lincslady

I am genuinely pleased to read that, having done a wonderful Antarctica cruise years ago, not with SB of course, but one does get the impression that it takes a huge amount of preparation to start these expedition cruises, and SB are not always getting it right, by any means.

Just looked on my atlas, and they are both in, spelt Tywyn nowadays, so very confusing. I was obviously referring to the southerly one, which was - at least in England - known as Towyn all those years ago. Presumably how it was supposed to be pronounced for the ignorant English.

Fabulous photos - thank you.

Yes, and that is how I worked out you were female. Knew you were with your Dad, but were you son or daughter?

I see now that there are two places, known as Towyn and Tywyn, which is English and Welsh for beach area. We obviously stayed at the one near the railway, which was known in those days as Towyn. I believe they changed one to try to avoid confusion.

Love the last several funnies. Have a lovely break from us, Mysty, and hope the wedding is a happy and enjoyable day for you and the family.

P.S. The railway is still going strong, not my dress!

Cloudy here and likely to remain so until at least lunchtime. I remember holidaying in Towyn as a young teenager, with parents and younger bro and sister, and loving the Talyllyn railway, wearing my favourite summer dress, red and white stripes with a sailor collar. Over 70 years ago! Just looked it up, and lovely to see it is still going strong.

If Venice is really trying to discourage cruise ships because of the huge numbers visiting the city, offering Fusina as an alternative port seems a bit silly - more difficult to get to from the airport and hotels, and much more difficult to spend a day in Venice from. Or maybe that is what they planned for? IMO it would be better all round now if the cruise lines gave it a complete miss, sadly, and used somewhere like Trieste as a start and finish point for Adriatic cruises.

Well done highplanesdrifter for keeping cheerful under really maddening conditions, and thank goodness for some interesting food and drink! Here's hoping you get at least some of the ports and adventures you were promised.

It has gone quiet over there - maybe a mutiny?

Like most things in life, it all depends. I know of someone in charge of a large company whose employees and customers are all over the world; he works from home nearly all the time (including strange hours, of course, when dealing with he USA, Australia etc)., and has to travel occasionally. He earns a lot of money, and this is really the only way he can work. Call centre workers, when they have all the knowledge available to them, which does not always happen, can work satisfactorily from home. Obviously builders, dentists, heaps of jobs cannot be done from home. The problem seems to be that there are (dare I say sometimes civil servants) who 'work' from home but do not put in a full day's work, and their employers are aware of this. I think in this sort of case employers should be able to insist that people turn up at the office, at least part of the week.

One gets the impression that Seabourn have gone into expedition cruising in too much of a hurry to get it right. I am angry on your behalf, very badly handled.

I'm green, Mysty - just like the frog!

Not sure how you can work from home if you are a delivery driver, or a bricklayer, or on a till at the supermarket?