P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[purplesea]

Aye, it is a bit blustery and chilly out today.

[brian1]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

Many only do the test to find out their ethnicity and are not interested in researching their families, unfortunately it’s the way Ancestry market the product. 
 

Currently helping some one find out what happened to her mother’s younger brother, who she believes was adopted at the age of 5, we have a possible match to him in Canada, but so far no response from him, quite frustrating.

I've found out I'm 30% Scottish.Have to get a rangers scarf now.

[brian1]

2 hours ago, Eddie99 said:

@brian1 I was only thinking of you and your quest to learn more of your history a couple of weeks ago.  I meant to ask whether there had been progress … well, there certainly has!  
These family stories are so interesting, even to we who are just bystanders.  Davina McColl, or the BBC series with Stacey somebody - always fascinating.  There was something a while ago with people born as a result of wartime liaisons with GIs from ”coloured battalions”, many of whom had extra difficult childhoods.

Did you see the one-off programme about Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Laureate, former Chief Scientific Officer & goodness knows what else?  He’s another whose (considerably) older “sister” is actually his mother? She has passed away but the half-siblings and cousins he has found are all delighting in his appearance.  

We look back and think of everything prim & proper, white gloves, church on Sunday, Two way Family Favourites, suburban families with 2.4 children, nothing naughty ever going on, but people are people, hormones are hormones, and nature is determined that species continue

Ooh, sorry.  I’ve gone on a bit!

Anyway - hope the meet-up is fantastic

 

The best one recently was sperm doner kids tracing their 30 siblings and the poor sod who only donated for the price of a few beers.

[brian1]

33 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Well we arrived in perranporth at 10 o’clock this morning and they let us in to our caravan early.

check in was supposed to be 4 o’clock so bonus, also has we were the first visitors of the year we got a bottle of Prosecco and two cuddles teddies, all good except we didn’t have any heating or hot water until 3 o’clock as the boiler was broke , all fix now and cozy and warm because it’s freezing and chuffing windy , had a scout around to get our bearings and had to have a local pasty and some wet stuff to go with it after all I’m a classy girl 😂😂

That's class.

[Eddie99]

@brian1 Yes - that’s a bit of a minefield, isn’t it?

I’m sure he wasn’t thinking of *his* children, just facilitating families for others, and, as you say, getting beer money for a few minutes with a dirty mag 

Edited March 8 by Eddie99

[Eddie99]

35 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Well we arrived in perranporth at 10 o’clock this morning and they let us in to our caravan early.

check in was supposed to be 4 o’clock so bonus, also has we were the first visitors of the year we got a bottle of Prosecco and two cuddles teddies, all good except we didn’t have any heating or hot water until 3 o’clock as the boiler was broke , all fix now and cozy and warm because it’s freezing and chuffing windy , had a scout around to get our bearings and had to have a local pasty and some wet stuff to go with it after all I’m a classy girl 😂😂

Hope you have a lovely break

It’s very windy at the coast.  It’s driven us back from our caravan, after an enjoyable few days away.  We’ll be there again soon, hopefully with a bit more sun and a lot less wind

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, brian1 said:

The best one recently was sperm doner kids tracing their 30 siblings and the poor sod who only donated for the price of a few beers.

My sister in law, white Irish ancestry was told she is 30% Nigerian.  A retest gave the same result but her brother not a sign of anything other than as expected....

[Eddie99]

10 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My sister in law, white Irish ancestry was told she is 30% Nigerian.  A retest gave the same result but her brother not a sign of anything other than as expected....

Fascinating, isn’t it?

There’s a scary statistic about the estimated number of Dads who aren’t actually biological fathers (and Mums who’re keeping very mum)

 

ETA (I’ve looked it up - 4% apparently)

Edited March 8 by Eddie99

[Eddie99]

[Rupert2251]

1 hour ago, Purdey16 said:

Well we arrived in perranporth at 10 o’clock this morning and they let us in to our caravan early.

check in was supposed to be 4 o’clock so bonus, also has we were the first visitors of the year we got a bottle of Prosecco and two cuddles teddies, all good except we didn’t have any heating or hot water until 3 o’clock as the boiler was broke , all fix now and cozy and warm because it’s freezing and chuffing windy , had a scout around to get our bearings and had to have a local pasty and some wet stuff to go with it after all I’m a classy girl 😂😂

Absolutely love Perranporth, we usually stay on Perran Sands which is ideally placed for everything. Have you visited Healeys Cider Farm? Best cream teas anywhere.

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Purdey16 said:

Well we arrived in perranporth at 10 o’clock this morning and they let us in to our caravan early.

check in was supposed to be 4 o’clock so bonus, also has we were the first visitors of the year we got a bottle of Prosecco and two cuddles teddies, all good except we didn’t have any heating or hot water until 3 o’clock as the boiler was broke , all fix now and cozy and warm because it’s freezing and chuffing windy , had a scout around to get our bearings and had to have a local pasty and some wet stuff to go with it after all I’m a classy girl 😂😂

Ah Perranporth.  I spent so many happy family holidays there and have so many happy memories. Stayed at Lisky Hill Caravan Site in the days before they had running water so had to walk to the block for a wash and collect water ! Think they got water eventually but I absolutely love the place. Say hello to Perranporth for me and have a great time.

Edited March 8 by Presto2

[doog442]

5 hours ago, brian1 said:

It's strange that people put themselves on the Ancestry platform but "bottle it" when contacted.

 

My wife bought me a kit for Christmas and I've ticked all of the privacy boxes. She bought it for a laugh as hers showed she had a big chunk of Norway and Scotland in the DNA and she wants to know if she's more Scottish than me (my dad was Scottish). That's it no more, no less - simply a bit of fun. I only sent it off yesterday.

 

Incidentally we got one for my wife a few years back when it was all the rage because she's dark skinned and it intrigued us as we can't see a family link . It transpires there was a mass movement of blue eyed dark skinned folk to parts of Norway thousands of years ago from the Med which may explain it - who knows. Anyway it's a decent joke at parties- nope she's not from somewhere exotic, she's bloody Norwegian.🤣

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, brian1 said:

The best one recently was sperm doner kids tracing their 30 siblings and the poor sod who only donated for the price of a few beers.

We watched that one. I feel sorry for the men who donated their sperm never expecting that the children resulting from their donations would search them out.  I can imagine that in some cases it could cause problems now that they have wives and families.

[Beckett]

@brian1 Thank you for sharing your back story in such detail with us. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not just a terrible, sad, and moving 'story' , not something seen on tv and embellished for effect, but your actual life. I don't quite know what to say except good luck with your future meetings and connections. I hope they fill in some missing pieces for you and bring you some new and welcome family members. They will be lucky to have you. Jane xx

[grapau27]

We took our Sarah out for a meal tonight.

I deleted the photos because I don't appreciate a laughing response.

Edited March 8 by grapau27

[zap99]

5 hours ago, Rupert2251 said:

Absolutely love Perranporth, we usually stay on Perran Sands which is ideally placed for everything. Have you visited Healeys Cider Farm? Best cream teas anywhere.

St pirran landed there to convert the heathens.  Adopt my flag as your own he said. The heathens said ' whatever ' and got on with their lives. St Pirrans banner is still the Cornish flag.

[Eglesbrech]

15 hours ago, Sarah1974 said:

The cost for fortnightly garden waste collection on the Isle of Wight is over £100 per year!

That’s utterly ridiculous.

 

I refuse to pay the Council any more for garden waste as they already get a hefty amount in tax. So we bought a hot composting bin which now resides at the back of the garage out of view from the house. Might be worth thinking about if you have space for one?

[indiana123]

Are you up early or going to bed late Eglesbrech?  It's the  latter for me.   Goodnight.

 

Not sure it's worth it now though, not tired yet.

[Angel57]

51 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

Are you up early or going to bed late Eglesbrech?  It's the  latter for me.   Goodnight.

 

Not sure it's worth it now though, not tired yet.

Oh no, that sounds like a very long night for you. Hope you asleep now!

[lincslady]

Hard to decide, I imagine, indiana.  For me, up (very) early, or at least awake since 2.30, and now thinking of getting up as soon as there is a reasonable amount of daylight.  Some nights it is just not worth trying to go to sleep, you just know you won't be able to so no point lying in the dark.

It is surprising how many of us manage pretty well even though we don't get a good sleep on quite a few nights.  It is a bit of a comfort to know there are a lot of us around.  I hope you are reading this much later in the day after a sleep though.

 

Onwards and upwards, nil carborundum etc.

[brian1]

10 hours ago, Beckett said:

@brian1 Thank you for sharing your back story in such detail with us. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not just a terrible, sad, and moving 'story' , not something seen on tv and embellished for effect, but your actual life. I don't quite know what to say except good luck with your future meetings and connections. I hope they fill in some missing pieces for you and bring you some new and welcome family members. They will be lucky to have you. Jane xx

I love you Jane ,even if you are a Gooner.😉

[Eddie99]

My sleep, or my perception of my sleep, has changed dramatically since Santa brought me a FitBit.  I didn’t want it to monitor my sleep - just to be with me all the time and monitor my exercise and give me a heads-up when I have been inactive for a while

Anyway - it monitors sleep and gives a read-out in the morning 

I’ve been really surprised at how much I’m getting in “mini-sleeps”, even when I know I’ve looked at the clock and found it to be 2.30am, or even when I’ve spent some time listening to the radio

Always the sceptic, I tried to research the accuracy, and it appears there may be an over-estimate of up to 10%.  
Even allowing for that, it appears to show me getting reasonable sleep and (here’s the good bit) allows me to feel much more relaxed about it and, guess what, I’m sleeping better and longer as the weeks go on

 

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

That’s utterly ridiculous.

 

I refuse to pay the Council any more for garden waste as they already get a hefty amount in tax. So we bought a hot composting bin which now resides at the back of the garage out of view from the house. Might be worth thinking about if you have space for one?

Ours garden waste in Sunderland is £37 for fortnight collection's from April to November only.

It is 6°C, cloudy and breezy here at the moment.

I hope everyone as a nice weekend.

[Snow Hill]

3 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

That’s utterly ridiculous.

 

I refuse to pay the Council any more for garden waste as they already get a hefty amount in tax. So we bought a hot composting bin which now resides at the back of the garage out of view from the house. Might be worth thinking about if you have space for one?

I have one of those as well, we compost most of vegetable and fruit waste in it, plus soft plant waste and some lawn mowings. Other woody cuttings get shredded and composted in dalek compost bins or used as a mulch to reduce evaporation from soil.

 

The liquid from the hotbin makes great liquid fertiliser. 

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

I have one of those as well, we compost most of vegetable and fruit waste in it, plus soft plant waste and some lawn mowings. Other woody cuttings get shredded and composted in dalek compost bins or used as a mulch to reduce evaporation from soil.

 

The liquid from the hotbin makes great liquid fertiliser. 

Yes we bought a shredder as well a couple of years ago.

 

The cost for garden waste went from included in council tax 3 years ago to doubled year on year. While it cost more initially for the hot composter I reckon it will pay for itself in 2 years with the added bonus of the compost.

 

I remonstrated with the council when they brought in the charge. I don’t see why I should pay for a garden waste collection when it’s one of the very few services I (used to) actually get.