Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Lois R]

Truly Blonde.....welcome back😀

 

Jazz, did they email the results to your phone? I am hoping the Urgent Care place I am using will send the results to my regular email too........I am so old school......I want the hard copy.

 

Have a wonderful trip and a big Bon Voyage.🙂 Smooth sailing and Fair Seas.........

[mysty]

@jpalbny @spinnaker2 @lincslady @UKCruiseJeff You folks were Cooler denizens long before I tiptoed in.  And Jeff started this whole wondrous ball rolling !  Another who was here well before me was @Tothesunset .  My personal thanks for helping to create something that works and stands the test of time! 🥰

[frantic36]

49 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

Uh oh, feeling a sudden urge, so, to that clown who was tailgating me on the Parkway today, I think you are a jerk and got your license out of a Cracker Jack box!

 

I think we have all been there Que. 

 

Lat week driving my eldest son to get his second Covid jab on a wet day and same sort sitting on my tail gate 🤨.

 

Youngest son gets his second jab this Thursday and I will be so relieved. Especially since on Saturday 25th September we are holding the Australian Grand Finals here in Perth since Melbourne and Sydney are in lockdown. This means large crowds and we have the lowest vaccination uptake in all of Australia because of complacency as we have no Covid here. Concerned someone positive will sneak across to come and see the game and bring it in here.

[mysty]

10 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

I think we have all been there Que. 

 

Lat week driving my eldest son to get his second Covid jab on a wet day and same sort sitting on my tail gate 🤨.

 

Youngest son gets his second jab this Thursday and I will be so relieved. Especially since on Saturday 25th September we are holding the Australian Grand Finals here in Perth since Melbourne and Sydney are in lockdown. This means large crowds and we have the lowest vaccination uptake in all of Australia because of complacency as we have no Covid here. Concerned someone positive will sneak across to come and see the game and bring it in here.

 

Hope everything goes well for the second jab for youngest son and for the Australian Grand Final visitor population being COVID free!  

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

Jazz, did they email the results to your phone? I am hoping the Urgent Care place I am using will send the results to my regular email too........I am so old school......I want the hard copy.

I am very happy with Azova's testing protocol.  It is more expensive than the other brand, but based on a video I watched of how that one works I feel more confident with Azova.  [Plus Delta recommended it and provided a link, so I knew they would accept the results.]  You book your appointments when you order the kits and they send a machine-gun stream of reminders so you don't forget.  Then you log in on your phone or computer – the computer link didn't seem to work, but the phone did; the nice young lady agreed that having the computer link would make it easier when we needed to do things on the phone, so she called me back and we eventually got the computer link working – she was very patient.  DW and I had separate appointments, but she combined them and did both of us at once.  You have to establish a bluetooth link between your phone and their test gizmo [technical term - not!] into which you will insert your nose swab.  The gizmo takes 15 minutes to evaluate your test, which your phone counts down, and then a message pops up with your results:  negative!  Then you get an email which lets you link to the Azova website where your detailed results and a QR code can be downloaded as a pdf and [here's the answer you're waiting for:] printed out.  It was that pdf that I was able to upload to Delta, but I also made a hard copy which I will bring to the airport.

 

We have to do this again on Friday at our Portsmouth hotel, to assure the cruise line that we are still clean.  And they will do a last-minute test on Sunday before letting us on the charter flight.  All this testing is very reassuring.

[frantic36]

2 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

Hope everything goes well for the second jab for youngest son and for the Australian Grand Final visitor population being COVID free!  

 

Thanks mysty. I just wish many here would stop being so complacent and get jabbed. Our State Premier is refusing to open State borders to the Eastern States until we are 80-90% double jabbed. At the rate we are going he said we "may" open up next Easter. So there goes plans to holiday over East next February and catch up with family in Melbourne. Hence my comment about State elections.

[mysty]

1 minute ago, frantic36 said:

 

Thanks mysty. I just wish many here would stop being so complacent and get jabbed. Our State Premier is refusing to open State borders to the Eastern States until we are 80-90% double jabbed. At the rate we are going he said we "may" open up next Easter. So there goes plans to holiday over East next February and catch up with family in Melbourne. Hence my comment about State elections.

 

Yes I understood your comment about State elections.   We have the same issue here with Provincial elections.   Health is under Provincial governance and therefore so is the whole vaccine protocol.  Frustrations abound.   We have many folks here who are reluctant to get vaccinated.   I think the media did not help when they provided info that wasn't quite well researched.  I hope it works out for you!

[QueSeraSera]

34 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

I just wish many here would stop being so complacent and get jabbed.

 

28 minutes ago, mysty said:

I hope it works out for you!

Wishing you the best frantic36, so many miles between us all but so many problems we are dealing with are the same.

[Lois R]

42 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

Thanks mysty. I just wish many here would stop being so complacent and get jabbed. Our State Premier is refusing to open State borders to the Eastern States until we are 80-90% double jabbed. At the rate we are going he said we "may" open up next Easter. So there goes plans to holiday over East next February and catch up with family in Melbourne. Hence my comment about State elections.

You are preaching to the Choir.......we have MILLIONS of people who won't get jabbed😦......we seem to be in the same boat.....I wish the same thing you do.

[zqtchas]

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe fun day all!

[Reef Knot]

The office of National Statistics in the UK today published the latest figures:

Only 59 double vaccinated people without underlying conditions died from COVID out of more that 50,000 total deaths this year.

 

Think that sums up the vaccination debate  pretty well. 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Reef Knot
Typo

[zqtchas]

[UKCruiseJeff]

17 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

I want to reference something relating to @mysty lovely post.

A while back I posted something about living in Jupiter, FL. I was excited to see someone from there. It is a small town, and many people know one another. My children were schooled there, my youngest still lives and works there, etc. I was just trying to be friendly. That is who I am.

I did not want to give out the gated Community name, so thought the person would recognize it when I stated who lived there. It was by no means Political, and I have felt a coldness here since that time towards me. I have been afraid to post anything but just started again.

Anyway, I am just a friendly lady who happens to enjoy reading this board. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

Good Afternoon Trulies,

 

I found myself pondering and thinking about your post a fair amount over the last few days, which to be honest I so understood and at the same time felt upset about, and in the spirit that I respond selfishly to try and sate my own angst about your post so hope this uncorrecter and mispelt  untypoed response strikes a chord with you.

 

When I first read your posts a long time ago I though "what a gorgeous girl" and realised the power of creating a powerful descriptive handle because of course I have no idea about you but I did (and do) realise how you made me realise how unimaginitive and pedestrian my own handle is and was.  So you tought me.  🙂

 

For what it's worth, the bottom line is don't let anyone or anything stop you from the minor joys of posting and sharing because a few people who are unworthy of your attention essentially bullies you away from what you freely want to do and should do.  At no time in our lifetime have we needed more esapism and places where people are simply nice simply because they can be.  And in that vein do not depreive me of a Truly Blond.  I still have juices.  Don't .... please please please let the bullies win because if you and I and others do we empower them and allow them to beat us.  And a True Blond and an Old Grumpy Bald Irritating Fat bloke like me should simply shrug and ignore them.

 

I'm better at thinking than doing and I therefore tend to think a lot rather than do a lot.  Whatever I do ends up in injuries and blood and for me - luckilly - thinking has until recently ended up with lots of decent invoices and enough cash to eat and drink and travel and keep my wife wondering what will unexpectedly do next..

 

What has been bewildering to me is that for all of my life the many thousands of people I meet have been on the whole delightful, considerate and lovely.  I really struggle to think of many vile people  I have encountered face to face.  I have never in real life encountered cabals and cohorts of people who congegrate together to find common support and strength and fight common campaigns against people they have never met but decided they collectively dislike.  But there is a lot of them on the internet and here. They derive their power because you, I and others let them.  So let us not.  If we do essentially these people remove what might have been one of the greatest things about the internet and that is to remove isdolation for from people that might have people. They are a pox on a wonderful invention.

 

My minor contribution to CC life was calling the bluff of those that constantly complained about my own and others meanderings in other threads so I asked that we have a seperate thread for meanderings and too my joy and appreciation CC powers agreed and so that we could remove the source of their complaints.  Then - oddly - some them then  tried to have the Cooler stopped claiming that (a) they didn't read it and (b) that even though they didn't read it - it was wrong. Some have since then even been converted and post here.  🙂

 

Keep faith Trulies and do as I tell you. Contribute here and pull up a stool to the bar, get drunk with the rest here and celebrate the things that cause a smile.

 

🙂

 

Jeff x

 

[mysty]

@UKCruiseJeff I think what you initiated with the creation of the Cooler has become a safe haven for many folks.   Especially during the nasty when lockdowns and fear and a sense of hopelessness had the world by the throat, this space provided an escape!  Folks could laugh, share challenges and,  for a brief time at least,  pretend they were in the before times.  Thank you for your efforts and for this wonderful Cooler Bar! 🥰

[TrulyBlonde]

1 hour ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Good Afternoon Trulies,

 

I found myself pondering and thinking about your post a fair amount over the last few days, which to be honest I so understood and at the same time felt upset about, and in the spirit that I respond selfishly to try and sate my own angst about your post so hope this uncorrecter and mispelt  untypoed response strikes a chord with you.

 

When I first read your posts a long time ago I though "what a gorgeous girl" and realised the power of creating a powerful descriptive handle because of course I have no idea about you but I did (and do) realise how you made me realise how unimaginitive and pedestrian my own handle is and was.  So you tought me.  🙂

 

For what it's worth, the bottom line is don't let anyone or anything stop you from the minor joys of posting and sharing because a few people who are unworthy of your attention essentially bullies you away from what you freely want to do and should do.  At no time in our lifetime have we needed more esapism and places where people are simply nice simply because they can be.  And in that vein do not depreive me of a Truly Blond.  I still have juices.  Don't .... please please please let the bullies win because if you and I and others do we empower them and allow them to beat us.  And a True Blond and an Old Grumpy Bald Irritating Fat bloke like me should simply shrug and ignore them.

 

I'm better at thinking than doing and I therefore tend to think a lot rather than do a lot.  Whatever I do ends up in injuries and blood and for me - luckilly - thinking has until recently ended up with lots of decent invoices and enough cash to eat and drink and travel and keep my wife wondering what will unexpectedly do next..

 

What has been bewildering to me is that for all of my life the many thousands of people I meet have been on the whole delightful, considerate and lovely.  I really struggle to think of many vile people  I have encountered face to face.  I have never in real life encountered cabals and cohorts of people who congegrate together to find common support and strength and fight common campaigns against people they have never met but decided they collectively dislike.  But there is a lot of them on the internet and here. They derive their power because you, I and others let them.  So let us not.  If we do essentially these people remove what might have been one of the greatest things about the internet and that is to remove isdolation for from people that might have people. They are a pox on a wonderful invention.

 

My minor contribution to CC life was calling the bluff of those that constantly complained about my own and others meanderings in other threads so I asked that we have a seperate thread for meanderings and too my joy and appreciation CC powers agreed and so that we could remove the source of their complaints.  Then - oddly - some them then  tried to have the Cooler stopped claiming that (a) they didn't read it and (b) that even though they didn't read it - it was wrong. Some have since then even been converted and post here.  🙂

 

Keep faith Trulies and do as I tell you. Contribute here and pull up a stool to the bar, get drunk with the rest here and celebrate the things that cause a smile.

 

🙂

 

Jeff x

 

Jeff, 

You are the reason I arrived here. It was and is such a fun place to just hang out and see what others are doing and thinking about around the World.

My handle of Truly Blonde happens to be quite fun. It has Truly triggered many and I have had some nasty responses. I am a secure woman but also am human and there are many cruel people out there.

 

Thank you for taking time out of your precious day to help make my day a good one 🙂

😘

[mysty]

[V8Babe]

Jeff

 

So lovely to that you popped in for a visit and for leaving such a lovely message.

 

Hope all is well;  wish you stopped by more often.

 

Take care, Karin

 

[lincslady]

I'm not sure if TrulyBlonde was upset that someone made comments on her nom de plume?

 

On that topic, however, I think we do subconsciously take note of people's signatures on CC.  My proper one, I decided,  conjures up pictures of an old, rather prim, tweed clad lady in the country.  (The old bit is true).  I vaguely remember that Jeff and I worked out that LL could be changed in a signature to Lola, which conjures up more of a racy showgirl or transvestite, which I found much more amusing.  Only used on the Cooler, though.  I was once compared to the boring acres of vegetable growing in Lincs., by a well known CC poster, and actually felt a bit upset.  These days the trolling online is horrendous, and thank goodness we do not see it generally on CC - no doubt partly because those in charge have our email addresses.  

 

Have a good day, everyone, 

 

Lola

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks All,

 

And if I might be permitted - I'd like to make a general observation on why so many people stop posting and why it is important that people collectively do their best to prevent it.

 

The issue is that all of us reach a point when the negatives over-balance the positives.  Several have indicated their reasons why they stop posting.  Mine are the same.  The issue is that unless people speak up COLLECTIVELY and EVERY TIME with one heavier collective voice to add their total weight of voices of disaproval to hurtful and personalised posters who indulge in attacking behaviour then those people  are enabled by the vacuum and take that lack of sanction as their oxygen and will continue.  And what they often do as all bullies do is they congegate together and form gangs and cabals to collectively enjoy the pain they collectively inflict on their victims.  If you  simply shrug when you see it and don't condemn it then we all lose to them - and so will you in the future and receive no support. 

 

There is a need for the silent majority to stop being silent and shrugging and ignoring it, and to confront it when it happens and take back control over what constitutes clearly unfriendly unwelcome behaviour. and at the same time offer support to those that receive it. I'm not talking about behaviour that is so serious it will be deleted by a moderator but the continuous negative low-level nasty behaviour that wears people down over time so that at some point they shrug and give up.  There should be only two posting modes.  Either friendly or silent.

 

I am not talking about people who disagree with the contents of posts, but those that are wilfully rude and hurtful  and disrespectful and are focussing on particular posters rather than their posts.   Think of how many people lurk here but have still yet to post because they haven't yet gained the courage to.  Those people need places like the cooler probably even more than ever before and more than those that did take the plunge and are posting.  They suffer in isolation.

 

if people genuinely realise how important places like The Cooler are of welcome and safety  - particularly as exposed as most of us now to the increased isolation under covid it is even more important to have places where people can look forward to chiming in and post safely and look forward to exchanges and fun.  If you agree then it falls to you to confront this behaviour every time of those that wish to damage and hurt because of the weaknesses in their own lives.

 

Here endeth my meanderings for a while.  All the best to all and good peace during the rest of this existential pandemic.

 

Jeff 🙂

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe fun day all!

[lincslady]

mysty - just love the expression on the cat's face.

 

Jeff - maybe I have been lucky, but have seen very little real sniping on CC; certainly on the Cooler.  There used to be quite a lot on the Regent board, but a particular person left/was told to go, and that improved.  I worry about today's young people - particularly those who become famous, as they can endure appalling comments from usually jealous trollers.  I really hope that the delightful Emma Raducanu  sp.?) can avoid this sort of thing, now that she is very famous and of course very well off.  She does seem remarkably  poised and assured for her years, without being in the least vain.  There will be a lot of jealousy from those who are not as talented, lovely to look at, or well off as her, I fear!

[TrulyBlonde]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I'm not sure if TrulyBlonde was upset that someone made comments on her nom de plume?

 

On that topic, however, I think we do subconsciously take note of people's signatures on CC.  My proper one, I decided,  conjures up pictures of an old, rather prim, tweed clad lady in the country.  (The old bit is true).  I vaguely remember that Jeff and I worked out that LL could be changed in a signature to Lola, which conjures up more of a racy showgirl or transvestite, which I found much more amusing.  Only used on the Cooler, though.  I was once compared to the boring acres of vegetable growing in Lincs., by a well known CC poster, and actually felt a bit upset.  These days the trolling online is horrendous, and thank goodness we do not see it generally on CC - no doubt partly because those in charge have our email addresses.  

 

Have a good day, everyone, 

 

Lola

Dear Lola,

No, this was not about my nom de plume. I posted something about my neighborhood in Jupiter, FL and a certain politician has a son who lives there. I was scolded here and the post has been removed. My comment was not political at all. I could have said that Celine Dion lived there, but she has since moved, so that did not apply. I think everyone likes her 😉

Anyway, it is all done and over with and I again feel comfortable reading and posting here. I was a lurker here for years thanks to Jeff. 

Also, my real name combined with my middle name sounds like a stripper flashing in red neon lights. What was my Mother thinking?

 

[mysty]

2 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Thanks All,

 

And if I might be permitted - I'd like to make a general observation on why so many people stop posting and why it is important that people collectively do their best to prevent it.

 

The issue is that all of us reach a point when the negatives over-balance the positives.  Several have indicated their reasons why they stop posting.  Mine are the same.  The issue is that unless people speak up COLLECTIVELY and EVERY TIME with one heavier collective voice to add their total weight of voices of disaproval to hurtful and personalised posters who indulge in attacking behaviour then those people  are enabled by the vacuum and take that lack of sanction as their oxygen and will continue.  And what they often do as all bullies do is they congegate together and form gangs and cabals to collectively enjoy the pain they collectively inflict on their victims.  If you  simply shrug when you see it and don't condemn it then we all lose to them - and so will you in the future and receive no support. 

 

There is a need for the silent majority to stop being silent and shrugging and ignoring it, and to confront it when it happens and take back control over what constitutes clearly unfriendly unwelcome behaviour. and at the same time offer support to those that receive it. I'm not talking about behaviour that is so serious it will be deleted by a moderator but the continuous negative low-level nasty behaviour that wears people down over time so that at some point they shrug and give up.  There should be only two posting modes.  Either friendly or silent.

 

I am not talking about people who disagree with the contents of posts, but those that are wilfully rude and hurtful  and disrespectful and are focussing on particular posters rather than their posts.   Think of how many people lurk here but have still yet to post because they haven't yet gained the courage to.  Those people need places like the cooler probably even more than ever before and more than those that did take the plunge and are posting.  They suffer in isolation.

 

if people genuinely realise how important places like The Cooler are of welcome and safety  - particularly as exposed as most of us now to the increased isolation under covid it is even more important to have places where people can look forward to chiming in and post safely and look forward to exchanges and fun.  If you agree then it falls to you to confront this behaviour every time of those that wish to damage and hurt because of the weaknesses in their own lives.

 

Here endeth my meanderings for a while.  All the best to all and good peace during the rest of this existential pandemic.

 

Jeff 🙂

 

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

 

Jeff - maybe I have been lucky, but have seen very little real sniping on CC; certainly on the Cooler.  

 

I wanted to take some time to carefully consider and gather my thoughts before posting.  Jeff has made some excellent points and Lola has also generously contributed her impressions.  I agree with both posters.  I do not want to downplay the obvious instances of bullying that affected Cooler denizens.  However, my dilemma is that it is not always obvious to readers how anyone interprets or reacts to posts.  It is not always obvious that anyone is feeling bullied.  Everyone has different "hot buttons".  What may be hurtful to me is probably not going to appear as hurtful to another reader.  As Jeff mentioned people drift in and out of the Cooler.  Reasons are not obvious.  I am very fervently against bullying.  And I would have no problem standing firmly against by supporting the victim of bullying and posting in their defense here.  Any defense requires recognition of the issue.  If I have been bully-blind I am sorry!  

[TrulyBlonde]

Now, for some fun things to chat about. About 2 months ago, Mom and her 2 cubs were taking a stroll on my back patio (still under construction) and I was able to snap a pic of this little one. We have many bear there that try to come into our homes in the Summer. I think Mama Bear was giving her youngster a lesson in breaking and entering. It sure was adorable.

 

Have a great day!