Things are slowly starting to change, beginning with where we are today.
A very quiet day, by any standards. We came to anchor in San Carlos Water this morning, a couple of miles off shore, and started running a boat routine into Port San Carlos itself. I had a look at the world from the Quarterdeck, but there was really remarkably little of any note to see – as I thought the last time we were in, the landscape is very much like that of Shetland or Scotland, and although it was a bright enough day, it still looked a pretty inhospitable sort of place. Several people took advantage of the liberty boats to go ashore and stretch their legs, but I really couldn’t see the point.
There was no flying, of course, and consequently almost no work to do on board, so I took advantage of the temporary lull to catch up with some of my mail. In the evening we held a cocktail party/RPC thing for some of the officers from Battleaxe, and had a candlelit dinner to follow, which was quite enjoyable, though it did prove to me, once again, that senior officers regard the times of meals as a challenge, and insist on going in for them as late as they possibly can.
In this case, dinner was supposed, on the specific orders of the Commander, to finish at 2015 so that things could get cleared away in time for the film to start at 2100. And what time did the Commander himself appear to eat? You guessed it, 2020. I give up.