exlondoner

The moon, the stars, the waves’ white frills, the lights of passing ships, light houses.

Why waste money on more clothes, when you could wear the same stuff both ways?

I should imagine that age group is probably the most staff intensive.

Southampton indeed has a John Lewis, and the chocolate brownies in the café are with the trip alone.

One of the areas in which UK and US English are most disparate seems to be garments. This makes a rather fraught subject even more so.

What about Captain Burton Hall?

Not according to a lot of the stuff you read, though I thought it was fine in the summer. PG cabins on QM2 are much nicer though. Otherwise Grills facilities less attractive.

I don’t follow. Surely they reinforce the point? Ships can be called anything they like - well, probably not something offensive - but are still referred to as she, though I’m not sure that applies in all languages.

Even when named after a man. The RN has had several ships called Prince of Wales, not all of which have ended happily. But they were all shes.

Yes, I thought she was fine too, and was impressed by the amount of maintenance going on. As I’ve said elsewhere, I just glad none of the detractors is likely ever to visit my house.

Well, when I was at boarding school among a group of extremely stroppy teenage girls, we had the choice of wearing a tie, with shirt and cardie, or our shirts open-necked with jumper. The vast majority of us chose to wear the tie. And that was for six years not just a week. So you can guess what I think.

But surely it doesn’t have to be, if it fits properly and isn’t too tight. That’s what I find mystifying, though I admit wearing a tie means you have to get up a little earlier, which is never good.

I’m eternally mystified by men’s clothing. Here I’m baffled by the apparent opposition between suits and comfortable. Surely a decently fitting suit is as comfortable as anything?

I’m fascinated by the concept of people having a special dress code to put the bins out. I wear whatever I’ve got on, plus a mac if it is raining. But there is obviously more to it.

I’m sorry, we’ve got ours wires crossed between us. QE2’s final visit to Geiranger was on August 8th. She did not call at Bergen on that trip, which I was on, but did twice in June. I knew there was a reason to keep all the Cunard stuff!

We were on that voyage too. I remember a wonderful sendoff from Stavanger.

I think thongs may not always mean the same?

I love baths, and have them whenever I can, particularly on holiday. But I do like to stretch out in them with only my neck and head sticking out. This is not possible on QM2. Much better on the Vistas, except they don’t have a light over the bath, so it is rather dark for reading.

In Q5/6s on QM2, it is not just that there is no separate shower, it is the nature of the bath itself. Because it functions as a jacuzzi - why on earth would one want that? - it is small and high sided, so not awfully good as a bath. If it were longer, with lower sides, access would be easier. When we were put into a sheltered balcony for quarantine, it was a real boon having a walk-in shower.

I’m sure it is and try to avoid it in that account.

Unless talking about pubs. 😀

Thanks, that is very sweet. Very often on here it seems to be used a little disdainfully.

And I must say that if I were making up a bogus name for an Italian wine, I could hardly do better. Of course it could be very nice.

Last time on QM2, our champagne was waiting for us in an ice bucket on the table. But I had to undertake a lengthy search or, actually, ask the butler for the thing that you put ice in that goes in the fridge. It was somewhere, but not in the fridge full of ice, until I mentioned it. I suppose they reckon there’s no point wasting ice, unless people are going to use it, and a lot of people don’t.

I and many others find it a little offensive and rather dismissive. Had you understood my post, you would have realised that I was not suggesting that, rather implying that those who live in NI may get rather bored or even a little vexed by being perpetually overlooked.