Thankful: For Electricity and Plumbing!

 

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 

be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

-John Howard Payne

Friday is my day off from my church job.  Every other Friday I have to teach at the Specialty Center, however, so every other week I have a full day off - and today was such a day.  Not only was it my free day, but it was absolutely beautiful outside - reaching 61 degrees.  After running errands and getting groceries this morning, I settled down to some much-needed house cleaning - dusting, changing beds, vacuuming, and mopping.  As I cleaned the bathroom, I acknowledged with a chuckle how thankful I was to have spent this last week in my snug little home, rather than on a certain cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last Sunday, the Carnival Triumph experienced an on-board fire, which knocked out all power and eventually a good deal of the plumbing.  Toilets stopped working, leaving 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew with no place to go to the bathroom.  They used the sinks for awhile (I cannot imagine!), then utilized red plastic bags.  As the days went by, one passenger remarked that it was like living in a hot, smelly port-a-potty. Many of the passengers used rope and sheets to erect little tents on deck rather than live in their airless cabins with sewage pouring down the walls whenever the ship listed.

The cruiseliner was finally towed to Mobile, Alabama, where it took all evening and most of the night last night to remove the passengers and crew from the ship.  I can only imagine that the first thing most of them wanted was a clean bathroom and a hot shower.  Even though the cruise company is giving each passenger a full refund (and hopefully each crew member a bonus?), it may be a while before any of these vacationers decide to take another cruise!