Harry Peterson

Sounds absolutely perfect, Michelle - have a wonderful cruise. It's cold and dull here, which obviously we very much prefer to what you have, but you'll manage somehow. 😉

I don’t know, Brian - Shepherd Market, Ambleside Avenue. Where next? Greek Street? Back of King’s Cross station circa 1980? Gas engineer or roving reporter for an updated version of the Ladies’ Directory? Not that I’m in position to throw stones! Bet you know Shenfield too……

We lived in Streatham for a while. Just down from Ambleside Avenue. Lots of wigs and gowns there too. Lots of luncheon vouchers floating around as well. Something to do with Cynthia Payne, I believe…….

OK. Is there anybody in this forum who hasn’t worked in Chancery Lane at some point? I thought Stoke had the upper hand, but now I’m wondering!

Good luck! No SatNav at all in our 9 year old Skoda though - we used to use a Garmin SatNav but Google does a better job these days on the phone. I doubt you’ll match Japanese reliability with VW group cars though - all that advertising stuff about VW reliably isn’t borne out by the stats. And Audi’s even worse. Skoda’s better, cheaper, and cheaper to service too, but Toyota’s about as good as it gets for reliability. Having said that, our Skodas haven’t had a single issue in all those 9 years from new.

Early 80s for me - Chancery Lane club?

‘I accept you saw Elvis – I just don’t believe he had a tomato.’

Just out of curiosity, what differences have you seen?

I’ve always wondered who that bloke was that interrupted things. Nice to have met you, Brian - what a coincidence!

Must have been Ian Hislop, Willie Ruston and all those other naughty people in the Private Eye offices! They’d have corrupted you, Jane - very anti-establishment.

That’s a mixed career, Jane! Nothing like working in central London, I agree. Depending, I suppose, on how long it takes to get in. And whether there are transport strikes. So much to do at lunch times too.

Sheets? Who needs sheets? We use old newspapers after we’ve unwrapped the fish and chips. New set every Saturday night.

Me too, given this from Hansard, which does admittedly refer only to manual workers and will therefore be on the low side at £3640. The figure’s perhaps around the £5000 mark? Manual Workers (Wage) HC Deb 13 December 1977 vol 941 c260260

I know a certain university student who changed her bedding once a term - when she brought it home! Naming no names........

And still get change from a 3d bit. Those Party 7s made brilliant seating for those of us starting off married life with no money and a very large mortgage (well, £9000 was large then, and a 95% mortgage too!). Four Party 7s, two pieces of ply, some foam rubber and some cheap fabric. Seriously! A set of London phone books did a similar job when you couldn’t afford chairs.

Please share! If they’ve got the same atmosphere and quality of food I’d happily try to steer my wife towards them! She’s potty about Bettys.

If you do go to York, consider Bettys for lunch, or better still an afternoon tea. Very civilised, and good food (I wouldn’t recommend their fish and chips, but wife says it’s a daft thing to order there anyway.). Downside’s the likely queue, and the price. Excellent pastries etc though.

Maybe people would have a bit more trust in P&O if they gave reasons for unpopular decisions, rather than bland, catch-all, unbelievable tripe like the standard ‘operational reasons’. No other business that I can think of gets away with this - or even tries to.

Sound advice.

We’ve always timed our Epicurean visits to avoid formal nights, because the MDR options tended to be better on formal nights and we ate there. Formal dress in the Epicurean on those nights was almost invariably smart casual. Very rarely formal. It’s akin (or used to be akin) to a one star Michelin restaurant onshore, and if you turned up even to a three starred establishment like that they’d think you were crackers! Why onboard, except of course on obligatory formal nights to comply with the rules.

Agreed. It’s inevitable, given the changing clientele base.

Have they introduced the candy floss and toffee apple stalls yet to complete the Skegness experience? Surely a matter of time?

That’s incredible. It always used to be possible for ask for more, Oliver Twist style, in the MDR - though it was very rare to see anyone do it. It was never necessary. Has that possibility been removed?

Depends very much on the individual conditions, and even (asthma for example) when it was first diagnosed. What might seem relatively minor, and indeed be relatively minor, to one individual might be viewed very different by an insurance company because of its claims history.

Just wait till ChatGPT takes over - crew/passenger ratio 1:1000 plus chatbot.