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‘Absolutely,’ she said, ‘I love to watch people panicking over food.’
Lunch was a more casual affair in the Amité buffet, where it seemed the same elderly ladies were still jostling over huge trays of lasagne and cottage pie. There were also beautiful platters of salad and artistically arranged shrimp and all the cheeses one could wish to see in the middle of the Bay of Biscay.
We chose some sandwiches and found a table away from the scrum of passengers.
‘On the Pirandello, they prepared over ten thousand meals daily including three hundred pizzas during Italian-themed days,’ Diana said, ‘and there were over five thousand table napkins to launder every day. There are special ironing and folding machines in the laundry, they are absolutely mesmerising. It was an organisational feat; and I went to watch the chefs in the kitchens. Casper – he was my husband and a captain – took me down there sometimes to have a look around, although I don’t think the crew liked it much.’
‘They probably thought you would report back,’ Evelyn said, picking at her salad garnish.
‘I never did. It was like being present at some massive food ballet, where everyone knew their places and what to do. I would have been dropping plates and eating all the time, and they weren’t supposed to do either.’
‘They are good, aren’t they?’ Evelyn agreed. ‘I once spent a whole afternoon watching a Japanese girl icing some biscuits. It was strangely relaxing and very clever.’
‘So you have cruised a lot?’ I asked.
‘A few times,’ she said, nodding, ‘it’s my absolute favourite things to do.’
‘And are you on your own?’ Diana asked.
Evelyn nodded again. ‘I used to travel a lot with my husband, but he died many years ago. And for a while I didn’t think I would do anything much, but then I thought heck, why not? What’s the worst that can happen?’
‘I’m a widow too,’ Diana said.
‘Awful, isn’t it?’ Evelyn said, and then she gave a little twinkle, ‘but we are still standing, aren’t we. Still taking up space, still wanting things. Still got most of our marbles. We can’t just fade into the background. People my age – and I’m eighty-one – are easy enough to ignore.’
‘I know the feeling,’ Diana said, ‘and I’m in my sixties.’
Evelyn tilted her head on one side and looked even more like a tiny, intelligent bird.
‘Trust me, it can get worse if you let it! I’m determined to carry on being a nuisance until the very end. What did Dylan Thomas say? “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” I’m going to carry on raging as long as possible. Otherwise, one is ignored.’
‘You’re right,’ I said.
I’d made a real effort over the last three months since winning this trip and lost nearly a stone. Well, eleven pounds. Eddy hadn’t noticed at all. In the end I’d had to tell him, and then he’d said, ‘Well done, is that why we keep having salad in the depths of winter?’
‘You’re much braver than I am,’ Diana said admiringly.
Evelyn laughed. ‘I’m not brave, just stubborn.’
‘Are you sure you don’t want a proper meal, rather than a sandwich?’
‘This egg and cress sandwich is perfection. But perhaps I need a small bowl of fries? What do you think?’ she said. ‘At my age, I just eat what and when I feel like it. And I seem to do pretty well.’
Diana stood up and almost immediately a waiter approached her.
‘Can I get you something, madame?’
‘Ah yes… we would like some French fries. Thank you.’
He hurried off.
‘That’s what I call service,’ I said approvingly a few moments later when three china bowls of hot fries magically appeared. ‘I thought we had to help ourselves?’
‘I thought so too.’
‘They are so helpful, aren’t they?’ Evelyn said. ‘So have you done line dancing before? After your triumph at the fruit carving?’
‘Once or twice,’ Diana said, ‘but on my own of course. Casper couldn’t join me, he always seemed to be busy with something.’
