Page 230 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

most famous composer of the day, forcefully made the point that he would not be
constrained by such odious strictures, his demands eventually being impossible
to refuse. Yet the wall still took years to be breached, it being in that same year
that Mandela was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy to overthrow the state.)

In order to give passengers some breaks from the eternal seascape, our
voyage to UK included the Canary Islands and Le Havre. I would have liked
to see something of the former, for it was one of those unique volcanic islands
arising from the West African seascape, but tendering on Cathay was a somewhat
primitive business. Of more significance, I sent my resignation letter off to P&O
… with, naturally, some trepidation.

I saw no reason to step ashore in Le Havre. The rainy pier at Tilbury was
welcome enough (it should, however, be added that at the best of times Tilbury
was a miserable place, but it was changing profoundly because of the container
revolution. Today’s Tilbury would be totally unrecognisable from the workaday
berths of the 1960s).

A visit to the Marine Superintendent in London, effectively an Exit Interview,
though such a thing had yet to be thought of, was not entirely unsatisfactory,
inasmuch as Captain Dunkley did not try to persuade me of the error of my
ways (the more I saw of such individuals, the more I realised that the grandeur
of being the Commodore of the Fleet, or even a Captain, was often countered by
the realisation that they were there only because of not having earlier thought of
going ashore when best able to adapt to a new calling). Anyway, I thanked him –
though I was not sure for what – and began to work on our anticipated holiday.

Meanwhile, the remnant of the Shepherd family had arrived in London
on Oriana, Susan L had also mysteriously arrived in North London, and even
more mysteriously, Arnold seemed to arrive out of nowhere. (I didn’t remember
him being invited at all, but, as I say, he did not play the part that I thought
that Moviedom would have assigned to him). All six of us were going on the
skiing holiday, and we researched suitable locations. We collectively settled on
Mayrhofen, a small ski resort in the province of Tyrol.

We had ten days of ski and fun. The picturesque chalet was as rural as one
would expect in such a small place, and the food very good, if strange (I took
especially to raznjici, which I never again in my life sampled). The skiing was
excellent, though primitive; however, on the first or second day, Arnold skied
into a tree and broke his leg; thereafter, he really was hors de combat. However, I
myself had a rather different and far better seminal moment. Stevie and I shared
a king-sized bed. One night we had a knock on the door, and Susan L came in.
“Steve,” she said, “I think someone is trying to come in the front door; would
you please change beds with me, as my room is very close to the front door?

229