Splice the mainbrace

Oil prices seem to respond downwards more to recession fears but Gas prices seem to lose for example 20% one day and then up 15% or more the next and no general downward movement unfortunately at the moment. I have just come off a 2 year energy fix at May 2020 prices and my DD will increase from £110 per month to £240, if current estimates for the October price increases are accurate then it will increase substantially again to £360 +

I've just checked on line for our area reservoir level which is in Wales and is currently at 72% down 2% in the last week. So I think that we are some way off any possible hose pipe ban, I only use a hose for washing the car not for the garden anyway.

I chipped a corner of a back molar last week (part just fell out when eating, nothing hard, must have been cracked/weakened before) I keep putting off going to the dentist. If it needs a crown rather than a filling it will be the third one of my 4 back molars and I will have to decide whether to get another one or give up on the rear row and have it taken out instead, wonder if I'd notice much difference?

When I started cruising in my 30s I disliked 'dressing up', in part because my Dinner Suit trousers and black broque shoes were too tight!! But over the decades with properly fitting clothes I got to enjoy the 'special' nights, IMO when the vast majority dress up it is a nice sight and atmosphere. We have mostly cruised with Cunard since 2015 but even they seem to be reducing the amount of Formal nights (or whatever they call them now) to the point where for long haul flight, far flung, flight baggage restricted weight cruises it hardly seems worth packing the Formal clothes. We go on a land and Princess cruise South America tour this winter (1 week land, 2 weeks cruise, 1 week land) so we won't be taking Formal clothes but I'll be making do with Chinos and Polo shirt type look which I can also use on land evening meals.

We had the same email today extra £200 OBC for our Arcadia Eastern Med October cruise.

I hope that cruise lines drop the requirement for testing soon. However it gives them extra safe guards with no inconvenience to themselves as all of the hassle and expense for pre-cruise testing is on the traveller.

Is for the whole of 2024 or just part of it? We are looking to book a Southampton, Canada New England, Southampton cruise for Sept/Oct 2024.

It startled me. It did sound/feel like a lorry going past or a strong gust of wind where the house creeks a bit but I immediately thought that it could be an earthquake. We are about 20 miles from the epicentre here in Cheshire.

We bought our car in Aug 2020, it was one year old and 37% less than the new list price. In the last 2 years the price has gone up by 14%.

Responding to some recent themes on the thread. Really lovely, sunny and warm here already with windows open. We have a blackbird that now and again starts it's call sounding like a car alarm going off. Only cut the grass 5 days ago but needs doing again, it's amazing how fast things grow at this time of year. When the kids were growing up we sailed with P&O as there was more entertainment for them. However now in general we prefer cruising to be an elegant, nostalgic, relaxing and sophisticated experience rather than fun time Freddy , fun fair experience. However we do compromise if the destination / itinerary to far flung parts of the world excit us.

I need to phone Sky today for the 12 to 18 month package price negotiation, which is real pain to go through each time. They sent me a letter a month or so ago with the inflation + 3.7% increase but by chance I looked into my account and this month my contract deal runs out and is due to increase to nearly double what it was in March but no letter or email informing me of this.

Hopefully they will ditch the testing soon, with covid mutating to less than a bad cold for most. Flu is far worse and they don't test for that. Have any cruise lines stopped precruise testing yet?

We got back from a UK break a few days ago and had a really good time including some time in Somerset that I haven't been to since primary school age. I think that the Cheddar, Wells and Glastonbury area is often overlooked as people 'bomb' down to Devon and Cornwall on the M5, it is a lovely area. We did: Slimbridge Wetlands Wildfowl trust Badminton Horse Trials (they were found not guilty!!🙂) Then on to Somerset and.... Cheddar Cheese factory tour Wells Cheddar Gorge and Caves Country Walks Glastonbury Tor Street for shopping We stayed at a lovely AirBNB high on the Mendips overlooking Wells and the Somerset levels, the weather was also very good. Only dodgy part was being intimidated by a herd of young heifers who stood by a footpath gate and wouldn't move, after we got them out of the way and walking across their field they started to follow us running around and bucking, we just walked quickly but they followed us right across the field.

Yes I hate wasting food as well until a few years ago I always cleared my plate whether I was full or not. Our local pub which I have only eaten in once in the last 2 years does have a 'pensioner' menu with smaller and cheaper portions. My 90 yo mum who has passed away had a good appetite up until the end and always cleared her plate and she always made sure that she got her monies worth at a Toby Carvery!!!😄

In the 1980s a Fibre Optics project that I was working on for the Dept of Industry was being filmed for Tomorrows World for a 5 minute segment it took 6 hours to film. My boss who led the project (he was a professor) was not pleased how they manipulated the content and was not telling the true science as he wanted it told.

Looks lovely but my appetite has dropped off the past few years and I would have to share it with my wife. We were away last week and had my first meal out for quite a few months and I could only eat half of my main course after having a starter, pub and restaurant meals are much larger portions that I am used to at home. I think that I will have to start ordering off the childrens menu or have 2 starters with one for the main course 😉

Has been raining since I got up, now raining quite heavily and only 13c. I have to go to the 'Potteries' later to take my car in to the car dealer for a safety recall check which is a 35 mile round trip. I was hoping to kill the waiting time by walking down to the Festival Park shops but not in this weather, although it might be easing off by then hopefully.