mrsgoggins

3 hours ago, twotravellersLondon said:

It's 10˚C and overcast here today. (For the wiser readers that's 50˚F and dull!) Been awake since 6.00 am wondering... just wondering... do shepherds have a good night's sleep?

 

Hope that all are well... 

Am I the only one who thinks in Celsius for low temperatures but understand high temperatures better in Fahrenheit?

I was good with your 10C but I’m currently in central Florida where I’ve just heard that temperatures are going to go over 90F for the next few days!  No ….. too hot!! 🥵 As my mum would have said ‘there’s no pleasing some folk’. Leaving for the coast tomorrow so hoping for a breeze.

Wishing you all a good weekend, and to my fellow poor sleepers, some good nights 😴😴

41 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Our clinic starts jabbing on Thursday this week. Apart from the email requesting volunteers I haven't seen it publicised. I know the take up for the last one was very low.

 

Funny old day today weather wise, we have had sleet, rain, wind and brilliant sunshine and it is  cold. We went to the Hardwick inn near Chesterfield for lunch with relatives, very nice it was too, nice plate of steak and Guinness pie, chips and Yorkshire caviar.

I'll bite, what's Yorkshire caviar 😁?

I’ve been awake since 3 am Florida time (8 am UK) despite less than 6 hours’ sleep. I don’t travel, or cope with time differences nearly as well as when I was younger. As with most other things 🙄. So, spurred on by all the food photos, I thought I’d add one of yesterday’s Virgin Atlantic lunch, which was surprisingly good, and I don’t think I say that often of airline food. It’s the veggie main of macaroni cheese with mushrooms and the dessert was a light lemon mousse-type of cheesecake. The barely visible dinky silver salt and pepper pots have on their bases ‘Stolen from Virgin Atlantic’.

It’s sunny and with temperatures in the 80s - I think most posters here can still understand Fahrenheit 😉

2 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

In the past we've found that these pesky black things have come in on kitchen herbs pots from the supermarket... and the pesky white versions have come in on the pots of mint.

Interesting. I haven't had any herb pots for quite a while but I do have a 'suspect' indoor plant, which has spent the last 2 nights outside ..... if it survives it survives, and it may be innocent, but I want the little flies gone before I leave tomorrow. My fear is that there are fly eggs lurking, the vinegar will lose its potency, and we will open our front door when we return in May to be greeted with a swarm 😱.

I think I will get my BIL to pop in and replace vinegar.  Just 'talking' about it has helped to formulate a plan 👍

6 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I must ask what you do with the white vinegar. Do you drink it, sprinkle it around the house or put a bowl of it on the floor to drown the little b***ers? 

😁 In a shallow dish.  This morning 5 were floating in it with a couple more hovering around the dish ready to dive in!  The house now smells of vinegar, as flushed with success, there are a few more 'just in case' dishes of vinegar around the house.

17 hours ago, waddle said:

 

 

We have sailed Eclipse (x2), Equinox and most recently Edge. We prefer the layout of their older fleet

 

I have sailed mostly on Celebrity and on each class of ship and I am with you on preferring the layout of the older fleet, especially the Solstice class. Not as keen on the Edge class and as Constellation was the first Celebrity ship we ever sailed on (and we have sailed on Infinity) I have a soft spot for the Millenium class. 

Whilst their cruises are undoubtedly expensive compared with P&O, it is possible to get a bargain and I've had a few in the past.  My sailing on Silhouette from Fort Lauderdale to Amsterdam later this month was £103 pppn and that is all inclusive with $400 OBC (includes $100 for booking on board).  I also have a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton booked for March 2025 and that was £70 pp per night including gratuities only but with $100 of OBC for booking on board. These bookings are mid-ship balcony cabins. We are mostly doing these sailings because I loathe overnight flights and will enjoy the TAs on favourite ships.

We are Elite Plus on Celebrity and therefore get free drinks between 5-7 pm - DH will have a couple of glasses of wine and I am likely to get water and a soft drink as I have never cared for alcohol.  We will get 125 minutes of internet time each, 2 bags of laundry each and the perk I value most of all, free speciality teas and coffees.  I have never had any interest in the Martini Bar of course 😉

I was up just after 6 am this morning. I knew that today was the day to book my one-way Premium Economy reward flights out to Florida for next March, using points and taxes.  All done!  45k points and £738 for the 2 of us with the back row in PE booked, yeah!  As with this year, we are sailing back from Fort Lauderdale but next year into Southampton.  This year we are sailing into Amsterdam and flying back to Manchester.  No overnight flight and no jet lag; result!

On to more mundane matters, we have been besieged by small black flies.  Ugh!  The sort you don't pay much attention to when there's only the odd one but then you do start to notice when they multiply.  We really don't know what has caused it, old bits of fruit in the kitchen bin?  Except we have never seen them around the bin.  Anyhow we found some old (and probably now illegal) fly spray which got rid of some of the blighters yesterday, and then thanks to Mr Google, I tried a dish of white vinegar last night and this morning, discovered that IT WORKS 🙂.

@indiana123 I hope you get some permanent relief very soon.

Off to finish my last minute packing for tomorrow's Florida flight, but I hope to pop in from time to time 👋

2 hours ago, Paddypuss said:

Love cats , have a rescue older cat at present. Recently visited a rome cat sanctuary, very well looked after cats

I'm a cat person but I do like dogs too. Haven't owned cats for about 8 years since my two 20 year old litter sisters had to be put down, six months apart. 

Every time I see a big pet cat with chunky paws I just fawn over it. It's only holidays and 'our time' that prevents me from rushing to a cat rescue centre and getting another one or two. Old cats though, not kittens; I'm sure I don't have another 20 years!

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Cigna once refused to pay for an ambulance to hospital for me in Canada after I passed out at Montreal airport and Air Canada insisted I need to be checked before rebooking.  They discussed in depth my cancer treatment from 20 years previously which had been declared and actually stated my overheating mentioned by the Canadian doctor may have been caused by that treatment!

I bet you challenged that forcefully!  Did they relent?

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

You are underwritten by Aviva too.  I believe it used to be Cigna but they left the market so your problem may have been under them.

 

Cancer is a strange one, obviously it's a critical illness at the start of treatment but insurers are aware that proper treatment actually reduces the risk. Basically not many holidaymakers are going to have major issues or die on their holiday as a result of their cancer whereas those with other more common issues such as high cholesterol and blood pressure are.  Underwriting looks at risk not causation and anyone with cancer reduces in risk quite rapidly for them.

 

The emboldened part was always our view, especially DH's, so we even travelled to the USA with the cancer cover excluded since he said if there were any problems (very highly unlikely; we had taken advice from the consultant on that) we would return home self-funded.  I was still happier when it went back as being covered, but DH was totally disinterested!

You are quite correct, it was Cigna and is now Aviva.

10 hours ago, delgirl said:

When we had travel insurance with our bank - barclays - they wouldn't cover us for our cancer. Aviva are their underwriters. We were thinking about changing our bank as our local branch has closed and were looking at nationwide. When we heard aviva would be their underwriters we didn't bother. We are now with all-clear. £1800 for the both of us for 12 months. Only includes europe but it was cheaper than keep paying individually. 

We are with Barclays for annual insurance and they excluded my husband's cancer initially. However, after one year they would cover this and with no increase in the premium, just the regular travel pack price. 

9 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

 

I love my Yaris Cross, possibly the best car I have ever owned and the first automatic, certainly uses less petrol than any previous car and more comfortable I feel less stiff after a long journey. I would buy it again. We are thinking of driving to Southern France in September so the ultimate test for a long journey. 

 

My wife owns a Yaris as well and loves driving it, especially with the 77mpg she is currently getting. 

Hope you find a car that suits your needs. 

I bought a new Yaris hybrid a few years ago, after having my old much-loved Jazz since 2006, but neither of us really enjoyed driving it, and so we sold it to a Yaris dealer for £1k more than we paid - I can't imagine that ever happening again!

So it was back to a Jazz, but I had to wait until last autumn for delivery because I wanted heated seats and a heated steering wheel and their current models at the start of the year didn't have the heated steering wheel, plus I expect it to be the last car I ever buy given than I am happy to drive an old car, so wanted it to be 'right'.

Much happier with a Jazz but we both like our comfy old Jazz, which we still own and has less than 50k miles on it. We also own a diesel Skoda Superb estate (which we use for long journeys) and a long-wheelbase VW van, which is DH's pride and joy (it's old but well cared for). It's essential for his hobby 😏. Fortunately, we are not short of parking space ...... but I know it doesn't make any sense owning 4 vehicles for 2 of us 😁

2 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

How are things where we are?

 

It's been a busy day but... the grass is cut, the heron net over the pond is taut, the old garden lights... chewed to death by our two (almost) resident foxes has been removed, the Robins have done a quick courtship dance and are re-feathering their nest, our first lunch of the year was been served on the patio,🥶 🥶 remains of the turkey leg from last night's dinner is stripped and put aside for a curry next week, menu for St George's day sorted (Ye roaste beef of ye old England... complete for what passes as Yorkshire puds here), steak and kidney made for reheating and making into a pie when we get home on Monday... a couple of rants on CC and something to share...

 

According to the online grocery delivery company we use... we are the number 1 buyer in the whole of London this month (that's including our bit of Surrey)... to repeat... we are the number 1 buyer of... Sharwood's Butter Chicken Sauce in the entire teeming metropolis of almost 10,000,000 people! 🏆 🏆

 

There are four spare jars in the shed... but! Don't know whether or not to print and frame the email of just make that turkey curry!

 

 

Hope everyone has had a lovely day... Oh! and a bit ½ price lamb roasting in the oven... but not in butter chicken sauce! 😂 🥵

Such an entertaining email 👍. I've also enjoyed your CC 'rants' but now wish to congratulate you on your magnificent achievement with the butter chicken sauce. I feel I must now seek it out ..... see what you've done? 😉

For my part, I've just had my own 'rant' to Travel Which? about an issue with Cunard, which I choose not to share .... so there!! 😁

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Well I’m staggered. Even those that don’t emit the smoke clouds still smell, and imagine walking in to a cabin on embarkation day to find that the previous occupant has vaped in it 🤢. As we all know, give people an inch and they’ll take a mile, so you can bet your bottom dollar that this already relaxed rule will be stretched. I’m grateful to you for flagging this. 

Absolutely this! We have thought of looking at Fred cruises since the haul down to Southampton from the NW gets to be tedious, but this information has just put the lid on that idea, rather than the prices.

I enjoyed reading your account so far, so thanks for doing it.  Looking forward to an update 👍

@Beckett Just caught up with your unfortunate and very unpleasant fall, what a shocker! Thank goodness you were able to get all the checks you needed Jane, despite the A&E being 'rammed'.

I'm sure you'll be taking it easy today, so I'll just add my own good wishes along with everyone else's 💐

10 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

This is the reason why I prefer the fresh disembarkation labels that are coloured and have a time code on them. If you then disembark as they announce your colour the luggage is all in the same place, and since the earliest disembarkation luggage is at the luggage hall entrance, then the hall empties towards the exit avoiding the rugby scrum that is the P&O experience.

+1

Our experience of leaving Ventura after our 35 night January/February cruise was awful - trying to find luggage in the scrum that ensued, made worse by the fact that people probably had more cases than normal.  I agree with you about fresh disembarkation labels being a much better system.

If disembarking in the UK, we generally self-disembark as DH wants to be off from the car park at the first opportunity and so have not experienced this before with P&O. This time we were on a coach and so went with the ship's arrangement to put out luggage the night before.  When disembarking in other countries (never with P&O), we are unlikely to be in such a rush to get off and go with the ship's 'fresh labels' approach and have never had the experience we had in February.

3 hours ago, Angel57 said:

On your recommendation I have just started on series one and have watched the first two episodes. I like it already. I’m not normally keen on subtitles, but I’ll persevere with this. Thanks!

It gets better as it goes along .... by series 3 I was willing my day away so I could catch the next episode 😁

57 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Does Seaside Hotel have subtitles? I don’t like subtitles but it sounds good!

 

edit - just read your answer to this question! 

Lol, I suggest you Google the series for other opinions but 'charming, elegant and nostalgic' appear and do sum it up well. No violence but interesting story lines, a bit of whimsy and good characters. 

8 hours ago, Lee Jones Jnr said:

It didn't really occur to me earlier, but body lotion and face cloths? Is this really a thing that many people care about?

As someone else said in this thread, the face cloths are useful to wipe splashes around the outside of the sink after use. I also carry a few j-cloths for this purpose just in case they are not provided.

15 hours ago, halpincat said:

No facecloths available on Ventura in February.  I'd taken a couple with me but 35 nights without them having a proper wash wasn't ideal!  They were provided on request on Arcadia in September.  I didn't bother asking about body lotion as it's not been available on any of my post-Covid cruises (Arcadia and Ventura). 

I had facecloths on the 35 night Ventura January trip. Again, they were replaced daily and were provided as soon as I requested them.

1 hour ago, Waju said:

Does Seaside Hotel have subtitles mrsgoggins?  I can never keep up with them but it does sound interesting!

Seaside Hotel does have subtitles. I thought we were going to watch series 7 last night and much to my dismay, I discovered that 4's streaming service only carries up to 6 series - which did end well and tied up ends, but still ...... !!

DH tells me we can buy the other series elsewhere (not checked where yet) as series 10 was released at the end of last year. I will be buying.  Do try at least 3 episodes and I bet you will be hooked.  It really is 'charming' and that's not a word you would use often about a TV series.

3 hours ago, indiana123 said:

Here we go again,  wide awake!

 

Watched a bit of TV, just completed a weeks supermarket order.  Don't know what to do now, I don't read at night as I don't like a bright light and small print.

 

I wish I was tired at bedtime like normal people😊

 

 

You have my full sympathy. I was awake, and so got up, between 3-4 am. I made a drink, ate a banana, listened to a radio programme which celebrated Tony Blackburn's 80th birthday and did today's Wordle and Quordle. 

I don't normally get more than one night a week like this so tonight should be okay - I hope 🤞

47 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

 

 

Goodness, I don't watch many films and you have quoted most of those I love.  I haven't seen The Proposal but will look out for it.  I only like happy films, love Mamma Mia and Bridget Jones.   Have you seen Mrs. Caldicotts Cabbage War, its a simple silly film but can be watched over and over again because it is fun.

 

Enjoy your weekend

I have seen, and enjoyed Mrs Caldecott’s Cabbage War 👍 and also the 2 Mamma Mia films and the Bridget Jones ones.  I too only enjoy happy films!  There is plenty to depress me in real life events and so for entertainment I generally want ‘light’. Do try Seaside Hotel, I’m sure you would love it.

4 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

Mrsgoggins can you explain to me what romcoms are please?🤔

Avril is quite correct. Romantic comedies - the sort of thing that DH would not choose to watch, or if he went along with it (which he would do) could be guaranteed to nod off during the film! I have been saving pre-recorded Shirley Valentine for such an occasion and was hoping for Pretty Woman, The Proposal (Sandra Bullock) or Overboard (Goldie Hawn) to be on somewhere, but I think I'm out of luck. I'll find something though. The documentaries can wait ....... 😉

What I would really love to do is binge watch 'Seaside Hotel' on 4+ (channel 4's free streaming service). I won't though, because DH likes it too, and as we are on series 7 of 9 series, I want them to last. If you have not heard of Seaside Hotel, a Danish hit series, I can recommend it as both charming and interesting. The Times said that it would be appreciated by fans of Downton Abbey, which I didn't watch, but I pass that along in case it is of interest to others. The fashions from the 20s and 30s are fabulous IMHO.

I may just have a go at Avril's custard tart recipe, but because I love a good custard tart and I will be alone.... maybe I should wait! 😋