lincslady

Can I just ask what dirty fries are? (I know, the rest of the world knows, I am just an old lady living in a backwater). I imagine it does not mean chips fried in dirty oil.

Well done! Lovely photos too.

Hello members of the Wideawake Club, if you are around. Having slept from 10 until 2, can't really complain, but hoping the mug of tea laced with a drop of the hard stuff may work to put me back to sleep after a while. My current reading does not help, as it is a page turner but about a missing wife with a convoluted plot. I have enjoyed the Vera novels; believable plots and interesting characters, plus the atmosphere of Northumbria as I remember it from visits to relatives in Whitley Bay many years ago. I will start reading them again soon! (Old age has the advantage of not quite remembering the plot when you tend to speedread.) I have the joy of phoning the nhs today as I have not yet had a date for my echocardiogram , and was given today's date to remind them.

Sorry, no idea and they weren't published. It was just a quick scan, and there are quite a lot of things to consider, depending on what is important to you. Some of us want more formal evening dress, more restaurants to choose from etc. But if perhaps doing three cruises as against two per year appeals, say, price can be the most important thing.

Out of curiosity, I have just compared offers from probably the best known luxury TA in the UK, which have just arrived in the post, and the difference in cost is quite illuminating. Very similar Mediterranean cruises, this summer, cost approx. £540 per night on Seabourn Ovation, and almost £700 on Silver Ray, both including flights and transfers. SS of course includes butler service and some excursions, and is a much newer ship. Passenger space ratio almost the same, and both for veranda suites. SB is western Med., SS eastern Med., so perhaps more interesting for many people. But if price is important, worth thinking about?

Not knowingly, and the drag race programme for possibly 5 minutes? Not really my 'scene'.

That is the dose I take, and did definitely slow my heart rate down and cut down on palpitations.

I know it is being a bit impolite, but until I saw her photo I assumed Vikki van Tassel was a drag artiste.

It may or may not be a comfort to Indiana, but when I was younger I lay awake for hours at night unable to go to sleep, churning stuff around in my head. Now, I usually go to sleep quickly but sometimes (not always now) wake after three hours and can't get back to sleep. It is actually a better situation, IMO, and I think is somewhat to do with getting old! So maybe old age has a few advantages.

Cor blimey!!!

Unless Fred has changed a lot since I was last on board many years ago, it would have to be a lot cheaper than Saga to be anything like comparable. The old ships are nothing like the quality and attractiveness of the two newish Saga ships, quite apart from the restaurant choices etc.

Just had my email re vaccination, and my nearest place at present is 12 miles away, so I will wait and assume that as before my GP will be offering them soon. I hope all the heart appointments go well; I have had one asked for by GP since February, and I am allowed to ring up on Friday to find out if it will be happening soon! This for an echocardiogram, which I would like to have in case there is some different treatment I need.

I wonder if Fred is hoping to pick up the people who are disappointed with the new regimes on P and O and other lines of going much more casual.

Sorry for my ignorance, but that does not look like a bacon roll, Graham - can you enlighten me? My breakfasts are always chez moi unless I am staying away.

One might argue that they should be large enough in the first place, assuming they are a main course.

Thanks, kalos. Awake at 4.15 but I had had 6 hours, so no complaints. I think many of us are awake very early most nights, but don't want to bore the rest of you too much with our tales! In my case, waking early obviously means tired and sleepy by 9 p.m., a vicious circle.

Just for once I am pleased to be reading about your adventures, Fletcher, rather than being on the ship with you. I think that is mainly due to old age and lack of get up and go, but hope it will prove to be not just interesting but also really enjoyable. It is many years since I was in West Africa, but it can be a challenge, certainly. Though mitigated a lot by returning to a cool ship and some civilised eating, drinking and socialising after a day ashore. Bon voyage, and looking forward to further instalments.

I was talking about flying before noon! Disembarking; last time I was on board they hoped you would be off certainly before 10. Anyone flying home from Athens before noon does need to be off the ship pretty early (yes, probably with your luggage having been kept) and with one of the recommended taxi firms.

So good to hear from you. A shame about your hotel restaurant - but no doubt you will feel that is of little importance compared with what you have been going through. There is no doubt illness or disability concentrate the mind wonderfully in what really matters, and make you appreciate the good simple things in life, like a good family and friends, spring blossom, etc. etc. and fret less about unimportant stuff (Though we all do sometimes of course). Here's hoping it was a worthwhile visit.

Is that so that she can do the cooking?

Quite a lot of people love to have several courses, but find two appetizers is plenty for them. Me included, nowadays. Of course it should be 'allowed', and hopefully will be soon when the staff have settled down and are less afraid of doing the wrong thing. 'The customer is always right' does actually apply in this sort of case.

It sounds a bit like when TK started -staff, some of them new and young, being 'trained' to serve in a certain way and not being confident enough to deal with passengers in a relaxed manner , therefore coming over as stiff and bossy. It should settle down, though of course in the meantime passengers are not getting a good experience .It also applied to some of the putting together of dishes in TK; I had an appalling caesar salad made at the table by a poor girl who had obviously never made one before.

Used to be noon.

That explains it, then. ☹️

He is a brave soul, Mysty. You will get the benefit of the photos and description when he returns (if he doesn't need to sleep straight away). Lola