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Harry Peterson

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  • Posts

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About Me

  • Location
    Mercia
  • Interests
    Avoiding Covid, fine dining (thanks to Mrs P), current affairs, politics, BBC, avoiding celebrity TV
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Colchester Castle boating lake paddle boats
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Gas Street Basin, Birmingham

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  1. Is it a case of all diners being equal, but some diners more equal than others? Certainly looks that way. Orwell could have written a fascinating book about cruise ships!
  2. I suspect, John, that if we polled members of this forum we'd find a surprisingly high percentage using subtitles either all of or some of the time. Including us. Apparently it's really common among younger people too (I'm talking Gens Y and Z) - because, it seems, it helps them to multitask: "Among the many replies DG received were lots of teenagers and people in their early 20s who said they liked using subtitles because it allowed them to multitask." Multitask? How?
  3. So do I. With a passion. But it’s pretty much standard English now, even amongst otherwise respectable BBC presenters etc, and I suspect that within 10 years or the original ‘aitch’ will be seen as archaic.
  4. There’s a wonderful local accent not so far from you. My daughter was teaching there a while back: End of school. “Where’s your Mum?” ”Me mam’s gone to vert.” ”Vert?” ”Aye, vert. Dahn at the Perling Station.” Personally, it’s the ubiquitous ‘haitch’ that I find most annoying. But it’s a changing language, and if it weren’t we’d all be using Chaucerian English, or something rather older.
  5. Very interesting! Saga is in deep trouble, and has been for some time. I suppose this does give them access to the funding to keep them afloat - but at what cost?
  6. It’s entirely a contractual matter. When you sign a long term contract, whether it be in the public or private sector, you accept the consequences of that contract. The fact that the contract was with the government makes no difference. Situations are always changing, and in business if a contract has to be renegotiated there’s invariably a penalty to pay. This is no different. If International Distributions Services plc goes under, its shareholders lose their money, and the Royal Mail business would be resold or operated under public ownership again. This is all about trying to get the government (at public expense) to bail out the shareholders.
  7. It’s unfortunate, isn’t it, that those were precisely the terms on which the company now running it took over the Royal Mail ten years or so ago. I can see that there are issues, but that’s the responsibility of the company and the shareholders that own it. You win some, you lose some - those are the risks involved in operating and investing in businesses. Any changes to the Universal Service Obligation which the company signed up to should be paid for - back to the Treasury (meaning us) - by the company and if necessary its shareholders. Not paid for by the general public by accepting a reduced service just to get the shareholders off the hook.
  8. We’re very lucky in that we have a regular postman who we’ve known for some time. Round here they tend to stay for years - at least the older ones did. There was a time not so long ago when deliveries were being regularly missed, entirely due to staff shortages in the nearby city, and the rural guys were being switched out of their normal rounds. If it had been properly organised by the local managers so that we were getting deliveries on alternate days I could have lived with it, but there were gaps of several days at a time. What got me though was the extent to which the managers were prepared to lie about it when formal complaints were put in. I knew we’d had no postmen in the road, the postmen themselves confirmed that, but there were barefaced lies from the Delivery Office to the central complaints team, who were equally happy to lie to the local MP. The guys doing the deliveries are all great though. Even to the extent of signing for stuff when we’re out. Absolutely against all the rules, I’m sure, but you do get to know who you can trust, and we know them all pretty well. Ice creams on hot summer days help too!
  9. Having been seen on the same morning by a GP a couple of weeks ago for an urgent issue, I’ve nothing to complain about. But there is a major shortage of GPs because the numbers in training have been run down over recent years to save money - despite a rising population, and an increasing percentage of older people, like most of us. It needs sorting out, but I see little sign of that happening, despite the very obvious need. There simply are not remotely enough GPs to provide the service they used to provide, but most of them are working flat out. It’s not exactly a popular choice for doctors finishing their training.
  10. Thanks very much for that comparison, and for the level of detail. It does sound very much more like the P&O of some years back, and we’ll take a look at some itineraries. Funnily enough, the two people who first put us on to P&O, many years ago, have both defected - one to Saga and one to Celebrity.
  11. Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the update. Saga being Saga, though, I’m guessing they’ll do the right thing by you financially. Not remotely what you wanted, or expected, but perhaps at least some small consolation.
  12. This, perhaps? https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/coast-and-sea/shipping-forecast
  13. Potentially, the spread of viruses via recirculated air. Aircraft in particular are notorious for it.
  14. Precisely my concern. This has the hallmarks of a reassuringly thin Trojan wedge that could well transmogrify in time into a remarkably thick Trojan wedge. Or horse, but that would be even more concerning……….
  15. I'm sorry you've been so unwell and hope you're soon over whatever it is. I sensed it wasn't good when you said you weren't tackling them on those cancellation fees and the OBC - my wife's comment was: "That's another Radley bag"! My concern about the add-on menu is more for the future than now, and the principle of the thing. Cruising used to be very much the original 'all-in' holiday and it's ceasing to be so. Ironic, given that all-inclusive holidays have become so popular in other travel sectors. P&O will be gauging reaction to this, and bit by bit they'll reduce the choices on the main menu until you're more or less forced into the add-ons for anything worth eating. That's not the case now, but give it time. Those 'specials' were once regulars, and some of today's regulars will go the same way.
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