Reef Knot

I mentioned in a previous post that Madagascar is one of 3 countries that have refused the vaccine. Since then the president of Tanzania ( one of the other 3 countries to refuse) died a few days ago of Covid.
Despite an uptick in covid cases here in Mada the president remains adament that the local organic "cure" is enough.
Worryingly, here the percentage of positive cases is coming in at around 25% .
We continue to take precautions but would love the opportunity  to have an appointment for a vaccine.
 

This also appeared briefly here in Madagascar, but for some reason didn't really take off!

15 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

Drove on a few of those roads in Madagascar! This is the RN6. Rue Nationale, as in one of the main roads. 

 

 

Luckily I don't wear either...

 

 

Ah JP, yup the RN 6 gets pretty horrible the further north you go. And that's not the worst here, the notorious RN 5 is if often cited in any list of the worst roads in the world. 

Just recently we drove to Tamatave in the east on the RN2 which is considered the best road in Madagascar,  220 miles took us 8hrs 45 mins.

So route national is a bit of a misnomer.

We are in Madagascar, one of 3 countries in the world who refuse to take any vaccines ( Tanzania and Eritrea being the other 2) 

So I envy you guys getting your 1st and 2nd doses. 

An upbeat report in the Times of London today. The European Union have agreed to introduce vaccine passports by the summer.

Angela Merkel said  “Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate, this will make traveling within the EU possible and could pave the way for further travel from third countries into the EU.”

 I would imaging that the travel industry will welcome this initiative.  It seems to me the most obvious way of getting people safely back on planes and ships.  The desire to travel is there people are itching to book holidays. The future has to be looking brighter.

15 hours ago, zqtchas said:

here is a great die(t)

Scary video but the sort of place I would probably try out if passing.

However my wife is Swiss and if there is one thing guaranteed to really annoy them it is the Swiss flag emblem being associated with first aid/medical care. What's wrong with a red cross

An interesting piece in the Times of London today on the future of cruising in general.

To quote from the 1st paragraph “A passage on the Oceania Cruises 2023 world voyage is no cheap ticket. Fares start at £38,059 for the lowliest inside cabin, rising to £74,019pp for a suite. Yet when sales for the 180-day voyage opened on January 27, all the berths were snapped up in a single day. “Despite the challenges the world faces today, travellers are clearly bullish about the future,” said Oceania’s president and chief executive, Bob Binder, in something of an understatement.

It goes on to say that 2022 and beyond will see a spending spree especially for high end cruises in far off places. 

The bank of England claims that Brits are sitting on £250 million in unspent savings accumulated during this pandemic. According to Uniworld 2022  bookings are up 425% on last year. Expedition cruises  popular before Covid are benefiting from people wanting to fulfill bucket list trips and to hell with the cost

However the article does point out that much needs to happen before these bookings turn into a reality, namely the opening of borders and vaccinations.

But the main take away from is that people want to spend their money when this is over treat themselves and see exotic places in luxury. 

I first heard of Iowa through the books of Bill Bryson. " I come from Des Moines somebody had to"

Great travel books, memoirs and non fiction.

The Thunderbolt kid, about growing up in Iowa was very funny and of course his "Notes from a small island" detailing his first travels around the UK. 

He also has a way to dumb down complicated subjects to make them enjoyable and easy to understand

The body and a short History of nearly everything

I tasted the Verdant and as I recall it was also a little different to the normals gins. I just thought that the Amber had a really unique taste. On the nose it doesn't exactly smell like gin (as we know it) but with tonic and a slice of orange it releases the flavours. As I say its not to everyones liking. 

Following on from the purple Empress gin this is one I bought in Cape Town.

It's all about the Fynbos of the western cape. They have 3 versions the Classic, Verdant (golden green ) and Amber .

They really have a unique taste that isn’t to everyones liking, well my wife at least doesn't like it, fortunately I think its rather nice.

Despite NFL’s lack of global recognition outside of North America, I would imagine that if you asked random sports fans in Europe to name an American Football player Tom Brady would be top of the list. 

He might not be up there with Pele, Woods and Jordan as a global name but he is definitely very well known outside of the States as probably the greatest QB.

18 hours ago, zqtchas said:

Bored? Try this!

Brilliant. I wonder how long that took to set up 

For all the foodies at the cooler, a little bit of trivia that you might find interesting.

Well yesterday was frustrating,  we had been without water since 7:00am  (a fairly common occurrence round here) and electricity cuts throughout the day 

However a cheese soufflé was on the menu for last night. It went into the preheated oven for 30 mins, after 25 mins I  checked to see how it was progressing only to see zero rise. Turns out the gas bottle had run out (at what point of the cooking I have no idea).  So into the yard to disconnect the BBQ bottle and do the changeover.  Once the oven was again up to temp the soufflé cooked for another 20 mins and surprise surprise achieved a perfect rise and fluffiness. However, as we sat down to eat and the electricity went, so we had a candlelit cheese soufflé supper which was actually very nice. Had to leave the dishes to pile up along with the lunch stuff. The power came back a few hours later but went again after half and hour. This is really not a good time for these cuts as we are experiencing daily temps in the mid 30’s centigrade range.

So at one point we had no power, no water and no gas, think that was a first. The water came back during the night at some point but was cut again at around 7:00 this morning. Really hoping it comes back  sometime today.  On the plus side we do have power and I bought another bottle gas for the BBQ so maybe some grilled meat tonight and plenty of cold beers.

Tommy Cooper 

Hmm, am now a little more concerned. Last July I booked the Manaus to Miami cruise for March 2022.

Got a good price by paying in full and took advantage of the $1000 OBC,  was comforted by the fact that I can cancel for a 100% refund up to 121 days out.

 Have been tacking the prices and they have increased by about £800 over the last few months. I also see that vista and panorama suites are waitlist. So I'm reluctant to cancel now and dive back in nearer the time in the hope of securing a similar deal.

 I'm going to hang in there but the first rumor I hear and I'll be on the phone to cancel.

4 hours ago, Lvshack said:

Fevertree !! I live 30mins away from where it's bottled😁  it saved one of the oldest makers of  babycham ( sweet bubbles ) in Somerset .. it's the posh Schweppes here 😉

Ahh babycham, that takes me back. The height of sophistication back in the 70's😉

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

The secret to G&T connoisseur-ship is the tonic, which comprises 3/4 or so of the mixture.  A lengthy discussion of G&Ts on the Azamara board [which is dominated by Brits] turned up many preferences among Gin but unanimous agreement that the best tonic is Fever-Tree.  And Fever-Tree has helpfully put together a chart that shows which flavo(u)r of tonic goes best with which Gin:

Thanks Jazz, I didn't realise there was so much choice out there.

Obviously I can't judge without trying but I find gin has enough going on without the addition of more flavours, I also tend to make a 300ml bottle of tonic stretch to 2-3 gins so dont like to drown it. 

Anyway where I am we don't even have the "luxury" of Schweppes just locally bottled tonic which can be a little hit and miss at times vis a vis the carbonation (its generally fine but time to time we get a flat batch)

But duly noted and when next in a Fevertree region I'll be sure to try the different flavours.

As a side note I wish I'd bought Fevertree shares when they launched in 2014 at £1.34p

They were up to £41 in 2018 and even now they trade at £24. 

I  enjoy a G&T  but I’ve generally been in the Gordon's gin and whatever tonic is at hand camp. 

However a dinner guest on Friday bought me a bottle of Hendricks Midsummer Solstice, tried it on Saturday and Sunday with a regular tonic water and have to say it’s really very good. 

Maybe I’ve been missing out all these years.

Oops sorry LVshack,  I should have checked before duplicating your post. My bad.

I tried to delete the above post sorry.