One way that we know that the time is passing on board is our regular lifeboat drills.  This week the drill was on Saturday and coincided with an additional fire drill the response to which you can see in the photograph. In this case the ships crew act as the fire service in dealing with any eventuality while the rest of us go to our stations and keep out of the way in a safe location. You can see the fire team testing their high-pressure hose off the side of the ship just to make sure that everything is in working order and that they would know what to do if some real emergency happened. We’ve now become quite practiced about what to do when we hear the reassuring tones of the captain saying  “This is a drill, this is a drill, this is a lifeboat drill”.  Perhaps I’ve been at sea too long but to me it almost sounds musical in its rhythmic delivery.  It seems strangely comforting but this may reflect our confidence in the calm authority of Capt. Terry Skinner