Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Afternoon Coolers,

 

Today’s easy late lunch was slowly braised red onion quiche, with some anchovies, olives and charlotte potato salad and a Provençal tablecloth.  

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Edited August 17 by UKCruiseJeff

[Tothesunset]

1 hour ago, DavyWavey70 said:

Looks lovely TTS. That is a Welsh Tartan on the walls and the Welsh Highlands are the area around the Snowdonia National Park. The Welsh Highland railway is a beautiful day out. 

Snowdonia is unquestionably one of the UK's natural wonders. A bit drier would be good. 

[Host Hattie]

14 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Visitors from The Valleys are particularly welcomed.  

 

🙂

 

Jeff

Not from the Valleys but the coast between Barry and Bridgend.

[UKCruiseJeff]

1 minute ago, Host Hattie said:

Not from the Valleys but the coast between Barry and Bridgend.

 

My apologies. My bad.  I thought the Vale of Glamorgan was …. a Vale!  🙂

 

I bet the lamb is just as good.  

 

We have Welsh shoulder of lamb planned for our meal tomorrow.    We have been looking forward to it and if you look in again there may even be a picture.  

 

Jeff

[MissSophia]

33 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

A beautiful area, from what I've "seen" (we did a virtual series of hikes on our iFit treadmill). It's on the list for an in-person visit.

You would receive a very warm welcome to Wales JP….more than happy to show you around as I’m sure Davy would be also 😊

[DavyWavey70]

23 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Snowdonia is unquestionably one of the UK's natural wonders. A bit drier would be good. 

It's the Mizzle that makes it so beautiful TTS. We're lucky enough to have our own micro-climate here. The Hills surrounding us tend to keep us dry. 

 

6 minutes ago, MissSophia said:

You would receive a very warm welcome to Wales JP….more than happy to show you around as I’m sure Davy would be also 😊

JP and Chris have an open invitation Miss Sophia. 

[MissSophia]

21 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

 

 

JP and Chris have an open invitation Miss Sophia. 

Well you are in the midst of the beauty over there Davy along with the wonderful walks which I’d be struggling with 😊
BTW….lunched at The Boat again today..delicious 🥂

Edited August 17 by MissSophia

[Host Jazzbeau]

[TrulyBlonde]

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

Snowdonia is unquestionably one of the UK's natural wonders. A bit drier would be good. 

We hiked around Snowdonia when visiting Wales on a cruise. it is quite lovely.

[lincslady]

I climbed Snowdon, when I was about 18, via  the Crib Goch route.  Pretty hairy, and at the top of course found women in high heels, who had come up on the train.

[DavyWavey70]

41 minutes ago, lincslady said:

I climbed Snowdon, when I was about 18, via  the Crib Goch route.  Pretty hairy, and at the top of course found women in high heels, who had come up on the train.

I Wouldn't dream of doing Crib Goch Lola. People are blown off the top frequently and Its a long way down. About 10 are lost every year. When I lived in London I used to climb Snowdon every year, usually Pyg and Miners tracks but since I moved here 21 years ago I've not been up once!

[lincslady]

The folly of youth, and a very persuasive boyfriend!  I didn't know what to expect, never climbed anything before except our local village hill, so just got on with it.  I was more proud of Tryfan, which I was told you could not climb without using your hands.  Since then just fairly modest Lake District climbs, like Skiddaw.

 

The quiche lunch looks very tasty, Jeff.

[UKCruiseJeff]

11 minutes ago, lincslady said:

The folly of youth, and a very persuasive boyfriend!  I didn't know what to expect, never climbed anything before except our local village hill, so just got on with it.  I was more proud of Tryfan, which I was told you could not climb without using your hands.  Since then just fairly modest Lake District climbs, like Skiddaw.

 

The quiche lunch looks very tasty, Jeff.

 

 

For a small moment there I had misread your post.  I thought for a moment that I had looked very tasty but realise it was just my quiche.  

 

Life is constantly filled with sudden hopes and evaporating dissapointments.   

 

😁

 

Jeff

[TrulyBlonde]

My daughter told me a joke today that I will share.

"What does a pedicure and a women's panties have in common? They both come off with alcohol"

[UKCruiseJeff]

10 minutes ago, TrulyBlonde said:

My daughter told me a joke today that I will share.

"What does a pedicure and a women's panties have in common? They both come off with alcohol"

 

😁

 

I must admit I’ve never tried one, but the other has never worked.  

 

It might be simply that I am incredibly ugly and have no interest in female toenails. 

 

Jeff

[johng75370]

5 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

6 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Sorry to gate crash the Cooler but I live quite close to Gileston Manor so I was interested to see your photographs. 

It's not that handy for Swansea though !

It took us about an hour from Mumbles and therefore an hour nearer home today allowing us to pick the dogs up from their kennels an hour earlier. 

 

I'll gate crash as well...thanks for mentioning Mumbles, where I was fortunate to live in the early '70s.  I think our family was there so I could attend The Grange Primary, or maybe it was because of my Dad's job; can't remember exactly which it was. 🤔 It provided a great opportunity to see the beauty of Wales and the people thereof, and reasons to go revisit.  Still have a few Welsh tapestry blankets, >50 years old and still looking good.  My Mom loved that tapestry, and had a few suits made out of it; not sure if that style made sense even then :). 

Edited August 17 by johng75370

[UKCruiseJeff]

10 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

I'll gate crash as well...thanks for mentioning Mumbles, where I was fortunate to live in the early '70s.  I think our family was there so I could attend The Grange Primary, or maybe it was because of my Dad's job; can't remember exactly which it was. 🤔 It provided a great opportunity to see the beauty of Wales and the people thereof, and reasons to go revisit.  Still have a few Welsh tapestry blankets, >50 years old and still looking good.  My Mom loved that tapestry, and had a few suits made out of it; not sure if that style made sense even then :). 

 

Lovely story and welcome.  🙂

 

Are you going to share with us how Mumbles led you to Know The Way to San Jose?

 

I bet it’s an interesting story. 

 

Jeff

[johng75370]

10 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Are you going to share with us how Mumbles led you to Know The Way to San Jose?

 

I bet it’s an interesting story. 

As high-tech career paths go, it's mainly interesting to the participant.  But where Mumbles forms the line through the story arc is in these two ways: 

1. Introduced me to the concept of "foreignness", and being "the foreigner"; there were two kids in my class at The Grange that were "foreigners".  Me from the US, and my friend Adrian from England.  In the multi-cultural mix of San Jose/Northern California/Silicon Valley, I think it made me aware at an early age that being "the foreigner" is not easy and deserves respect/empathy. 

2. Made me want to live and work in other countries as an adult (UK and Japan mainly), which I think had a "giving forward" aspect to our kids and general family to give them a "Mumbles-like" experience for their youth. 

 

Hope that makes sense, and thanks for indulging me 🙂

[UKCruiseJeff]

6 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

As high-tech career paths go, it's mainly interesting to the participant.  But where Mumbles forms the line through the story arc is in these two ways: 

1. Introduced me to the concept of "foreignness", and being "the foreigner"; there were two kids in my class at The Grange that were "foreigners".  Me from the US, and my friend Adrian from England.  In the multi-cultural mix of San Jose/Northern California/Silicon Valley, I think it made me aware at an early age that being "the foreigner" is not easy and deserves respect/empathy. 

2. Made me want to live and work in other countries as an adult (UK and Japan mainly), which I think had a "giving forward" aspect to our kids and general family to give them a "Mumbles-like" experience for their youth. 

 

Hope that makes sense, and thanks for indulging me 🙂

 

It does make sense.  And the indulgence is on the other foot as your path is interesting.. 

 

Working in the Japanese corporate environment must have been an interesting learning curve.  Did you learn Japanese? 

 

Jeff

[johng75370]

6 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Did you learn Japanese? 

I worked for an American company, and most technical discussions would be in English, so while there was no requirement to deeply learn Japanese I did have a desire to do so.  Before moving there I went through an intensive language program at Univ. of California Berkeley for a summer (first year Japanese in 2.5 months), then had language lessons three times a week when there (Iidabashi Japanese Language School in Tokyo), Passed the first-level proficiency test (JLPT1), but have dropped off since moving back to California.  When I retire I hope to put more focus into my Japanese language studies.  It's a hard language because I'm frankly too old to learn enough Kanji to read books, but still young enough (60) to become verbally more fluent.  

[jpalbny]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I climbed Snowdon, when I was about 18, via  the Crib Goch route.  Pretty hairy, and at the top of course found women in high heels, who had come up on the train.

 

Did they look like these heels, which I saw while walking around Pompeii a few years ago?

 

 

3 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I Wouldn't dream of doing Crib Goch Lola. People are blown off the top frequently and Its a long way down. About 10 are lost every year. When I lived in London I used to climb Snowdon every year, usually Pyg and Miners tracks but since I moved here 21 years ago I've not been up once!

 

Davy, that's why I eat so well. The wind has no chance. 

Edited August 17 by jpalbny

[UKCruiseJeff]

1 hour ago, johng75370 said:

I worked for an American company, and most technical discussions would be in English, so while there was no requirement to deeply learn Japanese I did have a desire to do so.  Before moving there I went through an intensive language program at Univ. of California Berkeley for a summer (first year Japanese in 2.5 months), then had language lessons three times a week when there (Iidabashi Japanese Language School in Tokyo), Passed the first-level proficiency test (JLPT1), but have dropped off since moving back to California.  When I retire I hope to put more focus into my Japanese language studies.  It's a hard language because I'm frankly too old to learn enough Kanji to read books, but still young enough (60) to become verbally more fluent.  

 

That’s fascinating.

 

Faced with that choice in retirement, I’d shrug about learning better Japanese and use the time saved to eat more Japanese, or even learn a bit more on how to prepare it.  And of course you’d have a head start as you’ve been practising eating far earlier than you have been trying to speak Japanese.  Mind you I spend far too much time thinking about food. 

 

My main client was a major Japanese IT corp but thankfully I mostly dealt with the US, EU and Oz subsidiaries and they were a dream to work with.   The Japanese I found to be enigmatic. 

 

Thanks for talking about your story. 

 

Jeff

[Port Power]

Because my World Cruise next year is with Regent Seven Seas, I occasionally look on the thread over there.  Nowhere nearly as interesting or interactive as Silversea!  I was immensely surprised to find that Regent’s cooking classes are charged!  About $89 so I was told.  I could hardly believe it.  Or that plenty of people pay for them!  The cooking classes sound the same as the S.A.L.T. Lab classes, with ingredients already cut up and measured.  I love going to S.A.L.T. Lab, and I certainly hope the RCI bean counters don’t read the RSSC thread. Can you imagine…….

 

One poster evidently thought I meant cooking demonstrations and lectured about the venue being a proper, dedicated interactive kitchen.  I didn’t bother responding, not needing to ruffle feathers.  That person obviously did not know that S.A.L.T. Lab is the same thing.

 

Imagine how many classes I can do on the 2027 Silver Dawn world cruise! 🍳

[mysty]

13 minutes ago, Port Power said:

Because my World Cruise next year is with Regent Seven Seas, I occasionally look on the thread over there.  Nowhere nearly as interesting or interactive as Silversea!  I was immensely surprised to find that Regent’s cooking classes are charged!  About $89 so I was told.  I could hardly believe it.  Or that plenty of people pay for them!  The cooking classes sound the same as the S.A.L.T. Lab classes, with ingredients already cut up and measured.  I love going to S.A.L.T. Lab, and I certainly hope the RCI bean counters don’t read the RSSC thread. Can you imagine…….

 

One poster evidently thought I meant cooking demonstrations and lectured about the venue being a proper, dedicated interactive kitchen.  I didn’t bother responding, not needing to ruffle feathers.  That person obviously did not know that S.A.L.T. Lab is the same thing.

 

Imagine how many classes I can do on the 2027 Silver Dawn world cruise! 🍳

 

Discretion is the better part of valour @Port Power !  😁  Enjoy!  

[lincslady]

Davey - we went up Snowdon on a calm summer's day; even though young and rash we were not silly enough to do it in poor weather.  Unlike a lot of folk nowadays, who think having a smartphone will take care of them and then put the Mountain Rescue in danger by trying to do it in dodgy weather.