P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[Presto2]

Just now, Beckett said:

Was it Joan Sims?

Spot on. I showed Mr Presto Avrils photo and he said 'she doesn't change much does she' meaning Joan Sims.

Made me laugh .. though he hadn't got his glasses on..

[Beckett]

22 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

It is tough Jane.

I stopped smoking after several attempts when I was 21 years old.

The secret was my mind set.

I convinced myself I hated smoking and wrote down everything bad about smoking in case I ever wavered.

Shortness of breath.

Dying of cancer.

Dying younger if I didn't stop.

Clothes smelling of smoke.

Breath smelling of smoke.

Fingers yellow with nicotine stain.

Hands smelling of smoke.

Cost of cigarettes and what I could spend that money on.

I never wavered and it is over 46 years now since I stopped.

My doctor was anti smoking and my list and story I wrote down he used and it helped numerous people stop smoking.

Best wishes Jane and anyone else who smokes I hope this helps you stop smoking.

Graham xx

 

Thanks Graham. It's a comprehensive list and all so true. Because I've been a long-time smoker, and having given up many times previously, I always seem to revert to type when an event happens that throws me off kilter. Weak-willed is another description! Thanks again. Jane xx

[Beckett]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Four weeks until my Queen Anne naming cruise and I've just spent the morning delving through my posh evening clothes to find half of them are now too big after the health coach sessions I've been on.  Big dilemma is do I get them altered, search for some new ones or put them in for the inevitable expanding waistline once onboard.  The cost of alterations is eye watering from £35 for a seam taking in, I think that with some of the older ones I didn't pay much more than that when I bought them.

 

The good news is that my blood pressure is spot on, 14 kilos lost and BMI has dropped a range.  The bad news is it's going to be a big ouch on my pocket.

That's fantastic @Megabear2. You've done so well. Buy new!!! Jane xx

[kalos]

4 minutes ago, Beckett said:

Thanks Graham. It's a comprehensive list and all so true. Because I've been a long-time smoker, and having given up many times previously, I always seem to revert to type when an event happens that throws me off kilter. Weak-willed is another description! Thanks again. Jane xx

Yes a very good list and good that it helps people .

Maybe if I give you another view ,I set off smoking at 18 years old and will admit that 

I loved it ,a rock band and a pint was my idea of fun .

Waking up in the morning wanting one and coughing my lungs up I began to question 

myself , is this worth it ?

I tried to give up umpteen times over the years convincing myself I was going to pack 

in at a time of my choosing .

Years past and before I knew it I was almost 50 years old and thought enough is

enough .A few of my friends were dying painful deaths .

The way I gave up was almost self hypnosis and in my mind pictured the most 

ugly foul looking smelly man

                               .

 

He was laughing at me  "fags are good , your mates died happy , you will be soon "  

 

"There's nothing you can do, I'm you friend when things go bad *

 

" I will still be helping you when your family's crying, You can maybe see your Grandkids 

from beyond the grave " He said sneering and laughing  at me .

 

 Challenging me  I come before your family !  

 

That did it he was going out of my life with his fags .

 

Every time I thought about a fag I thought .That is not going to be in my life anymore !

 

Get him out of your life Jane do not let him win .🙂❤️

[lincslady]

Not wishing to sound like a bit of a creep, but I think Avril is prettier than Joan Sims.  Or certainly has what in my family is known as a 'nice face'.

[brian1]

6 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Not wishing to sound like a bit of a creep, but I think Avril is prettier than Joan Sims.  Or certainly has what in my family is known as a 'nice face'.

Dead right,she's my sis.

[grapau27]

39 minutes ago, kalos said:

Yes a very good list and good that it helps people .

Maybe if I give you another view ,I set off smoking at 18 years old and will admit that 

I loved it ,a rock band and a pint was my idea of fun .

Waking up in the morning wanting one and coughing my lungs up I began to question 

myself , is this worth it ?

I tried to give up umpteen times over the years convincing myself I was going to pack 

in at a time of my choosing .

Years past and before I knew it I was almost 50 years old and thought enough is

enough .A few of my friends were dying painful deaths .

The way I gave up was almost self hypnosis and in my mind pictured the most 

ugly foul looking smelly man

                               .

 

He was laughing at me  "fags are good , your mates died happy , you will be soon "  

 

"There's nothing you can do, I'm you friend when things go bad *

 

" I will still be helping you when your family's crying, You can maybe see your Grandkids 

from beyond the grave " He said sneering and laughing  at me .

 

 Challenging me  I come before your family !  

 

That did it he was going out of my life with his fags .

 

Every time I thought about a fag I thought .That is not going to be in my life anymore !

 

Get him out of your life Jane do not let him win .🙂❤️

Well said Kalos.

I saw 2 of my favourite uncles die in their mid 50s through smoking.

If I had carried on smoking that could have been me too.

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, Beckett said:

Hello John. Thank you for asking and yes I am feeling a lot better now. It's only 3 weeks since the fall so I'm quite chuffed that I feel this well. The pain is lessening every day.

 

When I got home from the hospital and got settled in, I felt really shocked, and more than anything, I wanted a cigarette. I had kept a "just in case" packet all the time I've been vaping (over a year) and I've never even come close to opening them until that night. I smoked about 10 during a very long night of not sleeping and have carried on smoking for the past 3 weeks I'm ashamed to say.

 

Now, I've got to start all over again. I know I can do it because I've proved that already but oh it feels like a mountain to climb! 

 

Jane xx

 

 

From Frank.

Hello Jane. Av has just read me your post.

I can understand your reason for needing to smoke again, and to be honest with you, if I'd had some cigarettes in the house I would have done the same. Luckily Av had thrown every one out, after stamping on them first😁 It's not easy I know, so don't beat yourself up over it. Smoking is very difficult to give up and the fact that you went so long vaping proves that you will have the strenght to do it again when you feel the time is right.

 There is no mountain to climb Jane, just one step at a time slowly moving forward and you'll get there. Never stop trying to stop.

One final tip, try not have any cigarettes in the house. When the urge for a cigarette gets too much vape for longer until it goes away. That worked for me.

Stay strong and good luck👍

Frank

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

From Frank.

Hello Jane. Av has just read me your post.

I can understand your reason for needing to smoke again, and to be honest with you, if I'd had some cigarettes in the house I would have done the same. Luckily Av had thrown every one out, after stamping on them first😁 It's not easy I know, so don't beat yourself up over it. Smoking is very difficult to give up and the fact that you went so long vaping proves that you will have the strenght to do it again when you feel the time is right.

 There is no mountain to climb Jane, just one step at a time slowly moving forward and you'll get there. Never stop trying to stop.

One final tip, try not have any cigarettes in the house. When the urge for a cigarette gets too much vape for longer until it goes away. That worked for me.

Stay strong and good luck👍

Frank

Great point Avril to take away the cigarette temptation by not having any available.

 

 

 

[Beckett]

18 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

From Frank.

Hello Jane. Av has just read me your post.

I can understand your reason for needing to smoke again, and to be honest with you, if I'd had some cigarettes in the house I would have done the same. Luckily Av had thrown every one out, after stamping on them first😁 It's not easy I know, so don't beat yourself up over it. Smoking is very difficult to give up and the fact that you went so long vaping proves that you will have the strenght to do it again when you feel the time is right.

 There is no mountain to climb Jane, just one step at a time slowly moving forward and you'll get there. Never stop trying to stop.

One final tip, try not have any cigarettes in the house. When the urge for a cigarette gets too much vape for longer until it goes away. That worked for me.

Stay strong and good luck👍

Frank

Dear Frank

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to contact me. I really do appreciate your kind and supportive words. "When you feel the time is right" told me that you, as a fairly recent ex- smoker, understand my feelings at this point. I will let you know how things go.

 

Thanks again Frank and my very best wishes to you and Avril. Jane xx 

[Josy1953]

Ladies night at bowls tonight, we were playing away this week.  When the draw was done I was drawn against a lady that I have played against many times and we always have a good game.  We had a lovely game and chat.  We spent so much time chatting and laughing that I was disappointed when we finished the game even though I won but we continued our chat after the game over a cup of tea.

[davecttr]

Visited the opticians today for a thorough eye examination. My right eye vision has deteriorated slightly and my left 'good' eye has a prescription change. Four new pairs of specs, distance with transition, that's reactolite to me, required for glaucoma, distance clear lens for binocular use, computer and finally reading. That's £399.

 

My filling yesterday cost £155 and the wisdom tooth the week after next will cost an eye, or is it tooth watering £465. I also paid my Arcadia cruise final balance of £1844.

 

I need to lie down in a darkened room.

Edited April 25 by davecttr
spolin mistok

[zap99]

3 hours ago, lincslady said:

Not wishing to sound like a bit of a creep, but I think Avril is prettier than Joan Sims.  Or certainly has what in my family is known as a 'nice face'.

ABSOLUTELY. 😇

[zap99]

47 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Visited the opticians today for a thorough eye examination. My right eye vision has deteriorated slightly and my left 'good' eye has a prescription change. Four new pairs of specs, distance with transition, that's reactolite to me, required for glaucoma, distance clear lens for binocular use, computer and finally reading. That's £399.

 

My filling yesterday cost £155 and the wisdom tooth the week after next will cost an eye, or is it tooth watering £465. I also paid my Arcadia cruise final balance of £1844.

 

I need to lie down in a darkened room.

We booked some speciality restaurants on Arvia and a RC cruise, so paid the deposit. Some early booking offers on trips and restaurants tempted us. Then an email reminding us that £700 odd was due for a trip to St Ives in June. We went to town today with my credit card statement which arrived this morning. DW said shall we just have a McDonalds for lunch. Do you know how much a happy meal costs?😂. At least I didn't waste money on things like eyes and teeth.

[Purdey16]

Good morning everyone, I have returned home and I have been so busy I have quickly scrolled through to catch up with you all , I give my best wishes to all who are not feeling to good at the moment and happy holidays to those that are going away soon.

I have returned home to everyone falling apart physically and mentally here so we both were into action first thing yesterday and again today starting with school pick-up at 7.45 , the other in-laws are moving back from France to my daughters house for 8 weeks while their new flat gets sorted etc so it’s moving beds around time , she as torn something in her knee and can’t walk or drive so it’s down to us .

We ourselves came home exhausted from looking after dad and the dog but at least we had 4 hours on the plane to ourselves 😁 , apart from that dad and my 

SIL flew the same day to Glasgow to see a sick relative but their flight got delayed 3 hours because of a engine fire and they all had to evacuate and change planes, not to mention we paid for a suitcase which they disputed and had to pay again and to top it all they have now lost the suitcase it’s in Newcastle or Birmingham airport, and worst of all my SIL put all of dads medication in the suitcase 😡 she knows not to do that and I can’t understand why she did it . So we had to arrange for a doctor up in Scotland to issue new drugs that were all in spainish on the script. 
So apart from lots more going on that I won’t go into we had half an hour to book our seats going to Japan yesterday which is 3 flights and after a bit of a pickle we managed it and got some good seats that we are very happy with, so here a few pic’s leaving fuerteventura Wednesday and Lanzarote in distance.

Have a good day everyone.

[AndyMichelle]

52 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Good morning everyone, I have returned home and I have been so busy I have quickly scrolled through to catch up with you all , I give my best wishes to all who are not feeling to good at the moment and happy holidays to those that are going away soon.

I have returned home to everyone falling apart physically and mentally here so we both were into action first thing yesterday and again today starting with school pick-up at 7.45 , the other in-laws are moving back from France to my daughters house for 8 weeks while their new flat gets sorted etc so it’s moving beds around time , she as torn something in her knee and can’t walk or drive so it’s down to us .

We ourselves came home exhausted from looking after dad and the dog but at least we had 4 hours on the plane to ourselves 😁 , apart from that dad and my 

SIL flew the same day to Glasgow to see a sick relative but their flight got delayed 3 hours because of a engine fire and they all had to evacuate and change planes, not to mention we paid for a suitcase which they disputed and had to pay again and to top it all they have now lost the suitcase it’s in Newcastle or Birmingham airport, and worst of all my SIL put all of dads medication in the suitcase 😡 she knows not to do that and I can’t understand why she did it . So we had to arrange for a doctor up in Scotland to issue new drugs that were all in spainish on the script. 
So apart from lots more going on that I won’t go into we had half an hour to book our seats going to Japan yesterday which is 3 flights and after a bit of a pickle we managed it and got some good seats that we are very happy with, so here a few pic’s leaving fuerteventura Wednesday and Lanzarote in distance.

Have a good day everyone.

Blimey, so much going on, it makes me so grateful for a fairly stress free life at the moment... 

Although we have never met, I get the impression that you are at your best in times like these? 

Everyone around you will be so grateful, although they might not seem or say it. 

Have a good day. 

Andy 

[Peanut006]

56 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Good morning everyone, I have returned home and I have been so busy I have quickly scrolled through to catch up with you all , I give my best wishes to all who are not feeling to good at the moment and happy holidays to those that are going away soon.

I have returned home to everyone falling apart physically and mentally here so we both were into action first thing yesterday and again today starting with school pick-up at 7.45 , the other in-laws are moving back from France to my daughters house for 8 weeks while their new flat gets sorted etc so it’s moving beds around time , she as torn something in her knee and can’t walk or drive so it’s down to us .

We ourselves came home exhausted from looking after dad and the dog but at least we had 4 hours on the plane to ourselves 😁 , apart from that dad and my 

SIL flew the same day to Glasgow to see a sick relative but their flight got delayed 3 hours because of a engine fire and they all had to evacuate and change planes, not to mention we paid for a suitcase which they disputed and had to pay again and to top it all they have now lost the suitcase it’s in Newcastle or Birmingham airport, and worst of all my SIL put all of dads medication in the suitcase 😡 she knows not to do that and I can’t understand why she did it . So we had to arrange for a doctor up in Scotland to issue new drugs that were all in spainish on the script. 
So apart from lots more going on that I won’t go into we had half an hour to book our seats going to Japan yesterday which is 3 flights and after a bit of a pickle we managed it and got some good seats that we are very happy with, so here a few pic’s leaving fuerteventura Wednesday and Lanzarote in distance.

Have a good day everyone.

Gosh that made me tired just reading it!!! I hope you manage to have a quieter day today. Glad your dad got his meds

 

Michelle

[Angel57]

@Purdey16 - oh my goodness, that all sounds utterly draining.

Make sure you take care of yourself too.

[Beckett]

@Purdey16 I second Gill's thoughts. It all sounds terribly upsetting and unsettling but you appear to be a coper and a trouper - just don't let it be at the expense of your own health and wellbeing. Take care and best wishes. Jane xx

[purplesea]

1 hour ago, Purdey16 said:

Good morning everyone, I have returned home and I have been so busy I have quickly scrolled through to catch up with you all , I give my best wishes to all who are not feeling to good at the moment and happy holidays to those that are going away soon.

I have returned home to everyone falling apart physically and mentally here so we both were into action first thing yesterday and again today starting with school pick-up at 7.45 , the other in-laws are moving back from France to my daughters house for 8 weeks while their new flat gets sorted etc so it’s moving beds around time , she as torn something in her knee and can’t walk or drive so it’s down to us .

We ourselves came home exhausted from looking after dad and the dog but at least we had 4 hours on the plane to ourselves 😁 , apart from that dad and my 

SIL flew the same day to Glasgow to see a sick relative but their flight got delayed 3 hours because of a engine fire and they all had to evacuate and change planes, not to mention we paid for a suitcase which they disputed and had to pay again and to top it all they have now lost the suitcase it’s in Newcastle or Birmingham airport, and worst of all my SIL put all of dads medication in the suitcase 😡 she knows not to do that and I can’t understand why she did it . So we had to arrange for a doctor up in Scotland to issue new drugs that were all in spainish on the script. 
So apart from lots more going on that I won’t go into we had half an hour to book our seats going to Japan yesterday which is 3 flights and after a bit of a pickle we managed it and got some good seats that we are very happy with, so here a few pic’s leaving fuerteventura Wednesday and Lanzarote in distance.

Have a good day everyone.

Sorry to hear about this, hope things calm down for you. As others have said take care of yourself too.

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is 4°C and sunny here.

The lawn people who put weed and feed on our lawns text at 7am saying they are treating the lawns this morning.

Fortunately Pauline cut the front grass yesterday but has had to go out and hour ago to cut the back grass 🥴.

My hip and knee arthritis prevents me from cutting the grass.

I hope everyone else has a restful day.

[kalos]

3 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

but at least we had 4 hours on the plane to ourselves

 

Reading your post I think we would have refused to get off the plane but at least

everyone's OK and your Dads got his medication and your sister has had one of 

those .. I wont do that again moments .

 

Take care 🙂

[twotravellersLondon]

Five˚C

 

Hope all are well and looking forward to the promise of warmer weather, Pimms or a beer on the lawn and those lazy, hazy days of summer to come.

 

We're recovering this morning after a busy touristy day in London yesterday... we used a new route and were in Sloan Square only an hour or so after leaving home... rather than the two hours that it used to take us. 

 

We had a very light lunch of BLTs and a coffee outside Partridges just off St John Square and spent most of the day in the Saatchi Gallery.

 

It's currently showing the largest ever exhibition of works by the world-renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky... large-scale photographs, murals, film installation and augmented reality... really impressive stuff. Some of the exhibits were awesomely amazing. (No... we didn't mean Banksy!)

 

In the early evening we went back to our favourite pub/restaurant in that area for a pre-theatre meal. Probably the most "mature" folks there last night... by about three-four decades!!! At least!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then went to a benefit evening with Michael Palin to raise funds for the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering... packed house... nearly 1,000 people...  sold out months ago and so we hope that lots of good came out of it.

 

Some of the young folk being supported very, very bravely took part in an interview session on stage with Michael... the hall was just filled with admiration as how courageous they were.

 

One other thing that does stick in the minds from earlier in the day is one of the other exhibitions in the Saatchi Gallery.

 

It's Rong Bao’s debut solo show that, "pays testament to her playful transformations of familiar objects through sculptural practice, prompting us to question our perception of the physical world."

 

Well it did! It was great fun... but... what if... just what if... the Daleks went woke?

 

 

High Art at it's best!!!

[Eddie99]

12 hours ago, zap99 said:

We booked some speciality restaurants on Arvia and a RC cruise, so paid the deposit. Some early booking offers on trips and restaurants tempted us. Then an email reminding us that £700 odd was due for a trip to St Ives in June. We went to town today with my credit card statement which arrived this morning. DW said shall we just have a McDonalds for lunch. Do you know how much a happy meal costs?😂. At least I didn't waste money on things like eyes and teeth.

Have a lovely cruise anyway zap 🚢 

[Eddie99]

Michael Palin seems an all round good egg

You may be interested in a 3 part retrospective on BBC Radio 4 Extra, recently broadcast but available anytime on BBC Sounds

Called (iirc) Michal Palin - The Radio Years - he is in discussion with John McCarthy and there are pieces from old works

He has had a long (and distinguished, and continuing) broadcast career.  Sort of silver medal to David Attenborough’s gold 🙂)