.......idle jottings

For Sundance only!

Hey, Sundance, people can charter SD for any length of time, right? Not just the standard 7 days? So, if one was to charter for all his buddies, a 10 day could easily do Cuba with a side trip to Montserrat, right? Posh is as Posh does.

Yes, 10 days is perfect. We tend to not do 7 day cruises as its just not long enough to get into the groove. But the pony won't let us do 14 dayers :o

I do hope the charter leaves from and returns to West Palm Beach, FL.

Much more civilized port and airport than Fort Lauderdale or heaven forbid Miami ... oh wait we are going to Cuba so maybe we should leave from Miami since it is home to Little Havana where we could do a pre-cruise acclimation/immersion visit before boarding the yachts (you said BOAT/S Ho-Hum and we all know that the SD sisters are definitely not boats!).

Since we have added Montserrat to the itinerary I do hope that Ho-Hum will arrange for a fleets of helicopters so we can tour the volcano!

For Sundance only!

Hey, Sundance, people can charter SD for any length of time, right? Not just the standard 7 days? So, if one was to charter for all his buddies, a 10 day could easily do Cuba with a side trip to Montserrat, right? Posh is as Posh does.

Yes, 10 days is perfect. We tend to not do 7 day cruises as its just not long enough to get into the groove. But the pony won't let us do 14 dayers :o

I do hope the charter leaves from and returns to West Palm Beach, FL.

 

Much more civilized port and airport than Fort Lauderdale or heaven forbid Miami ... oh wait we are going to Cuba so maybe we should leave from Miami since it is home to Little Havana where we could do a pre-cruise acclimation/immersion visit before boarding the yachts (you said BOAT/S Ho-Hum and we all know that the SD sisters are definitely not boats!).

 

Since we have added Montserrat to the itinerary I do hope that Ho-Hum will arrange for a fleets of helicopters so we can tour the volcano!

No Ho hum has too much respect for you guys that he just could not insult your pride and reputations with such a tawdry offer of a voyage to Cuba on SD..........no, ho hum wont hear another a word.......just too much respect for you

What nothing ?

Guess wily old ho hum has seen off these fellas (oops and gals).

A boat load of Texas yahoos all smoking newly available Havanas.

Where do I sign up, Ho-Hum ... he says tounge-in-cheek!

What nothing ?

Guess wily old ho hum has seen off these fellas (oops and gals).

Must sleep sometimes. And, on our way today so might not be in touch for a while. What a relief, right? We hope all the SeaDreamers have a Merry Christmas.

Must sleep sometimes. And, on our way today so might not be in touch for a while. What a relief, right? We hope all the SeaDreamers have a Merry Christmas.

Have a great voyage.....tell us all about it.

Hi All!

We have friends joining us for the first time in feb 14. Seadream 2 he is a scotch drinker. What kind of scotch does seadream offer? High end or should he bring his own?

Kathy. :)

Does Seadream have these in stock?

Ardbeg, Uigeadail

Laphroaig

Single malt, 18 yrs.

Ho Hum,

Can we join in on the Cuban voyage?? Please!!!? Love Cuba! Been there a few times... Let us know when you need the deposit! :) LOL

A boat load of Texas yahoos all smoking newly available Havanas.

 

Where do I sign up, Ho-Hum ... he says tounge-in-cheek!

There would have been a time Commander when old ho hum would love to visit Cuba as a pilgrimage to the cigar makers of Cuba........there is nothing like a Cuban cigar..........heaven........the aroma of damp earth.

A Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Islay, 10 year old whisky was born to accompany the cigar.

Ho hum used to smoke Cuban cigars for over twenty years but we said goodbye over seven years ago now.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Ho hum would smoke 7 a day. The basic Partagas Cifuentes Especial was his regular but on special occasions there would be a Cohiba and the dear old Punch.

All at the strong end of the cigar scale.

Happy days.

Your Texan friends (so to speak) !

Being a patriotic bunch would smoke non-Cubans.......thank heavens otherwise if Americans smoked them too then it would have been prohibitively expensive.

Ho hum had a chum who lived in Hawai: we went on a SilverSeas cruise together.

He would have been about 80 and that was ten years ago and he loved cigars as much as ho hum.

He smoked them all his life.

Well after dinner we would toddle off to the cigar room. Hermetically sealed to avoid the smoke from polluting the lungs of other passengers.

Well we would take out our own cigars from our cigar case.......we would travel with a box of cigars and keep them in a plastic bag which we would put a bit of water into and tie up: it would act as a humidor keeping them from drying out and rendering them in tip top condition.

Sitting down into those comfy leather armchairs we would order our drinks (Laphroaig or a Lagavulin for ho hum and a dark rum for chum) and we would usually just sit there.

He was fascinated in cricket and so ho hum would answer his funny questions.

He could not understand how anybody would watch a match lasting 5 days !

They also ran in a series of 3/5/7 games, so one team would pop over to England for the entire summer and vica versa.

He loved cricketing terms too.

Well what has that got to do with Texans ?

Well it's not just about Texans but mostly "yahoo" types (as you call them) who would eagerly come to the cigar room and order the most expensive and longest cigars with the most expensive cognacs and proceed to make "a pigs ear" out of the whole cigar rituals designed for the accompaniment of enjoying the cigar for the hour.

Firstly they would try to light the poor thing wondering why it kept going out.

You apply a flame to the cigar tip rolling the cigar round so the entire tip is evenly burnt....no drawing in at this stage.

Then some would not snip the end and they would try to draw on the cigar !

Or they would smoke the cigar from the other end !!! Quelle horeure !!

Finally the cigar would smoulder into life but un-evenly .... a huge faux pas.

Their drinks would arrive and they would fill their very expensive cognac glasses with ICE !!

It is'nt Coca Cola, so now the delicate cognac is frozen, all nuance gone.

And no sipping but glugging.

Some would dip the cigar (mouth end) into the cognac. No doubt they saw Lee Van Clift or some other spaghetti Western dude do it and they thought it looked cool.

After watching this performance you could see the gentlemen's gills slowly turning green and their faces looking very, very pale with tiny beads of sweat forming.

As soon as they had taken a few puffs they were now absenting themselves.......they would all be as sick as dogs within twenty minutes. Their poor ladies would hear their beloved in the bathroom "talking on the white porcelain phone" .....whooooaaahhhhh, oh my God, whoooooaaahhhhh.

Are you alright dear they would enquire thinking what twerps they had been and hoping that they had cleaned up before entering the shared bed !

Night after night this would happen.......some of the cigars they left behind were worth a fortune and quite rare....with a careful snip here and there, some of them could be rescued.....aaaahhhh.

Ho hum never gave a cigar to anyone who was not a regular cigar smoker........

Would ho hum be tempted ? A huge YES !

Thankfully people rarely smoke cigars these days...occasionally on SD some "good ol boys" would fancy a cigar and would puff away at the bar.......aaahhhh the aroma.

Thanks for your Xmas card Butch & Sundance (known here as Jim & Raggy).

What better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord (well for some anyway) than with a semi-automatic....the gift that keeps on giving (20 rounds a second....now that's giving) !

Happy Christmas. Thank you for all the excellent jottings this year. Long may they continue.

Twenty years ago I spent 10 days visiting many distilleries on the western isles of Scotland. Great fun with fabulous landscapes and beaches.

Have a lovely holiday and eat, drink and be merry!

............or perhaps you prefer this...

............or perhaps you prefer this...

Ho hum is very sorry if this message is not coherent, there are two reasons for this.

Firstly ho hum's vision has probably become irreversibly damaged trying to read the menu photograph posted by popper !

And secondly the tears from ho hum are in full flow seeing your wonderful Xmas cards !

What a kind thing to do Poppy.

Ho hum loves it...you kind, kind lady !

Let me pop round now with a bottle of DP for you and hubby !

And have a wonderful Xmas yourself darling (if ho hum may now be permitted to be so forward...damn it darling it is Xmas !)

HHxx (well you are reading this under the mistletoe ........ just in case ho hum is proffering a handshake to Mr.Poppy).

4-0 Poppy !

Champions League next

Agreed on wanting to visit Cuba. While the establishment of diplomatic relations at long last is a big leap forward, and travel restrictions will ease somewhat, full throated U.S. citizen tourist visits to Cuba won't be allowed until Congress amends or repeals the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 that prohibits such travel - or so I've read. Time to lobby both the U.S. Congress and SD! Happy holidays to all ashore and onboard this season.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

4-0 Poppy !

Champions League next

Poppy's getting carried away now. Must be the cooking sherry!!

Happy Christmas. Thank you for all the excellent jottings this year. Long may they continue.

Twenty years ago I spent 10 days visiting many distilleries on the western isles of Scotland. Great fun with fabulous landscapes and beaches.

Have a lovely holiday and eat, drink and be merry!

............or perhaps you prefer this...

Poppy's getting carried away now. Must be the cooking sherry!!

Ho hum is very sorry if this message is not coherent, there are two reasons for this.

Firstly ho hum's vision has probably become irreversibly damaged trying to read the menu photograph posted by popper !

And secondly the tears from ho hum are in full flow seeing your wonderful Xmas cards !

What a kind thing to do Poppy.

Ho hum loves it...you kind, kind lady ! Oh and talented t'boot !

Let ho hum pop round now with a bottle of DP for you and hubby !

Pour that cooking sherry away this very instance !

And have a wonderful Xmas yourself darling (if ho hum may now be permitted to be so forward...damn it darling it is Xmas !)

HH

Agreed on wanting to visit Cuba. While the establishment of diplomatic relations at long last is a big leap forward, and travel restrictions will ease somewhat, full throated U.S. citizen tourist visits to Cuba won't be allowed until Congress amends or repeals the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 that prohibits such travel - or so I've read. Time to lobby both the U.S. Congress and SD! Happy holidays to all ashore and onboard this season.app

The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 (Helms–Burton Act) is a Us federal law which strengthens and continues the US embargo against Cuba.

The act extended the territorial application of the initial embargo to apply to foreign companies trading with Cuba and penalized foreign companies allegedly "trafficking" in property formerly owned by U.S. citizens but confiscated by Cuba after the Revolution. The act also covers property formerly owned by Cubans who have since become U.S. citizens.

This Act met with huge European opposition and condemnation and was widely considered to be a very ignoble act of bullying and "sour grapes" of a super power towards a fledgling minnow.

The earlier embargo is believed to be the: Trading with the Enemy Act 1917

Cuba is the only country applicable.......even North Korea is not on the list.

Furthermore in the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."

Only the US and Israel voted against citing poor humans rights and yet China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia are permitted furthermore Cuba's humanitarian efforts in the world are out-standing.

The US have a somewhat mixed reception abroad concerning their foreign policy.

Normalising relations with Cuba would be most welcomed and would be seen as a country in transition from a petulant and adolescent attitude towards the first step of maturity and may be a sign of slowly relinquishing the insistence to "be like us" (unless we can trade with you and commercially benefit from the relationship........ probably the attitude of all governments really).

This is'nt US bashing; the British government too behaved far worse during the years of apartheid in South Africa and many say (for good reason) that they maintained apartheid in that country by refusing to endorse embargoes against the advocates of apartheid.

In an interview in 2004, the yet to be President Obama said it was err ....,.crazy that this law was still in existence and so it came to pass (or in this case it came to be repealed, we hope).

Ummm, let's not forget the nuclear tipped missles Castro and pals let the USSR station in Cuba.

Ho hum is very sorry if this message is not coherent, there are two reasons for this.

Firstly ho hum's vision has probably become irreversibly damaged trying to read the menu photograph posted by popper !

And secondly the tears from ho hum are in full flow seeing your wonderful Xmas cards !

 

What a kind thing to do Poppy.

Ho hum loves it...you kind, kind lady ! Oh and talented t'boot !

 

Let ho hum pop round now with a bottle of DP for you and hubby !

Pour that cooking sherry away this very instance !

And have a wonderful Xmas yourself darling (if ho hum may now be permitted to be so forward...damn it darling it is Xmas !)

HH

Ho Hum and Blondie are most welcome to pop around anytime and stay too. Might just have to book a flight to get here. Cooking sherrys down the drain now. Can't get fresh mistletoe here this year unfortunately. However I have some fake stuff just in case.

Ummm, let's not forget the nuclear tipped missles Castro and pals let the USSR station in Cuba.

You got over the Ruskies pretty quickly when you could sell them Coca - Cola and McDonalds !

Ho Hum and Blondie are most welcome to pop around anytime and stay too. Might just have to book a flight to get here. Cooking sherrys down the drain now. Can't get fresh mistletoe here this year unfortunately. However I have some fake stuff just in case.

Whre are you ?