Snow Hill

58 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My last employer refused to let me leave 30 minutes early to visit my mother in hospital and I therefore never saw her.  I lived 100 miles away and had a long train journey involving crossing London and overhead trains.  I'd worked there 13 years.  I left shortly after, however my friend had cancer and was made to take holiday and unpaid leave to have her chemotherapy.  This was a leading London lawyer.

 

Employers unfortunately can be very cruel about absence.

Fortunately the bank I worked for was the complete opposite, when my stepfather died my boss told me to take 10 days paid compassionate leave to support my mother. 

12 hours ago, NewWestwardbound said:

 

#72   

 

Posted 13 hours ago

   19 hours ago,  molecrochip said: 

 

- Most ships operating out of UK reporting high cases of norovirus.

 

A further question if I may. To whom do ships operating out of UK report cases of Norovirus, and are such reports accessible to members of the public? 

 

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@molecrochip Did you have a view on the above?

 

 

You could submit a FOI to Southampton City Council for those sailing out of the city. 

https://scccrmportal.southampton.gov.uk/services/foi-submission-form

25 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

I believe they should be reporting outbreaks of Norovirus and the like to Public Health England. 
 

 

If you want to read about the procedures for dealing with outbreaks then you can find it all here, although publish in 2007 still applicable today.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f0280ed915d74e6227e0f/2007_guideline_norovirus_cruiseships.pdf

A a damp and overcast start to the day, on a yellow warning for thunderstorms this afternoon, so not planning to go anywhere today. 
 

I have some work to do in the greenhouse to prepare tomatoes for planting in the final locations, but not sure if I want to be in a metal framed greenhouse during a thunderstorm. 

4 hours ago, NewWestwardbound said:

A further question if I may. To whom do ships operating out of UK report cases of Norovirus, and are such reports accessible to members of the public? 

I believe they should be reporting outbreaks of Norovirus and the like to Public Health England. 
 

3 hours ago, kalos said:

Morning ,Mr Blue Sky is living here today ,very bright morning .

Hope all those who were feeling not too good are better today .

 

@Snow Hill Nice result but it could have been worse , if you had

said "upon delivery ,hide behind garage ,you could have ended up

with the driver there for hours but at least found your parcels on 

your door step .😉

You were lucky ,we had the postie drop ours in a dustbin on the

wrong street !!    All we got was a guy phone to say sorry .

 

All take care 🙂

 

 

Doubt he would have the intelligence to find the garage, as access is from a side street. He came again yesterday with another parcel that was ordered same time as the previous ones and did exactly the same. Again the door camera caught him dropping and running off without ringing the bell. 
 

Fairly successful day today,  I raised a complaint about Amazon Delivery regarding driver leaving 2 parcels on front step in full public view rather than our alternative safe place. Noticed from the cameras that he dropped the parcels, never rang the bell and was gone in less than 30 seconds, on the delivery email he had stated that he left in safe place. Amazon took complaint seriously and have passed complaint to fulfilment team and have credited £20 to my account.

Second success was to negotiate my Ancestry subscription renewal, getting a 25% discount for forthcoming year after around 10 mins on phone.

So how do they deep clean a cruise ship in a few hours? 
 

Do they wash all the bed linen, pillows, duvets at 60C?

Steam clean carpets & curtains?

Use Anti-Viral fogging methods? 
 

15 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

All this talk of food is making me hungry!

 

I’m playing my own personal game of ready, steady, cook this week. We are off on our travels next week so using up what’s left. Its not so much what OH wants to eat but what I can “create” from what’s left in the fridges. 
 

I have come up with some good recipes over the years by bunging together what’s left. I discovered roasted cauliflower, fennel and lentil soup as a result of having to use up a whole cauliflower and it’s delicious. Tonight it’s a Mediterranean beef stew as I had olives, red peppers and sun dried tomatoes to use up.

 

Does anyone else do this before they go away? I hate food waste.

We do it all the time, any vegetables that are not quite at their best get turned into soup. My OH is a dab hand at conjuring up a meal from various ingredients in the fridge to use them up.

43 minutes ago, lincslady said:

My very old-fashioned mother-in-law once asked me if the French spoke French all the time,  wondering how we got on when we used to go there frequently on holiday.  That  is admittedly many years ago, and she was over 70 at the time.  I did gently remind her that my DH had School Certificate French, and I had A level.  To be fair, she had not been further 'abroad' than the Isle of Man.

We often start of speaking French to someone, only to find they reply in English so they can practice, very annoying when we are trying to practice our French. Same has happened to me in Spain when I was trying to practice my Spanish prior to my aborted job move to Malaga. 

48 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Being Michelin pensioner I need as many people as possible to keep buying Michelin maps, atlases and tyres, I had  Michelin satnav before they were standard in equipment in cars. 

I remember a Michelin maps and guides manager telling me that they once had a complaint because the France guide didn't warn people that people in France didn't always speak English.  

We have the Michelin Guides to Brittany and Normandy, we find them very useful much better than any other guides we have seem. I also use the Via Michelin website to plan route in France, gives details of Toll charges, we have a Tag, so no scrabbling around for change on arrival at toll booth as we did when we first went, our friends in Brittany advised us to get one makes it much easier. 

I was looking for a new French motoring atlas for our forthcoming trip to France, our current one is from 2018 and knowing how quick new roads are built in France, thought we better get a new one.

Looking at the reviews for a couple I came across one which said 

“I wouldn’t buy this atlas too much green and not enough roads”

A review of the Michelin Atlas, probably the best atlas you can buy for France. 
 

We use the inbuilt satnav in the car but my OH likes to follow the route in atlas, an will suggest stop off places in advance.

49 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It's easy to apply for a postal vote, and you dont need to remember your identity card.

We have had postal votes for the last few years, mostly for local elections as we have often been away when they took place, we always vote in every election.

15 minutes ago, Paulant said:

But if that's what really drives their thinking then why have they raised the soft drinks package too! 🤔 Profits before ethics.

Perhaps rise is due to inflation, soft drink prices in U.K. have risen by 7 to 10% in last 12 months. 

It was raining when we went to bed last night, still raining this morning and according to Yellow Warning will be raining until 6 am tomorrow. So no gardening today, will sort a couple of overnight stays for our Brittany Trip and the Le Shuttle booking, plus some remote volunteering work on my laptop. 

10 hours ago, CountryStyleMe said:

not anymore as like I said you are only allowed 15 alcoholic drinks per person per every 24 hour period and I believe once you hit your 15 alcoholic drink before the 24 hour period you are in is up you will stopped from buying anymore alcoholic drinks until the new 24 period starts.well I'm guessing that is how it will work on P&O Cruises from now on anyway 

Seems a sensible approach, if only to protect the passengers liver

2 hours ago, Sawdan said:

Never thought about it being on terrestrial tv Interestedcruisefan, that's a good point.

   I think there were a couple of sports channels on the TV so hopefully might be on there signal permitting. Even if I have to sit in the cabin!!!😁 cheers

The Euro2024 Games will be shared between BBC and ITV, as they are a protected event to be shown on Terrestrial Channels. So if the ship can receive those channels then they would be shown I guess

28 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I suspect that the ownership, financing and business dealings of most top clubs would not stand up to scrutiny. Lower down the leagues, financial fair play rules seem to have a big effect on limiting clubs’ spending but those in the Premier League and other top leagues throughout the world (where there are rules) appear to be toothless. 

Until those charges are investigating and proven or disproven then there will be a question mark hanging over their achievements, the punishments for breach could well be severe including relegation and stripping of titles as well as significant fines. 
 

To many supporters we see the PL favouring the bigger clubs of the smaller ones, hence the rapid investigations of Forest and Everton. With City and Chelsea under investigation and still no outcome of those investigations it’s no wonder supporters of smaller clubs think the PL have their favourites. 

5 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I would have preferred Arsenal to have won the league, at least Arteta has built his team with judicious spending, whereas Peps team has been gold plated with oil revenues.

Let’s not forget the 115 charges they face from the Premier League if they ever get round to hearing them, the PL had more important matters with Everton & Forest. 

Well that’s it booked 2 weeks in Brittany, cottage with heated pool, no hire car issues as will have our own car. Will use Tesco vouchers to pay for Eurotunnel crossing and plan to stay in or around Honfleur for one night on the way down. 
 

We have been to the Morbihan area previously and weirdly the cottage is own by the same couple were hired from in 2016, they remembered us from then. 
 

We will also be able to visit our friends who live around 40 miles away from where we are staying, they are now officially French Nationals, a change from when we last saw them.

A warm day blue skies with a temperature of 22C, warmer than that on out south facing patio, which my OH has just finished sweeping and washing down. Finished putting up the trellis this morning, and tied in the clematis as its rapidly begun to grow in the last 10 days. Next job to remove the insulation from the greenhouse and put the automatic window openers back on and then put up the shading. 
 

I wonder if my team may spoil the leaving party at Anfield, probably not given our current form, I hope the Hammers at least get a draw, and let Arsenal win the title, assuming they beat Everton.
 

23 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Have just returned from a fabulous 2 week break in Pafos, Cyprus so lots of reading on here and catching up with what you've all been up to for the last 2 weeks or more. 

 

 

I have been to Pafos twice, did a lot of touring around in our hire car, didn’t enjoy as much second time as temperatures were in the high 30s and for a week in the 40s, we found it too hot and one day we spent time sitting on the plastic patio chairs submerged in the villas pool! The poolside temperature was 46C and the pool temperature 28C. 

2 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

Agree on the profiteering, but that is the general aim of most companies.

Using HSEE as an excuse is weak. If they had any concerns about peoples alcohol intake they could have a lower tier drink package where you were not encouraged to drink more than your usual intake to get your monies worth, say 10 drinks at a reduced price.

Plus not let you have alcohol through room service. I wonder how many people pour a 25 ml measure when making their own drinks or cocktails? I

f they were just honest and say that they wanted to increase profits for shareholders benefit or to reduce their debt mountain or even pay their staff more then I think people may find that more palatable. 

They would also consider an option of a per cabin drinks package, as it stands we would never purchase a drinks package on any cruise line, although we note that Virgin Voyages don’t offer a drinks package, but their Bar Tab can be shared.

12 minutes ago, brian1 said:

The tomatoes that grow wild there for obvious reasons are top notch though.

My sister used to work at a Severn Trent sewage works, she said the same. 
 

The sludge is still used as fertiliser on farmlands and also for creating biogas 

26 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I have little experience of booking villas, but lots with booking hotels and hire cars.  Is it not possible to book a villa with flights and the car hire separately?  Or each component separately?

 

I had been considering a (hotel) week in Menorca next year and when I entered DH's age - he will be 73 by then - lots of options came up for car pick up and return to the airport via a broker (I've used Holiday Autos with cashback for my last few bookings).  Am I missing something?

 

We've never been to Menorca.  Do you have a favourite area?  We are not beach people and so will be exploring the island if we do book.

 

It is an option we are also considering and will be looking at today. As for Menorca I have never been there, my OH has before we met, I have been to the other 3 islands in the Balearics, Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera. 
 

However we are leaning towards going to France, we have found a few potential villas/cottages with pools and near places we would like to visit, plus I can drive my own car, so no rental costs.