Snow Hill

On of the funniest headlines I have seen on the incident is from a little watched so called News Channel which reports Britannia as colliding with a Petrol Tanker in Palma. 🤣

Just had an email from a well know National Garden Centre chain giving me priority booking for Breakfast with Santa for my children or dog, don’t think I will be taking it up as my children are 41, 37 and 33 and we don’t have a dog. Christmas gets earlier every year.

I read an article from The Grocer a few days ago apparently the extreme heat in Europe & North Africa has reduced crop yields which is likely to affect fruit & vegetable imports from those areas, accounts for around 25% of our imports. Apparently a lot of the tomato plants were killed off by the extreme temperatures and the British crop is lower as a number of growers cut back on planting due to energy costs. This might explain some of shortages at Morrisons.

On a wet winter’s day a few years ago, I managed to string along one of these “you have had an accident” callers, feeding them fictitious information, they then got wind of what I was doing, I had a load of expletives and then they hung up.. 😂

I seem to be on the black list for scammers, answering the phone with “hola quien esta llamando” seems to have made them think it’s a Spaniard answering the phone as we rarely get any scam calls now on the land line. (For non Spanish speakers, that is “Hello, who is calling”)

It might give you some satisfaction, but most modern phone systems are designed to prevent acoustic shock, that is a high pitched noise coming down the line, so in majority of cases they won’t hear the blast of the whistle. I used to manage the installation of call centre systems for my employer when I was working all the headsets had acoustic shock prevention set on the headsets at around 100db, a whistle emits from around 110db upwards. We also recorded calls, so anyone who abused a call agent would not only have the call recorded, but the number dialled from. We have Call Guardian on our landline, so anyone who is not in the phone book on the phone has to announce their name, most scammers or robodiallers will hang up.

We sat and worked out the pros and cons of the drinks package and given that it is a package person, we quickly came to the conclusion that it would cost us more than we actually drank. On port days we are usually of quite early and return around the 5pm for a 6pm departure, so would drink less on board in a port day. If the was a cabin option which we could use then we might consider it, most cruise companies don’t appear to offer that option for some unknown reason. Virgin Cruises offer a prepaid Bar Tab option which allows you to purchase drinks for a fellow passenger or Sailor as they call them.

Met up with my cousin yesterday, it has been over 60 years since our first meeting, I was 2, he was 20, needless to say I don’t remember. We had quite a bit to chat about and together with my more recently discovered Cousin once removed we had a long chat about family histories, stories from our childhood and later years, the time flew by so quickly, but we plan to met up again in the future. If the 3 of us hadn’t been researching our respective ancestries then it’s unlikely we would have got back in touch.

Let’s remember who ABTA are, the Trade Association of British Travel Agents, and have been for 70 years, the definition of significant will favour the agents and travel companies not consumers

Lisbon looks stunning, both cruises we have been on with Lisbon as a port of call, failed both times to go there, both times weather related issues were the cause. I think I will add it to our city break list.

Apparently the driest year for the Panama Canal since 1950, thus not enough rain to fill the reservoirs that enable the canal to work to its full potential. Apparently an El Niño event is forming that will possible make things worse for cargo ships that use the canal, thus reducing the number of ships that through it each day further.

A damp morning here, drizzly rain for the last couple of hours around 16C due to brighten up later. I think I am finally winning the battle against the heavy cold & cough I have had since Thursday, got a reasonable amount of sleep last night and feel much better this morning. Freezer engineer due later today to install a part, the freezer temperature has been fluctuating between -18c and - 11c, the alarm going off in the night when it it hits -11C. We have cover for the freezer, so won’t be forking out the £130 plus Labour & call-out charge. This is 3rd fix we have had in last 3 years, but insurance company won’t replace unless parts unavailable, but given that they have spent almost £500 on replacement parts & Labour in the last 5 years, before today, you would have thought its not economical to repair again. The freezer originally cost £400, a new equivalent model is £420, the engineer on original call-out said in his opinion it wasn’t worth fixing even though part is available, but he doesn’t make the decision on whether to replace, that’s the insurance company decision. We did argue the decision with them, but they would shift.

Puerto Mogan doesn’t seem to have changed much since I was last there in late 1990s. We are thinking of trip to Gran Canaria in early October if we can find somewhere suitable.

We have been to Rouen at least 8 times often have used City as a stopping off point on our drives to more southern parts of France. We love wandering around the medieval streets and along the banks of the Seine.

Had a warning message on dashboard today that indicated one of the tyres was below the recommended pressure. Dropped by nearby garage to put some air and noticed it now cost £1 for air, when I took my wife’s car there a couple of months ago it was 20p. The have had a new machine which takes contactless payment, I know many things have gone up price, but 20p to a £ is inflationary (excuse the accidental pun) Anyway didn’t use it nipped to Sainsbury’s where their air is only 20p.

Went out at lunchtime, was around 19C, did a bit of shopping, in my case a pair of walking trainers, well that’s what I went out for, in the end I purchased beach flip flops, a pair of shoes and a pair of casual slip on shoes as well as waking shoes. Probably the most number of footwear items I have ever purchased in one go, but the first shoes I have purchased post Covid, so tomorrow will be sorting through my current pairs and send some for recycling in council shoe bank. When we left the shopping centre temperature had risen to 24C, dinner on the patio tonight I think.

I had an appointment with GP this morning about my neck and shoulder problems and pain, thinking it was arthritis, I didn’t see the GP but instead I got to see the new practice physiotherapist for a 30 minute appointment. The good news I don’t have arthritis in my neck, the problem in muscular and relates to the large muscles in my back, which she said after examining me were knotted. She has subsequently with 2 hours a list of exercises to try and see which ones help, together with few other simple changes I can make to my posture. She will call me in 3 weeks to see how I am getting on, if no improvement then another appointment will be made to discuss other options. I came out quite relieved it was not arthritis after seeing my late mother suffer with arthritis in her neck. So I will want the next few weeks bring, hopefully some improvement.

Pouring down here this morning and 11C, and seems set for the day, my volunteer shift has been cancelled this morning as unlikely I would be seeing any visitors to the site which has very little shelter. Probably will spend part of day reading the HPB brochures which arrived yesterday to see if it’s worth investing or not. Will probably also finish off reading Obama biography I started a few months back, read around 500 pages, only 200 to go!

I wonder what constitutes formal English National Dress?

Why was there no South Riding?

Neighbour just asked what all the shouting was at 6:30, had to explain it was Stuart Broad taking last wicket in the 5th & final Ashes Test Match.Explained he was retiring from cricket following the end of the match and that he had taken the winning wicket. I apologised for the shouting, we just got carried away with the moment,

Personally I don’t particularly care what boarding time we get, as long as we are onboard before it departs. 😬

I was surprised and shocked when watching the round up of the days play at the Ashes Test from the Oval to see Stuart Broad announcing his retirement from cricket at the end of the this Test Match. I am glad he decided to at the top of his game and at the time of his choosing. I shall be watching from 11 this morning when he comes out to bat for the last time and then start his last innings as one of Englands greatest fast bowlers.

A weekend of making arrangements to meet up with a cousin who I last saw when I was 9 years old, he now lives in Spain and has done for last 35 years, we have been corresponding via Messenger and Skype, he his now making his first visit to the U.K. since 2017, we should have gone to him in 2021, but couldn’t due to that well known blip in time. Not only I am meeting up with him, but also a first cousin once removed who I have never met, she being the granddaughter of my father’s eldest sister, who I didn’t know existed until a few years ago. It will be a long awaited reunion after 60+ years.

It will be port or starboard.