Another Live from thread - Queen Victoria Greek Islands

[rakkor]

Yesterday's Blog post and Daily Programme is now up at https://blog.rakkor.uk

 

It's been a bit flat/boring the last two sea days, the weather closing in and it chucking it down hasn't helped. there's plenty to do but mustering up the enthusiasm to do it has been the problem apart from the Trivia Quizzes. And today the dreaded packing mat was on the bed when we returned from breakfast, so guess what we've spent the last hour doing?

 

Last night was the first appearance of Canapes on this cruise for us. They no longer seem to appear before 6pm in the Commodore Club and since we don't really do pre-dinner cocktails we have been missing out

 

 

One other thing missing from dinner in the PG Restaurant this time is we've not had any 

amuse-bouche served, they were available last September on QE but none on this cruise.

 

 

 

 

[rakkor]

After the packing we headed up for lunch and it's turned out to be quite a glorious afternoon with sun on the deck and not too much of a breeze

 

[Host Hattie]

Welcome back! I hope it's not too much of a nasty shock, thanks for taking us along with you again. 

[ballroom-cruisers]

Yes nice smooth disembarkation back on home soil, and at least it's dry at the moment in Southampton though clearly it's been raining earlier.

 

A lovely last evening with lots of people in the ballroom after dinner enjoying dancing right through to 1130pm when the music finally stopped! The latter half of the evening was party night with the Four D's, but some great ballroom and Latin dancing before they started. A lot enjoying the bopping to the disco too.

Edited October 20, 2023 by ballroom-cruisers
typo

[rakkor]

We're still stuck on board and feeling a little miffed - As both Grills and Diamond, we'd have expected to have disembarked early, but our time is scheduled for 09:30 - Lots of announcements saying delays and don't hog the gangway

[rakkor]

The QEII terminal was chaos with huge queues for planned pickups, taxis couldn't get through the mess to the taxi rank and no one seemed to know what was going on. This compares with the Amsterdam cruise which also used QEII and seemed way more efficient and everything went smoothly

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, rakkor said:

The QEII terminal was chaos with huge queues for planned pickups, taxis couldn't get through the mess to the taxi rank and no one seemed to know what was going on. This compares with the Amsterdam cruise which also used QEII and seemed way more efficient and everything went smoothly

A miserable end to what seems to have been a splendid cruise. When were you eventually allowed off?

[ballroom-cruisers]

Shame it got chaotic after a normal smooth earlier disembarkation. Road traffic a bit high with QM2 and another ship in port as well today.

[aday10]

That’s a shame, I wonder what the delay was? 
 

currently waiting to board, no one has been allowed on the ship yet. 

[Petulia]

1 hour ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

Shame it got chaotic after a normal smooth earlier disembarkation. Road traffic a bit high with QM2 and another ship in port as well today.

If you’re heading back up north today, the weather is not good here. High winds and persistent heavy rain. Take care. 

[rakkor]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

A miserable end to what seems to have been a splendid cruise. When were you eventually allowed off?

Just after I posted the first message, we ended queuing for well over an hour for a taxi, I had originally ordered an Uber but that gave up trying to get to us and after that I couldn't get one after that.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, rakkor said:

Just after I posted the first message, we ended queuing for well over an hour for a taxi, I had originally ordered an Uber but that gave up trying to get to us and after that I couldn't get one after that.

Wretched for you.

[rakkor]

We're well on the way home now, after a quick visit to Jane's Dad's house to pick up the car and raid M&S for some provisions, we're driving along a sunny M25

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, rakkor said:

We're well on the way home now, after a quick visit to Jane's Dad's house to pick up the car and raid M&S for some provisions, we're driving along a sunny M25

Yes, the weather down here is much better than feared.

[ballroom-cruisers]

Enjoy your sunshine in the south. The weather further north is truly atrocious now.

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

Enjoy your sunshine in the south. The weather further north is truly atrocious now.

Yes, I’ve seen some pictures. Absolutely dire, particularly if one has to travel.

[NE John]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, the weather down here is much better than feared.

Your (along with @Victoria2 and others on this board) self-deprecating and making fun of reality humo(u)r really make my day!

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, NE John said:

Your (along with @Victoria2 and others on this board) self-deprecating and making fun of reality humo(u)r really make my day!

That is a delightful thing to say. I must admit I’m not sure I’d be terribly humorous if my luggage had ended up in the harbour. But I spent a whole career making pupils find Latin grammar amusing (and memorable), so I’ve had plenty of practice.

[NE John]

12 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

That is a delightful thing to say. I must admit I’m not sure I’d be terribly humorous if my luggage had ended up in the harbour. But I spent a whole career making pupils find Latin grammar amusing (and memorable), so I’ve had plenty of practice.

I still remember the first Latin word they taught in the all-boys Episcopal school I attended. Puella.
Of course that was just the Nominative case. 

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, NE John said:

I still remember the first Latin word they taught in the all-boys Episcopal school I attended. Puella.
Of course that was just the Nominative case. 

Also, the vocative, so you could use it to address a passing girl. Always useful.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, NE John said:

I still remember the first Latin word they taught in the all-boys Episcopal school I attended. Puella.
Of course that was just the Nominative case. 

Ha, all boys eh?

Our greeting from the Latin mistress  was salvete puellae.

 

She said whatever you forget [most as far as I was concerned] you will always remember amo amas amat, amamas amatis amant.

 

She wasn't wrong!!

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Ha, all boys eh?

Our greeting from the Latin mistress  was salvete puellae.

 

She said whatever you forget [most as far as I was concerned] you will always remember amo amas amat, amamas amatis amant.

 

She wasn't wrong!!

 

Very good. We used to have to thank the teacher for the lesson at the end. gratias tibi agimus. I never made my pupils do that.

[Victoria2]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

 

Very good. We used to have to thank the teacher for the lesson at the end. gratias tibi agimus. I never made my pupils do that.

There isn't a cat in hell's chance I would have thanked my Latin teachers for the lesson. Pure purgatory!!

 

The funny thing is, when my son started Latin in secondary school, I loved helping him and found my love of words actually stemmed from Latin classes decades ago,

 

Funny old world!

[NE John]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Very good. We used to have to thank the teacher for the lesson at the end. gratias tibi agimus. I never made my pupils do that.

We had to stand up every time a teacher or adult walked in. Literally “old-school”. 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, NE John said:

We had to stand up every time a teacher or adult walked in. Literally “old-school”. 

I always used to make mine (the younger ones anyway) stand up, which was by no means universal practice in the school. It was a way of signalling the start of the lesson, and they didn’t seem to mind.