Pass the Bottle! On tour with Pearson & Harvey

Harvey & Pearson - Robert Pearson points to the empty bottle, hidden without trace.

Words & Photos contributed by Pearson & Harvey

It's very hard to convince people that we're working when we tell them we're doing a cruise. Even though it's a very, very nice way to make a living, we still work hard to make sure that a cruise audience of possibly 3000 over 4 or 5 shows gets our very best. But it's also our living and not a holiday so we have to keep an eye on our budget. We do pretty well at it but for some of our fellow entertainers 'the budget'  takes on unusual aspects.

One such incident happened on a recent trip to Darwin.  Princess Cruises had us staying in a day room at a very nice hotel due to the fact that the ship docked early and we didn't fly out till the dreaded 'Redeye' flight left Darwin at midnight. Lunch was very pleasant one, accompanied by a very nice wine. It would need to be as it was $40 a bottle. Our mate and fellow entertainer (who we won't identify!) decided that this was a bit much to spend on a dinner wine so he devised a sneaky 'BYO' plan. He brought his own in the obligatory 'brown paper bag'.

Dinner was a hoot. Seeing no waitress around, he would reach under the table and quickly top up the water glasses with the very pale Savignon Blanc. The only trick then was to stop her topping up the water glasses....with water! Only one problem left now. What to do with the empty. And right next to us was the solution. Someone once said 'the best place to hide something is in plain view'. How convenient for the restaurant to have a great wine display next to us... complete with an empty space! Not for long. It now contains the remnants of a very fine Vasse Felix white.

"Waitress, could you take this out and have it filled..???"

Favourite one-liner this month...!

"My girlfriend accused me of being a stalker!

Well... she's not my girlfriend YET!

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