Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Host Jazzbeau]

Maybe we should all just watch this, and chill out...

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21051906/

 

[interesting review just published on the Wall Street Journal website, but it's behind a paywall]

[UKCruiseJeff]

2 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Be careful Jeff – your political situation isn't going to win any awards either.

 

We are in an awful fix. I have no idea how we contrive to make these things happen.

 

I’ve also just discovered when opening my vote papers that they have realigned boundaries and we’re expected to vote for people who have nothing to do with our constituency.  

 

The world gets more bewildering.  

 

Still there is bread to be made and olive oil that needs mopping up and wine to be drunk.  🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

6 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Maybe we should all just watch this, and chill out...

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21051906/

 

[interesting review just published on the Wall Street Journal website, but it's behind a paywall]

 

I read the WSJ every day … as well as the WP!

 

I liked the item about the kosher dill pickles! 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, UKCruiseJeff said:

We are in an awful fix. I have no idea how we contrive to make these things happen.

 

I’ve also just discovered when opening my vote papers that they have realigned boundaries and we’re expected to vote for people who have nothing to do with our constituency.  

 

The world gets more bewildering.  

 

Still there is bread to be made and olive oil that needs mopping up and wine to be drunk.  🙂

 

Jeff

That sounds like our 'gerrymandering' of districts [is that really the way people want to go down in history???]

 

So tell us more about this magic Olive Oil you just bought – and are you getting an ancient Balsamic to go with it?  [I was able to get some artisanal Greek olive oil that had been flown into the US shortly after pressing.  It was very good.  But I guess no one else on Amazon was willing to pay the price because they never offered any future releases.]

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, UKCruiseJeff said:

I read the WSJ every day … as well as the WP!

You must be one of a very select group, to read both of those.  Kind of like reading the Telegraph and the Guardian?

[UKCruiseJeff]

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You must be one of a very select group, to read both of those.  Kind of like reading the Telegraph and the Guardian?

 

You only learn by listening to both sides of every story.  

 

The terrible painful truth is that you learn nothing from people that share the same opinions as yours, and can only learn from people that disagree with your views.  Sometimes if you are of a fortunate mindset one can even change one’s mind about things and grow from listening.

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

6 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

That sounds like our 'gerrymandering' of districts [is that really the way people want to go down in history???]

 

So tell us more about this magic Olive Oil you just bought – and are you getting an ancient Balsamic to go with it?  [I was able to get some artisanal Greek olive oil that had been flown into the US shortly after pressing.  It was very good.  But I guess no one else on Amazon was willing to pay the price because they never offered any future releases.]

 

Unfiltered from rare and early olives.  One from ancient farm outside Florence. The other from an older Sicilian farm.

 

Can’t wait.

 

Jeff

 

Edited Friday at 02:03 AM by UKCruiseJeff

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

I liked the item about the kosher dill pickles!

That spot on the bottom of the front page always has the most interesting human interest stories – and this one does sound very 'English' to me!

 

The WSJ website now runs the grammar editor's monthly report, which I find incredibly interesting – first to learn more about the niceties of grammar [that I may, or may not, agree with] but also to see him give awards to the best pun headlines, which are so frequent on the WSJ that I knew they had to be encouraging them.

 

Wow - we're having a colloquy on good things in the press!  Who'd a thunk it in 2024?  Takes of edge off Flanders and Swann's:  O Tempora, O Mores!  O Times, O Daily Mirror!

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 minute ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

 

 

 

Is there a result of this vertical tasting?  [And does the name of the second one imply that it is the olive oil that Jesus would have turned water into?]

[DavyWavey70]

Well one girl I’d certainly like to meet at a party is Grunhild Carlsberg. I so hope she’s there at the Albert hall next April. We seem to have a similar two fingers approach to life. 

 

Edited Friday at 02:28 AM by DavyWavey70

[drron29]

35 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

You only learn by listening to both sides of every story.  

 

The terrible painful truth is that you learn nothing from people that share the same opinions as yours, and can only learn from people that disagree with your views.  Sometimes if you are of a fortunate mindset one can even change one’s mind about things and grow from listening.

 

Jeff

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately most people only read what they believe. I read both right and left media locally plus a few international media outlets. I used to read Russia Today but now it’s outlawed here in Australia so I have substituted Al Jazzera.

 

If you don’t know what you’re enemy is saying then you are in trouble.

[drron29]

1 hour ago, DavyWavey70 said:

The print did rub off though!

Even in Australia in the 50s houses were built with outside dunnies and cans to be picked up by the local dunny truck. 
We mainly used the Sydney Morning Herald but I hated the news print. Fortunately my dad would always buy in bulk from the market so my preferred paper was the wrapper that always came with the apples. Nice and smooth.

[Grand Duchess]

On 6/27/2024 at 3:29 AM, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Don’t be daft.  You know the answer to that.  I have every single kitchen gadget ever invented in my garage.

 

You need more than $40.

 

Breville/Cuisinart are the brands.

 

In an absolutely ideal world you’d have a flat plate that’s reversible to a ridged plate.  But then you also need a toasty plate. And a waffle plate.  And then someone will think of something else-plate to sell us gullibles.

 

Do yourself a favour spend more and get a bigger garage to store the stuff in.  In the long run you’ll save money because you won’t have any more space to buy cars.  

 

Jeff

How did you know? It's a good thing I don't drive then🤣

[UKCruiseJeff]

6 hours ago, drron29 said:

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately most people only read what they believe. I read both right and left media locally plus a few international media outlets. I used to read Russia Today but now it’s outlawed here in Australia so I have substituted Al Jazzera.

 

If you don’t know what you’re enemy is saying then you are in trouble.

 

I have no idea whether I’m fortunate or unfortunate as I find that I think of neither left or right as being sort of enemy or a best fit for me.  

 

As I’ve got older I have found I’m crawling slowly to what’s termed “left” as I believe that we’re all deserving to a set of minimum life standards perhaps best described as a minimum universal income.  I think in our advanced society there should be enough ingenuity to contrive and ensure that everyone has enough food, warmth and shelter but that only the fertile environment for wealth creation and aspiration can fund it. 

 

Many people gravitate to publications that support their personal politics and beliefs because it provides them with the comfort and reassurance of self-validation.  It tells them that they are right.    Too few are sufficiently inquisitive to try and understand why others have a completely mirror-image different set of views.  But things needn’t  be polarised. I simply love having my mind changed because it validates at least three traits.  The ability to listen to contra-arguments, being open-minded and genuinely vulnerable to mind changing.  

 

Being inconsistent I believe is a strength not a weakness. 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 09:03 AM by UKCruiseJeff

[MissSophia]

Hello Coolers….

 

I’m not politically minded so won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by commenting….

I do however wish that we could have a dedicated TV channel for both politics and sport so the rest of us can enjoy some lighter entertainment 🤨

 

On the subject of outside toilets, my paternal grandmother lived in a very small terraced house with only one such toilet down the yard…she cooked herself a one pan fry up for breakfast every morning then poured the remaining fat over it…..she drank copious amounts of gin, fell down the stairs at 90 but still managed to dance the night away on her birthday night….she finally succumbed at the age of 108…

I’m praying I’ve inherited her genes!

 

S 😊

 

[lincslady]

Hope for us all, Miss Sophia.

 

I am afraId that for me and almost everyone I know, even bothering to vote this time feels  pointless.  The country is not in a good  financial state, and no potential leader gives one confidence to feel that they can tackle it with vital action,  decent enough people though they seem to be.  

[zqtchas]

Quotes to Ponder

 

 

That money talks, I'll not deny, I heard it once: It said, 'Goodbye'.

Richard Armour

 

 

Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again.

Robert Heinlein

 

 

Every dogma has its day.

Anthony Burgess

 

 

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog.

Christopher Morley

 

 

The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.

Voltaire

 

 

As I learned from growing up, you don’t mess with your grandmother.

Prince William

 

 

Trying is the first step toward failure.

Homer Simpson

 

 

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

Don Marquis

 

 

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.

Mae West

 

I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

Charles M. Schulz

 

I'm going to marry a Jewish woman because I like the idea of getting up

on  Sunday morning and going to the deli.

Michael J. Fox

 

Progress might have been alright once, but it has gone on too long.  

Ogden Nash

 

The last time I saw him he was walking down lover's lane holding his own hand.

Fred Allen

 

Pears are ripe for half an hour.  They’re like a rock, or they’re mush.  You take them home and put

them in a bowl, and they sit there going, “No, don’t ripen yet, wait until he goes out of the room! ”

Eddie Izzard

 

 

 

Right now I’m have amnesia and déjà vu at the same time…I think I’ve forgotten this before. 

Steven Wright.

 

 

If God sneezes, I really don't know what to say.

Henny Youngman

 

 

Or stew in your wine over…..

[spinnaker2]

17 hours ago, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

Well, got back from the Alaska cruise and the peas were in fine form.  Have been wanting to make an Italian dish (from Marcella Hazen cookbook) Risi e Bisi.  (Rice & peas) Similar to risotto, but a little soupy, all the better to soak up the freshly grated parmesan, of course.  A nice early summer dish, with a bottle of Oregon pinot grigio.  

OMG PEASSSS PLEASE!!!

[highplanesdrifters]

21 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Over the last few days I have been diverting my attention from shiny things to extremely self-indulgent olive oil.  The sort of oil that no restaurant would ever buy. 

 

I have just ordered some and I can barely contain my excitement.  I am counting the hours.  

 

This is what my life has come to.  

 

Jeff

 

Care to share your favorites. Pretty please.😃

 

Looks like you already did, thanks.

Edited Friday at 02:44 PM by highplanesdrifters

[highplanesdrifters]

17 hours ago, Emtbsam said:

Forgive me for posting about a cruise, but after last year’s fiasco on the Nova, I seriously reconsidered our future cruises on Silversea.  Well, I can say that I am thrilled with our current cruise in Svalbard on the Wind.  It feels very much like the “old” Silversea.  The ship is lovely and the food is spectacular.  Even the free pour wines are pretty good.  Now if I could just throw a few passengers overboard it would be perfect!

 

Our recent C2C trip on SS Cloud also felt like the old Silversea. Excellent service and food.  Interesting that they are both Expedition Ships.

[Tothesunset]

2 hours ago, MissSophia said:

Hello Coolers….

 

I’m not politically minded so won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by commenting….

I do however wish that we could have a dedicated TV channel for both politics and sport so the rest of us can enjoy some lighter entertainment 🤨

 

On the subject of outside toilets, my paternal grandmother lived in a very small terraced house with only one such toilet down the yard…she cooked herself a one pan fry up for breakfast every morning then poured the remaining fat over it…..she drank copious amounts of gin, fell down the stairs at 90 but still managed to dance the night away on her birthday night….she finally succumbed at the age of 108…

I’m praying I’ve inherited her genes!

 

S 😊

 

108? If only she'd looked after herself.... 

[UKCruiseJeff]

8 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Care to share your favorites. Pretty please.😃

 

Until now most of my purchases has simply been high-end supermarket purchases so my decision to up my game from that is relatively recent.

 

My cousin bought a farm in Italy and he gave me a bottle of extremely cloudy deep green oil from his farm many years ago.  It had quite an effect on me and it was extraordinary.  Since then I have only bought unfiltered very deep green rustic simply cold pressed oil.  hence those two bottles a few days ago.  I also bought some extraordinary oil direct from a farm near St Paul De Vence on a visit to Colombe d’or to buy the oil they were using.  

 

We use to spend a lot of time in Nice and a shop Olio Donato there sells and send it by mail order one of our favourites which is a Provence Herb Oil.

 

https://en.oliodonato.com/huiles

 

FWIW, what I’ve learned just as a very daft generalisation is that in a way a bit UNLIKE wine - if you disregard ostentasious bottles and boxing you do get much more of what you pay for if you spend a lot on olive oil.  Although part of the price might be rarity, I’m now buying unfiltered early harvest cold pressed small batch oils.

 

Not certain that’s helpful!

 

Jeff

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

[lincslady]

Hadn't seen that one, Jeff.  Perfect.

[UKCruiseJeff]

24 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Hadn't seen that one, Jeff.  Perfect.

 

 

Today’s Times.  

 

They should have one that includes France etc etc

 

Jeff