Harry Peterson

I’d forgotten all the speakers there used to be. It was one of the really big pluses for us, because sea days (not a favourite) passed so quickly and interestingly. Lectures on British films from an academic, great liners through the years from a published expert in his field, crime from a published criminologist, all sorts of fascinating lectures - and all well attended too. Really miss all that - much more limited and limiting now.

Thanks, Kalos. Tesco and their suppliers rarely seem to agree, but it’s never reflected in prices - just profits. I suspect the producers get better prices from the other supermarkets.

Thanks for that - always in agreement! My wife used to keep hens, and she’s absolutely with you on Marans. That’s what we had, and the eggs were excellent. She loved those hens, and they in turn loved wrecking the end of the garden where they lived. We’ll be doing an Aldi Click and Collect later in the week for the missing eggs, but given that Ocado and Waitrose never have egg problems I’m assuming Tesco are having one of their frequent supplier disputes.

Morning everyone. Bit of an odd question this, but are people still having problems getting regular supplies of eggs from supermarkets - Tesco in particular? We have to have stuff delivered and Tesco are still extremely unreliable for eggs. And expensive - more so than other supermarkets. It’s the unreliability of supply though that’s annoying, when you rely on one delivery a week. Is it just our Tesco, or is this general?

All part of the cunning plan to ‘persuade’ valued customers to upgrade to a restaurant with a supplementary charge. Paul Ludlow says that 99% of customers prefer it this way.

Just been taking a look at that, Dave - it's impressively useful. Thanks for the tip. In case anyone wants a direct link to the maps section, this should take you to the fine city of Birmingham, which still has a decent public transport system: https://bustimes.org/map#13/52.474/-1.898 Zoom in or out to track the buses you want to use, wherever it is. Thanks again, Dave - very useful.

That's exactly the policy - and it makes good business sense if it doesn't cost you too many customers. Some, however, probably including us, will defect to something like Saga for a much more all-inclusive cruise with very few extras and a better quality experience all round.

Up to a point I'd agree with you of course. But we were already becoming disenchanted prior to the changes brought about by the virus and the need to try to reclaim lost profits. Cruising with P&O a few years back was special, but by 2020 it wasn't - and that's very much based on personal experience. That's not to say that you can't have an enjoyable holiday with P&O - plenty do. But for a lot of people, including us, it's not remotely the same product and there are other options for holidays, and for cruises.

That one short sentence about sums P&O up now, and unfortunately it goes way beyond just the food. A cruise with P&O used to be special - now it isn’t. Cheaper, relatively speaking, certainly, but no longer a special holiday. Pluses and minuses to that of course.

Looks like you found a good place for diesel, John - 135.9 seems to be the standard price in Mablethorpe. 2021 vintage. TESCO MABLETHORPE (18) Address: PETER CHAMBERS WAY, LN12 1FN UNLEADED 143.9p Last updated: 17.05.2023 DIESEL 135.9p Last updated: 17.05.2023

Mmmmm………Mablethorpe. Was it paraffin? 😇

Intriguing little comedy series about a family on the Isle of Wight - The Cockfields. Common name on the island, because there has in past times been one such, quite well known, family?

Cities are fine, Brian. Major towns too. Just a few miles outside though is often a very different story after the deregulation of the bus industry. We live in a village just 6 miles from a city, and the once every 30 minutes service has now vanished altogether. Bus passes here are pretty useless.

What's a bus, Brian?

I suppose experiences vary. We've only bothered with room service on a few occasions when we've missed lunch for whatever reason and fancied a light snack or maybe a cream tea. Ordering via room service just involved a quick phone call, and there were never any charges on the account because they know which numbers are suites. Sometimes one of the butlers brought it, and sometimes not, but it tended to be at a time when they were having a very well deserved rest and I was loathe to break into that when it wasn't necessary. Having a butler never featured in our thinking in choosing a suite though - it was always all about the additional space and fantastic location of those large aft suites!

Absolutely!

See post 22 above, Dai. We’ve never been charged, and there’s no need to order through the butler either.

For what it’s worth, that was the situation in our suite when we were last on Azura - but the reality was that there were no charges. They just hadn’t bothered to provide the correct documentation in suites. That may have changed, of course, but worth checking.

Stanley Holloway agrees, but it wouldn’t bother me one jot! https://youtu.be/3bUJJVSPdp4

Celebrating there being only 3 formal nights? 😉

My very first statements as a student back in the 60s were manually typed, but that went pretty quickly, along with the splendid manager who actually spoke to his customers - even students. It then became a sub-branch and I became a sub-customer.

This is true. We use that trick for the pod machine in the suites. But you’re still left wondering what it is, how it got there, and why’s it disappeared! And how they manage to distill the essence of it to use in the MDR/buffet ‘coffee’.

Have to admit, Kalos, I looked up that hotel and did a bit of pricing up with one of the major travel companies. We’d noticed it before, when visiting Funchal, and it always appealed. Great location!

It was. And in the 60s the clearing banks were advertising the fact that 1 in 3 entrants would go on to become managers. They had thousands more branches then of course, and a lot more opportunities for advancement. Very few people, relatively speaking, had bank accounts, and each statement was typed out on a typewriter!

Absolutely, Avril. And I’m pleased to say that our grandchildren are being brought up - in Yorkshire - just like that. Just as their Mum was (though their Dad, lovely bloke that he is) was horrified when we introduced him to the alien concept of peeing behind a tree in a forest when there’s nowhere else to go! They live in a very large village, and there are always risks everywhere, but the main risks are roads and water - not strangers. That’s not to say that they’re not a risk - but let’s get things into proportion. Not so very far from you, towards the end of the road which led to Cudworth station, there was a little bridge over a dyke. My father used to play round there back in the 1920s. He didn’t go near the water because my grandparents had told him that if he did the Troll would come out of the water and get him!