole on her forehead, were constantly opening the window taking photographs,  with no regard for a frail American lady sitting in he seat in front of them,who had asked them twice not to please do it,as the rain was coming down on her.In the dining room a German harridan talks  as if she had verbal diarrhoea,her shrill voice grinding on my ears making me want to abandon the ship.What is wrong with these people? Who behaves like that?We drove for almost an hour exactly the way we came until we stopped for lunch.The starter -some local vegetable-was excellent,as was the red wine and white sliced bread.Fish dish, meat dish,both in identical sauce,  not to my liking,were served with rice.Surely nice dessert and a cup of coffee would make up for the disappointment.,I thought, until fruit salad landed in front of me,followed by lukewarm black muck.In the pouring rain a mad dash to The La Maison Volcan,supposedly a museum.Few pictures on walls museum do not make.Seats in the 3D cinema uncomfortable, film made by amateurs.After  an hour and a half  back on the bus.An American woman missing.It took the tour guide 20 minutes to find her.There is an idiot who spoils it for every-one on every tour.
The best thing about the 8 and a half hours of disappointment  was the competent but oh so frighteningly young coach driver and the polite  smiling tour guide who endearingly was the first to laugh at his own  jokes.He was very diplomatic and economical with the truth Re the way Reunion makes a living.Reunion is an overseas  territory of France,one of the few dependencies that still exist.It has been in French possession since 1642,except between  1810-1815,when the British owned it,yet it those short five years they had done more for the island than France in 300 years,they replaced the coffee plantations destroyed by cyclones with sugar plantations.Today sugar accounts for 85% of all exports by value.With at least 35% of unemployment a large part of the population relies on handouts from France and no doubt this expensive appendix  France could do without.But how do you get rid of an island you have owned for centuries, unless the islanders ask for independence and this they are in no hurry to do,they get the same wages as the French in Europe,  they get benefits as  the French in Europe.The tourists they get are 85% from France.I certainly would never want to come to Reunion voluntarily.I was overjoyed when after almost nine hours of "Volcanic Experience"  that never was I returned to the ship.The dinner was excellent, I even finished without a murmur the pastry chef's strange rendition of a blueberry cheesecake,which was a mousse in a cup with a dollop of biscuit base and some berries thrown in.God knows stranger tings have landed on my plate!And so to bed. At 8.And I slept like a baby.

Volcanic Experience [1]

Was the name of the tour I took a part in on the island of Reunion,wanting to see the Piton de la Fournaise,one of the few active volcanos in the world.Expecting to hear it gurgling,spitting,throwing up lava about and maybe even make me run for my life,as it erupts every year.And in the absence of that hoping it would at least give me a nod,a wink and a smile.So we sat out in a not very comfortable coach at 7.30 in the morning (the seat was too high,my 159 cm barely touching the floor,and it also slanted awkwardly,my shorts rising up).The temperature was 32 C.

Yes, tomorrow am going on a tour of the island of Reunion.

Reunion is an overseas department of France,one of the very few dependencies  still existing.It is very likely a burden on France, and many people living on Reunion would like independence,too,but with the subsidies from France gone, the island would not be able to survive.At least now they have some kind of life, then it would only  be  a kind of existence.
Reunion has about 855 000 people living on 2,512  square km, with the inner inhospitable part mostly empty.And this is what I want to see  tomorrow - the volcanic Reunion.
Piton-de-la Fournaise  evolved some 380 000 years ago.It stands  at 2,631 m and is one of the world's most active volcanoes.
Since 1998,the volcano has erupted  almost every year,the lava flows down,spilling into the sea, adding to the island's area.Over  48% of the island has been designated a UNESCO natural world heritage site.

The voluptuous Jacinta Whyte performed for us again last night.

She can sing, she can dance. I can't.But my curves are almost as nice as hers.

My friend Laurin has written to me:"Well, I must say you are seeing both the high life

and the low life of the world!"
How right he is.
We are in Port Louis  for the day.I have no plans other than to  enjoy myself in this capital of Mauritius, the 86th country I have visited,and shop!
Over the past weeks I've bought the odd present,regretted not buying more,I've even found the loveliest of dresses  and a jacket in Yes,Pleats in Singapore, and two pairs of Skechers.  But of all the countries  we are docking in,it is Mauritius I want the credit cards do the talking.To help the developing textile industry on the island  employing some 100 000 people,and to give me pleasure,too.
For tomorrow  we dock on Reunion  an I am  booked on a tour for almost 9 hours.

The last word on Seychelles.

The visit to the capital Port Victoria [or just Victoria] was short but not always sweet.It rained intermittently and the locals were jumping with joy,and by golly they had a reason to! The water came down in buckets.    So having decided not to take a taxi to the Beau Vallon beach,I cannot judge its beauty.And people come to Seychelles for the beaches. But staying in Victoria,one of the world's smallest capitals gave me the  chance to see it  in more detail  than it deserved.It is not only small,but very plain,too.That said, in The Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market I saw a hand made cotton  bag I now regret not buying as a present,but having left the 1st floor restaurant in the Market  without touching the food I had ordered, [the smell put me off,even though I did drink the freshly pressed  fruit juice],I just wanted to get out of the  colourful but unpleasantly reeking Market and the unpalatable food.I also regret not buying  an utterly divine white feather necklace in the Kankan,where I'd already purchased an utterly divine  necklace with equally divine  matching ear-rings and another  divine set or ear-rings.I cannot swim and to me all beaches are a much of a muchness, but an utterly divine necklace is to be treasured for a lifetime.

The wonderfully amusing juggler Pete Matthews came back last night.

I have seen him twice before with two axes  ( yes, axes, not ex's),  now missing, and  a one wheel bicycle,now present.And again he could not have been funnier.Not just a juggler, but a fine funny- man,his rapid-fire wit thrown about faster than his balls [the juggling balls!]
The publicity photo does not do him any  justice,he has grown so much more handsome now that he has cut his hair and shaved his whatever it was he had.He needs a new photo.

At 19.30 this evening The Queen Victoria slipped her lines in Seychelles,the 85th country I've visited

and set sail for Port Louis,Mauritius,where we should dock  on Friday,5 April 2019.
The transiting through the pirate infested waters has been trouble free.Many people have been scared, some take all their meals in their stateroom.
I am not one of them.

I am not a fool, I am fully aware the Queen Victoria would be a dream  catch for  any pirate,but I do not dance to fear.

Today,Tuesday,2 April,2019,The Queen Victoria docked in Port Victoria,Mahe Island, Seychelles.

I had me a plan - walk to the centre of the town, buy postcards, get stamps at the Post office,a rare  easily reachable site  in most ports,the last time I got stamps at the Post office was on the island of Tonga.Have a cup, or two, of latte,while writing the 11 cards, then give this little town,one of the world's smallest capitals [it has  26.450 inhabitants] a quick once over and then  a taxi to the nearest beach called Beau Vallon,that is  some 3-4 km away.

It all went well until I sat down to write the cards. It started to spit, then rain, then pour.But I was in no hurry to go anywhere and yes, by the time I  had finished the sky was clear again. I decided to go to the Selwyn Selwyn - Clarke Market.I was barely inside when the first  drops came  clung clicking  on the tinned roof.  Then the heavens opened. I almost had lunch ( I ordered, but did not like the smell, made an excuse not to eat it so as not to offend the staff ), I did have freshly pressed juice, played with my mobile and decided to return to the ship the moment the sun came out.There was a couple in their 50s sitting at the table next to me having the most unpleasant verbal exchange,the relationship appeared to be at the death door.Why do people do it to each other?  Luckily I did not have to wait long for the rain to stop and for a good half an hour the sun was shining merrily. Then the heavens opened again.I  happened to be passing  by some  shops and walked inside  one called Kankan. The most beautiful necklaces, ear-rings and rings everywhere.I just could not resist getting a necklace,matching ear-rings and another set of ear-rings. The rain was relentless. The owner  said her daughter would give me a lift back to the ship.How kind. True, I did spend there a lot of money [ 6,430  RUPEES, converted into  EUR 413.21], but she did not have to do it, and I certainly did not expect it.

The daughter was gorgeous [ as was the mother ], and the moment I said I was from Slovakia, she said - Bratislava, I was there last year, beautiful city and very nice people, very kind, like at home in Seychelles. I was so surprised and so pleased. Many  idiots on the ship have never heard of Slovakia, only one American lady knew  what it was and where it was,she had engaged with me in a conversation about the country's history,etc. She even asked what  my views on the EU were and when  I said in my inimitable  way I wished we were never a member, she laughed heartily.It is the amusing way you say things, she remarked.

Last night an Irish songstress Jacinta Whyte graced the stage of The Royal Court Theatre.

Finally a woman with three B's - Bust,Bum,Belly. And she carried it off with aplomb.And she can sing.

Sri Lanka is the 84th country I've visited.

For over 2h I'd walked the ramshackle streets of Colombo,the ramshackle tuk-tuks decorating a row after a row of ramshackle houses that prop each other up knowing if one gives and leanes,they all would crumble like a pack of cards.Women sitting in doorways,chatting,preparing food,clothes hanging limply on the lines in the steaming heat.Strange odour chasing me up and down every alley,every street.Little has changed here in a century.And there is something missing.Yes,a pile after a pile of rubbish,a sight so familiar on Bali,in Vietnam.There is dirt,there is poverty,all-pervading,overpowering,overwhelming poverty,but no squalor.These people who with so much dignity survive on so little,deserve so much more.