ann141

39 minutes ago, purplesea said:

Thank you all for your congratulations. 

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who has replied.Very helpful

The Princess Soda Package states that Fountain Sodas, mocktails and smoothies are included.Do they offer Diet Coke (or Coke Zero)in pump form? I know cans aren't included. Does anyone have a list of soft drinks available

duplicated in error

6 hours ago, Glenndale said:

I don’t know whether Saga are planning a world cruise in 2024 but it might be worth your while to pre register for 2024 at a cost of £90.

If you don’t find anything to suit you, you will get your money back.

Their 2 ships are all balcony, inclusive drinks, some excursions included and gratuities included.

Single cabins available.

All the specialties are included at no extra charge and tables are organised for solo passengers which you can join or not as you wish.

Lots of activities during the day and an excellent solos experience.

By pre registering you will be called first to choose your cruise and cabin virtually guaranteeing the best price.

Prices rise in 5% increments on Saga as cabins are sold.

Mostly British guests but we have encountered some North American guests on board.

Have fun choosing 🙂

I want to try a Saga cruise (not necessarily a World Cruise..  perhaps one day)but one thing that puts me off is the 15% deposit, because in the past we have either changed our minds when something better comes up or a wedding or similar has been arranged which we don't want to miss not to mention possible illness etc.At least P and O have a 5% deposit when their cruises are first released and even better Princess who have had a £50 deposit.

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Thank you for all your kind sentiments guys It really took it out of me yesterday

but enough about me I just need to rest, I will get there .

 Any update from @AndyMichelle ? I hope Michelle has made a good recovery ? 

Sorry to hear that you had such a bad day yesterday but glad that you are feeling better today.Hope Michelle ( Andy) is feeling better too.Take Care

17 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Well, we have had an eventful morning.. 

Had to call an ambulance for Michelle as she was being sick, couldn't breathe and passed out... 

Tried 111 for advice first but after ten minutes of Covid instructions and we are busy, call back later messages, gave up and called 999...

Paramedics arrived just as I finished the call, how is that for service... 

She didn't want to go to hospital so the doctor reluctantly agreed she could stay home after prescribing different anti sickness medicine, as long as I stayed with her and monitored her breathing. 

She is settled now, snoring loudly😴

Hats off to the ambulance service and doctors/pharmacy for acting so quickly, just a shame 111 is clogged up with what should be common sense messages.. 

Andy 

Sorry to hear that Michelle is unwell.Hope that she feels better soon

4 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

I didn't realise that they were issuing the blue passports already.  

I got mine sometime last year

Hope your hospital appointments go well Kalos and Graham.My routine GP telephone appointment last week seemed to result in  a lot of 'forgets'.The GP recommended that I try a new medication and then forgot to add it to my repeat prescriptions! When I went to pick it up I had 'forgotten' to take my phone.The pharmacist asked for my phone number which I 'forgot'(I had to ask hubby to come in so he could look at his contact list!)The pharmacist wrote the number down on a piece of paper but 'forgot' to write down my name so I received a phone call later on from the pharmacy asking who was I ??

I too like the look of MSC Virtuosa from what I have seen and its making me more excited about my seacation in September

Hope everyone has a good day.It certainly helps me feel better when the sun is shining 🙂 

31 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

That's what we're involved in. Where we'll be tomorrow I don't know as yet (we get notified around 8pm the evening prior to deployment).

Thank you.Its a really valuable job in helping stop the spread of covid. My hubby has just come in from volunteering as a Steward at our local vaccination centre and is feeling peeved as Joe Root captain of England cricket team came in whilst hubby was on his break!

13 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

So after a very disappointing Eurovision result for the UK, and the fact I cannot work today due the final league game being played at the Etihad (which is our testing and vaccination centre), I'm catching up on here. The reason we cannot work today is that Manchester City have reclaimed their car parks for today's match and that's where the Regional Testing and Vaccination centre is located. Meaning the mobile units cannot be restocked nor be accessed for us to get on the road.

 

In terms of testing and vaccinations, as I read the north west was mentioned, we are now being deployed to areas with a surge in cases and are operating longer hours (that's a strain on your legs and back I can tell you). We have been at an Academy this week ensuring all pupils and staff were tested (10 hours), then yesterday we were another town (9 hours) where there has been an increase in positive cases, together with 3 other mobile units within a 1 mile radius. The town had also been provided with additional vaccine, equivalent to 5,000 extra doses and people of all ages could just turn up, and if eligible, they would be vaccinated. There were queues of over an hour with hundreds turning up. So, work is taking place to try and limit the spread.

It is even more important that all teams (and their families) self test (lateral flow test) on a regular basis and ours were negative this morning.

On a slightly more positive note Formby (in the North West) was one of the areas to see a spike in the Indian variant.Subsequently there was surge testing and vaccinations opened to anyone over the age of 18 (My niece aged 20 was vaccinated)  and now numbers of cases have fallen 🙂 I am hoping that new areas where the Indian variant has been identified  will adopt similar testing/increased vaccines to help stop the spread.It seems likely that in places like Bolton and Blackburn it had already spread before there was the chance to try to prevent it spreading.

Personally I would choose Cunard if the Itinerary and prices were similar but I would happily opt for P and O if the itinerary was better and included more ports of call. I have done the translantic crossing on QM2 and on Aurora and Ventura and I think Cunard has more activities on sea days but as others have said, drinks etc are a lot dearer.You are also likely to have a more international mix of passengers aboard Cunard whereas I think the majority of P and O passengers will be British.Cunard only offers fixed dining whereas with P and O has a choice of fixed or Freedom.

I think there is probably an error in the cost of that excursion.I seem to remember when it was first announced that we would have to take the ships excursions, P and O stated that they would reconsider the price of their excursions and put additional ones on so that the costs wouldn't be excessive.(I don't think that applies to the Princess seacation cruise that I am going on in September because their prices are very high but Princess excursions are usually higher than P and O overall

4 hours ago, Sootyjen said:

Was thinking of the cruise money. Would imagine the cruise companies could, theoretically, still sail, but would they if many passengers were effectively uninsured. Might have a ring round on Monday. Don’t want to assume anything and then lose a few grand.

I am pretty certain that no cruise companies that set sail from the UK would visit an Amber country (They would just change their itinerary ) but it may be a problem if you flew out to join a cruise that wasn't UK based

52 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Now officially designated the God’s Own Wensleydale Yorkshire Pudding variant......

Good to see you posting again Harry 🙂 

3 hours ago, Csardas said:

We're driving to Southampton for our July cruise from Ayr, a 7 hour plus stops, slog. We're not in a hurry and have booked the night before the cruise in Southampton. Any suggestions for a nice overnight en-route halfway?  I had thought of Stratford as I've never been there before but any recommendations are welcome!

As others have suggested Stratford or Leamington Spa are nice places to visit but if you want somewhere convenient ,though further north, we haver stayed at the Travelodge on the M6 at Knutsford) which was fine and Tatton Park is nice to visit. Also Oxford is nice but very pricey.

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

A shot of Iona today taken from the Isle of Wight Ferry. Somewhat dwarfs the terminal building and the freight ferry! Incredibly windy down here today with gusts up to 89mph. Amazingly the ferry was extremely stable and barely moved. Currently sitting in the holiday cottage on the front in Cowes watching the waves crashing over the promenade. I notice from ship tracking that a lot of cruise ships are going up and down the English Channel. Wouldn’t like to be on one at present!

Have a great time on the Isle of Wight. My late parents in law used to live near Yarmouth which is lovely and some friends who we met on a cruise live in Bembridge which is lovely

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

You should rightly be proud Jane.

It is the under 35s who will be in the pubs in massive numbers but they think they are immune and it is disappointing that they don't seem keen to get vaccinated which ultimately will affect us all.

10°C and it has been raining all morning.

I hope everyone has a nice day.

Graham.

I think what you say about the under 35's not wanting to get jabbed is true in part but the ones I know are keen to get jabbed partly to protect others and partly so they can go on holiday! 

15 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Not as bad as the chap in Aldi serving, mask around his chin and coughing and wiping his nose on his hand while touching people’s shopping.  

That really is awful. Something that gets me as well is when people are wearing their mask correctly but then lower it to speak to the shopkeeper! I do think its good though that quite often you will hear announcements over tanoys (shopping centre and train stations) to state that masks should cover nose and chin.It doesn't always make a difference but at least if people realise they are wearing it incorrectly it may help

1 hour ago, Beckett said:

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Friday.

 

Very windy here in N.London this morning - plenty of branches to traverse on the roads. 

 

We've had biblical rain all week ( but I expect a drought will still be announced soon). We had a flood in the surgery on Monday due to the street storm drains not being able to cope. We are on an incline so the water just ran in unhindered. Guess who was out in the street, in bare feet, soaked to skin, clearing the drains so they could run freely? Yes, me! Oh the joys of being a Practice Manager. 

 

That aside, a very busy week. We're calling the the 36 year olds for vaccines - but not had a great response so far. It's getting harder to persuade people to be vaccinated which is a huge disappointment. Our vaccine hub is closing in July and patients will be attending a much bigger centre at a local sports stadium. We've done our bit and are proud of it. Time for others to take over now.

 

I hope you are all well and safe and I wish you all a happy, wet, weekend. Best wishes to all. Jane.x

 

 

Thank you Jane for all you are doing.When your vaccine hub closes in July you will have more time to focus on your up coming cruises! It sounds as though you are an exceptional practice manager.I don't even know who ours is though I'm sure he or she does a great job. 🙂 🙂 

4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

I met 2 friends for coffee at Trentham Gardens this morning and really enjoyed the outing despite the awful weather because it was very quiet we managed to get into the shops very easily, though according to David when I got home that was bad because I came back with a dress and a sweater from Roman. 😇😇

Yesterday I had a good day and met some friends.The only part my hubby didn't like was that it involved buying a dress!!

12 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Other than listing our future cruises I'm on the 2nd of my 4 days off from Test & Trace on the mobile testing unit. The last 4 days were spent in Bolton at the request of the local council due to the rise of the Indian variant there, so we had a full on 4 days with extended opening hours. The whole town had extra testing units as well as vaccination centres which no doubt you have seen from the news channels. I suspect we will be deployed there again on our next 4 day rotation.

Thank you for all you are doing.Formby, where my Mum lives has seen a rise in the Indian varient too and there have been mobile testing units and extra vaccination sessions which hopefully will stop the spread.I think its great that so many people are willing to help fight covid whether paid or volunteers, medics or organisational help.🙂

I like big ships, little ships, classic ships and glitzy ships- infact most types of ships if I'm sailing on them! I  like certain aspects of most of the ships I have sailed on and not  so keen on other aspects. I think its great that there is a good choice to suit all tastes. Wouldn't it be boring if we all liked the same thing? Can't wait until my next cruise!

Having got our passports out ready to download the NHS App I noticed that my hubbys passport photo on main page is in colour whereas mine is in black and white.Although we both applied for  new passports the same evening, hubbys went to one passport office and he received the old colour passport ' mine went to a different office and I received one of the new blue passports (hubby was quite envious!!)Just wondering if all the new passports have black and white photos or if its because they had problems accepting my photo due to 'shading' issues (probably black circles, wrinkles and age spots!)

15 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Based on what I had read above hubby and I both decided to download NHS app using security password log in. Surprise surprise hubby didn't have to upload photo or scan passport etc.I had to take a photo of my passport then do a face scan which came back with the advice that my face didn't match!(It is a new passport!)Did the scan again and got a message that it would be checked but may take up to 7 days! At least we have now got the App

That was a quick 7 days.Just had an email to say I have passed their checks!