Eddie99

Best wishes for your Mum, Michelle Get fully well very soon Snow Hill. I used to grow purple beans when I had my allotment. Apparently if any green veg also comes in red/purple then it’s better for you wrt anti-oxidants & free radicals and the like. 😳 Whatever - they taste good and they cook to a beautiful bright green. P&O chefs would love them! Happy Valentines Day all It’s wet enough to dampen any ardour here ☔️

Selbourne, you can tell by the misty-eyed recollections from anything up to 20 years ago that you and Lady S have memories to last you for ever. The green beans and the early rough seas will fade from your minds but you’ll always remember the feeling that you needed to stand sideways and breathe in to help the ship squeeze through that tight space! I hope you both enjoy your supper (menu looks ok to me) and that your throat is improving

Enjoy your pancakes, peeps!

Woo Hoo Michelle 🎉 Isn’t that fabulous news? So pleased for you all

I think we saw crocodiles lurking under built edges of the canal, at the edges of the locks Lots of egrets too - in the open, not lurking under canal edges One fascinating thing we saw was a long banner with Happy 40th Birthday Chris. This was 2011, our second only cruise. I guess that was one of the very first *internet arranged* events - some well connected person way back then had somehow made internet contact with someone in Panama and sorted it all out. What a thrill for Chris, and what a way to spend your 40th birthday!

Good news! Hope you make that cruise 🤞

I think it’s done at the online check-in stage They took £1 from us, and refunded it in the onboard statement/bill

I think the latest, or one of the latest, version/s of Covid gives gastric symptoms? Can be tested for in a stool sample using a regular LFT I’ll never understand some people’s reluctance to carry out basic hygiene measures 🤷‍♂️

Lovely day We’ve walked 16,000+ steps! - making the most of it before the rain returns

Bravo! Hope it’s totally wonderful for you both I was thinking of you out on our walk this morning 🙄 Do you think this long lasting painful throat could be a lpr/silent reflux issue, potentially exacerbated by *living high on the hog* on the cruise? Anyway, good to hear that you think it might be abating. Research the reflux if not Back to the canal. You’ve no doubt hear the palindrome A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

Thanks again Selbourne I hope today goes as you anticipate and you have a good experience in the canal If it’s any consolation for yesterday, we found the tourist boat experience very poor. Too many people, too few viewing points, too many fumes from it and other boats As an aside, P&O could refine the excursion experience by copying their sister company. Princess describe what you will get in minute detail, by time and steps - eg “Board excursion bus (3 steps) for 15 minute journey to xyz. Enter visitor centre (20 yards) for 10 minute introductory talk. Rest room available. Guided walk (40 minutes) over rough terrain, with some steep inclines. Unsuitable for guests with mobility difficulties … etc” You really feel that the author has been there/done that, and has written with the benefit of experience … and I don’t remember being taken to the tour guides cousin’s alabaster shop at church or equivalent, with Princes

It’s a beautiful morning here too. Long walk planned - with pub pit stop. Looks like the rain will return later in the week, so we’ll make the most of it now. Hope Michelle’s mum makes the surgery list today. There may have been urgent admissions over the weekend which push her down the list, but, today or tomorrow, I’m sure the pacemaker will work wonders Have a good day everyone

Get better soon Selbourne! That’s an order, not a suggestion This is a suggestion - have you tried chewing gum? Just to keep everything moist (between honey & lemon drinks) Colon (pronounced as we pronounce Cologne) held no charms for us. A really down at heel area near the cruise dock - but it is the gateway to the canal, so needs must. I’m sure you will find the canal fascinating; it’s difficult to imagine anyone being bored or indifferent to the engineering. Enjoy!

… and a final thank you from me I enjoyed sailing along with you before, during, and after my regulation 2 week holiday We’re 2 weeks back, and I think we now feel confident in saying that we have come through unscathed. However, we also deliberately avoided some situations and activities we would normally have enjoyed. Swings and roundabouts… So, get well soon and continue your planning for action replays in 2025 and 2026. You have so much information to help you make the most of it - down to the need for French mustard

Best wishes for your Mum Michelle Try not to worry too much, or to overthink, though I know it’s much easier to say than do do

Yum!

I like Welshcakes too. Haven’t had one for ages, and would probably need to get cooking to get a good one. Plus Easter biscuits. Our local baker makes nice ones - I should look out as I expect they’ll be around soon Try not to worry too much about your health (so easy to say; so hard to do!). It is so frustrating being in a “What if, what if?” situation whilst you wait for test results, or more tests, or a specialist opinion, and we let our imagination run riot. Hopefully all will be resolved soon

Difficult, isn’t it, pleasing all of the people all of the time? Longer cruises pose a conundrum. Do we really want to eat for 9 week, or even 3 months for a worldie, like we eat for 2 or 3 weeks on a regular length holiday? So maybe that’s where the plainer, more homely, menus or choices would work? Cottage pie sounds fine to me, and I might well go for it after, say, 25 days of elaborate or off-piste sauces and accompaniments. I think they offer fish & chips and steak and chips. Assorted pies pop up. What else is missing from the *home cooking* repertoire? Stews and casseroles? They appear. Roasts? They appear. Fish? Always on the menu, isn’t it? Pasta dishes? Maybe they could expand these? I’m sounding like a P&O apologist, which wasn’t my intent. I’m just thinking it’s hard to please everyone. I’m also thinking I’m not sure I could ever fully enjoy a world cruise. I’d hate to return from all that time, and all that money, saying ‘Meh’, or, worse, ‘Never again’

I looked them up yesterday A yeast-risen pancake? They sound, and look, delicious. I don’t know how I’d get to try them without travelling? Make my own maybe? As I googled yesterday I noticed on of those picture ads, at the top of the screen, from Waitrose, with a picture showing what looked like flatbread/pancake type offerings in a plastic wrap. I’ll follow that up. I don’t remember ever seeing them on the shelves - but I’ve never looked. I know they have a good assortment of breads & near-breads Scottish oatcakes are lovely things too, but best with a bit of tasty cheese on top, as a quick snack or as an end to a nice meal

Get some decent probiotics, from the pharmacy, and take one about 2 hours after each a/b dose. Helps restock your gut with *friendly bugs* Fermented food is good too - kefir, kimchi, unpasteurised sauerkraut Hope your good sleep will really do you good Teeth eh? We’d be better off with a nice sturdy beak! 🙄

Good news about your Mum, Sue She’ll be calling it home soon - which is correct. It is her new home, with added extras like company and care - and maracas! What a wet morning! It’s a while since we’ve had this volume of rain, and it’s undone all the mud-drying that’s gone on over the last few weeks. Pah! Haircut for me this afternoon - thank goodness I’m not spending a fortune on anything exotic, as I will no doubt look like a drowned rat by the time I get home

Hurrah! A great day! Lovely pics The ABC islands. - Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao - have a reputation as among the best Caribbean calls. Let’s hope Aruba is good for you too. I think I’ve only been there once, and found it a bit Disney, a lot US. However, I’m hoping that, as well as the commercialisation, there will be easy access for you and Lady S. I have no memory of kerb heights etc. Lots of iguanas, and an apartment or hotel complex where you can sail your yacht straight in Enjoy today and Get Well Soon!

Goodness me Snow Hill You don’t do things by halves Get well soon 🤒

+1 I’ve refrained from off-topicking Selbourne’s thread, but I feel it’s time to offer my sympathy and hope you get completely better very soon, Megabear