Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Up at the crack of doom this morning for no good reason! I'll be dragging my sorry ass later today!

 

Napria...absolutely agree that time starts to zoom as age creeps in. Not sure which law of physics is being broken here.

 

Miss S. we used to have "leaf vacuum" but Myster got over enthusiastic one year and managed to suck up a rather large tree branch. Vacuum coughed, rolled over and died. Now we have a "leaf blower" which does not suck up anything. :) By the way, why is November hard for dogs? Just curious!

 

J...exciting to see the Christmas market being erected! Although it seems to be pelting rain there at the moment. Hope you and Mrs J have a marvelous time!

 

Have a great day all!

[Tothesunset]

I quite enjoy the leaf clear-up operation. I blast them all onto the lawn then use the sit-on mower as a vacuuum cleaner. The leaves then get deposited out the back of the property on a strip of land between ourselves and the farmer's field. It's great fun but I need a combination of dryness, little wind and enthusiasm.

[UKCruiseJeff]

I bought a blower but I discovered that if you simply ignore the leaves they dissapear on their own accord. :D

[mysty]

TTS...your method sounds very civilized! I could handle that! Unfortunately I would probably be considered a menace on a sit-on mower!

 

I would love to let the leaves sit J! That would kill the grass here though. Leaves from a city-owned monstrous maple tree at the corner of our property fall in a very thick blanket . One year we had over 40 leaf bags from just that one tree. Now we rake as much as possible into the side garden and leave them there for the winter. In spring they are much more compressed and although soggy they are easier to bag.

[mysty]

And now it appears that our unseasonably warm weather will have a nasty "butterfly effect". That being a nasty effect on Monarch Butterflies. Apparently, they are still up here in Canada when they are usually in Mexico by November 1.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/thousands-of-monarch-butterflies-could-be-stranded-in-canada-by-cold-weather-1.4374671

 

Fly away lovely ones!

[UKCruiseJeff]

In the UK a Monarch Butterfly is someone with a package holiday that was booked on Monarch Airlines who is currently flitting around looking for a new holiday since they went bust ......;)

[mysty]

Well that too is a nasty Monarch predicament! I hope our butterflies do not suffer flight cancellations!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Me too. It was very sad to see Monarch go but and the same thing should never happen to a butterfly. Their life is too short already. :)

[MissSophia]

Leaves ruin my lawn so they have to be mopped up.....gardener has a blower which he says is better.....they always seem to pile up right outside my front door too due to a neighbors huge specimen across the road........highly dangerous as one could find one on ones ass...😳

 

Excitement building Jeffers for the festive market...would love to go some time....always wanted to go to the Lincoln one when we lived up there but so crowded along with nightmare parking restrictions...TTS will know!

 

M...dogs hate November because of the fireworks....little Henry here is terrified of them so l have to turn the TV or music up loud to try and muffle......sadly folk don't seem to care and we can hear them cracking away for a month...last evening seemed to be the start and no doubt the weekend will be worse.

 

😊

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[mysty]

Thanks for the explanation Miss S. I hope furry baby and his furry friend can coast through the noise! I had to rake the leaves off our driveway because we couldn't see it for the layers of leaves. And yes they are slippery!

 

J...the grill marks are beautiful! Enjoy!

[MissSophia]

Loving those steaks Jeffers......cottage pie today....quick and easy!

 

Seasons are changing and our wildlife become confused me thinks.....haven't seen as many spiders as usual....

 

Very sad to see Monarch Airlines go....they were one of my favourites for short haul...sadly the kids were amongst those disappointed as they'd booked this weekend with them for a quick Spanish break...I'd strongly advised them to book through my TA but hey ho...now they're struggling to get money back.....they tried to rebook with Sleazyjet but the robbers wanted twice the fare....can't blame them l guess......so Benidorm has turned into Blackpool for them.....not much difference apart from the weather.....and the illuminations ...and maybe some Rock M 😉

[UKCruiseJeff]

S, very fond memories of Monarch. They were customers of mine when I worked for The Corporation. They bought themselves some 757's with Rolls Royce engines and needed to work out maximum take off and landing wheights for every airport they used, something perfectly feasible today on a mobile phone. In those days it was a very serious investment. Their operations was based a a couple of Portacabins at Luton and on my visits I'd be taken to a pub where they all went including pilots just off on a trip. None of this "no drinking before a flight" business for them.

 

At the same time another one of my customers was General Motors of which Vauxhall was a subsidiary. On one day at a lunch at Vauxhalls where we were discussing their enormous Corporation mainframe plans and I asked "innocently" "have you ever considered what the repercussions on GM's world-wide business would be if a jet landing at Luton misjudged and landed on the Vauxhall computer suite instead? " which was only a few hundred yards away from the runway. With that wonderful conversation started a very lucrative emergency planning and backup system that mirrored at our own Warwick facility all they had at Luton. Thankfully apart from disaster testing they never needed it, except that is during "strikes" which made The Corporation very edgy about being seen as helping strike breaking ....

 

Happy days. :)

 

 

Edited October 27, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[MissSophia]

Great story Jeff.......as we are talking about Airlines l remember my first ever flight from Manchester....officially named Ringway back then in 1966...it was quite simply just an airfield....no facilities...no 'lounge' ..nothing and one walked up the steps to the aircraft...no air bridges!

Even friends and relatives were allowed on the apron to wave us off!

 

This morning I've seen discussion about the woman who has been sentenced to 20 days in Jail in Quebec following her drunken behaviour on a flight out of Manchester to Mexico which had to be diverted to offload her.....the usual party poopers were on TV calling for a ban on serving alcohol on planes....''twas quite a debate...but facts and figures about these incidents were very low compared to those of us who enjoy a drink sensibly....and as part of the start to our holiday!

 

Do any other Coolers think alcohol should be banned on planes....should airport bars be stopped from serving drinks at silly o'clock.....should Airlines become more responsible....one of the suggestions today was to breathalyse pax before boarding....can one imagine that fiasco!

Once again the minority spoil it for the majority....makes my blood boil!

 

😊

[mysty]

I agree Miss S. I don't think the service of alcohol should be banned on flights or in airports. People can get quite nasty and belligerent without the help of alcohol so how would they possibly identify them as potential threats? Seriously...the nanny state needs to stand down!

[UKCruiseJeff]

S,

 

There are imho several strands to this. Firstly most people that cause problems have tanked up before they reach the plane door. Obviously, CC stop serving drinks to inebriated customers once boarded. However there is a problem with the calibre and training of CC now compared to the days of say BA at their best. The LCCers provide basic safety training for staff but I suspect that staff are more concerned with avoiding passengers making a complaint about them than the confidence required to alert a senior CC to someone about to board in order to have them denied boarding becuse they look like they may be problematic. The issue to me is that they don't bounce drunkards at the door and refuse them any help in making alternate bookings.

 

They also need to pursue passengers to court for full reimbursement of costs if a diversion is made.

 

As a generality we must stop all these nonsense laws that disrupt normal people simply because a dumb minority are stupid.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Catalonia has voted to declare independence. It is terrible and terrifying to contemplate where this is heading ...

 

I do so hope they do not continue with this brinkmanship.

[Randyk47]

Just commenting on airlines not serving alcohol on a flight. Have to say I’m against that. We fly great distances to get to and from our now Europe based cruises. We fly at least business class to be comfortable and get relatively better service and food. Having a drink or wine is a part of that and we pay for it.

[Solo mi!]

Hear, hear Jeff for your comments regarding today's cabin crews. Back in the day, we would refuse to board inebriated passengers and would turn them over to the station agents. The really bad ones went to jail.

I would very much miss my wine on the way to Europe and back. It's a celebratory thing!

Very concerned about the situation in Catalonia. TTS-es and I embark in BCN in two weeks.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Solo mi!
correction

[Tothesunset]

Very concerned about the situation in Catalonia. TTS-es and I embark in BCN in two weeks.

The situation in town seems quite settled but, of course, that could change very rapidly. I expect things to be quite fluid over the next few days but perhaps by next weekend it will be easier to assess how things stand. All we can do is carry on as normal with all digits crossed.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hear, hear Jeff for your comments regarding today's cabin crews. Back in the day, we would refuse to board inebriated passengers and would turn them over to the station agents. The really bad ones went to jail.

I would very much miss my wine on the way to Europe and back. It's a celebratory thing!

Very concerned about the situation in Catalonia. TTS-es and I embark in BCN in two weeks.

 

I've never reslly understood why they don't deal with this more proactively at the final boarding area where tickets and passports and carry on often get there final check. It only needs the gate staff to see the obvious drunkards and simply call for "backup" staff to pop along and escort them back land side and booted out of the terminal.

 

Good luck with BCN both of you.

[MBP&O2/O]

.... perhaps a condition of booking stating that any passenger MAY be required to submit to a breath test BEFORE boarding? Fail and boarding is denied?

I agree with the airlines going after compensation etc. A couple of hefty awards and the message will soon get across.

I am led to believe that - in the UK - airport lounges / bars are exempt from the licencing laws? Shame as there used to be a little known clause in the old licencing act that made it an offence to serve alcohol to a drunken person. Of course the get-out was the bar staff were not classified as being an ‘expert’ witness and could not state that said person was drunk.

However the bar is a public place so perhaps better security? The Public Order Act still applies.

One thing is for sure .... they won’t stop serving booze at the airport ... too much loss of revenue.

Rant over.

Mike

[UKCruiseJeff]

Mike,

 

Not certain what lounges you mean, but most or all of the airport lounges ie not public bars are mostly self serve so even if such a requirement existed it couldn't or wouldn't apply. Also, I believe that the precise law is that it is illegal not to sell the alcohol to a drunk, not give it. The only lounge I have used where you are served is the BA Concorde Room. These lounges generally however often serve multiple airlines and the staff really don't see their role as preventing drunks boarding planes. They wish mostly to avoid complaints.

 

The gate area is the key with people knowing that being denied boarding means the ticket is cancelled with no alternative or refund offered and that you are escorted off property. It is fairly easy to identify who is likely to be problematic because they are either noisy or slumped and a senior gate staff should wander around and just identify who,they may be and call for assistance early as a preventative meaure. The issue with drunks on board really should never occur as they shouldn't get that far.

Edited October 27, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[MBP&O2/O]

My apologies .... bad phraseolgy .... pretty bad day:(

You hit the nail on the head ... stop them at the gate and prevent boarding.

Did I see a documentary recently whereby a UK airport had a discreet roving patrol whose job it was to have a “quiet word” with the potential offender and advise them as to the potential consequences.

Ah well ... only 127 days to go. TA paid. Counting down!

Time is flying by ..... even Mrs B is getting excited.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Mike I feel your anticipation and look forward to hearing all about the planned trip.

 

Last night at 2am I received an email from IHG group offering points with a 100% free uplift so I filled my boots up to the maximum with them ie 120,000 in total. Hopefully they'll have another offer in the new year as our Vienna trips rely largely on the points! Already have two 5 day trips booked ie in a few weeks and our birthdays in September, and hopefully soon we'll book 2018 Christmas Market Safari as they currently plan to close down for a total rebuild in 2019. We love going there and we've been promised we'll be invited to both the closing down and reopening parties.