We made it to Newfoundland overnight and docked at Corner Brook, another tiny port as we make our way around eastern Canada. The bay of islands, where Newfoundland is is exactly that: a bay with lots of islands.
The Timezone has changed again, this time 30 minutes forward, yesterday we went 60 minutes forward as we move east.
We docked at 7.00am. We ordered room service but it doesn’t turn up so we ring them and they lost our order. Never mind, we grab a quick breakfast in Horizons, croissant and tea.
We ventured out around 10.00am. The rain persisting and shrouding the area in a wafting mist. It’s not terribly cold, but wet with lots of puddles.
We wait for the shuttle bus and miss the first one. Another ten minutes passes before the next bus arrives. we jump on and our driver gives us a verbal tour of all things you can do at Corner Brook. He’s done by the time he drops of us five minutes later. There isn’t much here. We wander the Main Street, visit the council building, there’s a lookout and shoot some photos and video in front of a large Corner Brook sign.
We decide to walk back to the ship. It takes about ten minutes. The rain is misty as we walk. We see the paper mill across the bay, the main industry here. It spews white smoke and steam from its tall smoke stacks as it processes wood into paper.
We sit at Baristas for a while and enjoy a hot chocolate. Our usual table is free and we hunker down for an hour or so. The barista has gotten to know us and whips up the hot chocolates in no time.
We have a quick lunch at Waves Grill – burgers. Then back to Baristas to relax for the afternoon. It’s a pleasant quiet space. Four tables and a couple of lounges and it doesn’t seem to get as busy as other places.
We read, edit a video for the Linke Lifestyle YouTube channel, write the blog and chat.
A woman on a lounge a few metres from us then starts a FaceTime call. She has it on loudspeaker. Who ever she’s talking to can be heard by everyone. The annoying tinny sounding voice rattles piercingly around the small cafe. They drone on and on.
Now as many of you would know, Mardi is autistic, which means she’s prone to sensory overload. The phone call does the trick. Ultimately we are forced to leave the area, but not before Mardi speaks to the woman, who is still on the phone, now sharing with a third person.
I admire Mardi’s strength in confronting her, politely and respectfully. the lady apologises.
The thing that amazes us is how un-self aware some people are. This isn’t the first time this has happened. A few weeks ago, a teenager in a doctors surgery was playing games on his phone, again loud, without headphones
Why do people think this is normal or ok? I see it often on trains in Sydney. Use your headphones folks. No one cares what you’re watching or who you’re talking to!
We leave. Mardi gets a round of applause from a group of people in the lift lobby, who left at the same time as we did. They are astounded the lady talked for so long, so unaware of how annoying it was.
We go to our room and then head off to trivia. Today we out did all of our previous scores and in fact win. We only score 12 out of 17, but as I’ve said, these are tough quizzes.
After trivia we head back to our favourite corner at Baristas and relax until dinner.
We enjoy dinner in the main dining room. I have a seafood festival – prawns, lobster bisque and salmon. Mardi enjoys oysters, chicken consommé and pork. It’s all quite delicious.
After dinner we head off to the nightly show. Tonight we are promised an acoustic evening of popular pop songs. Or should that simply be popular songs? Anyway, the band, singers and dancers start with some Elvis and work their way through the beach boys, Michael’s Jackson, Billy Joel among others. You can’t say this is high class, it’s enjoyable enough, but they murder a few songs!
It’s been a busy day, well as busy as you can get cruising and relaxing, so we call it a night. Tomorrow’s port is in Nova Scotia, Sydney.
