Adawn47

4 hours ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

Avril have you thought about Saga Cruises, much more expensive than P an O but more up market, prices include home pick up and insurance on the love!y smaller adult on!y ships.I think you would love them.

I was surprised with what the included insurance would cover, we used them last year and are booked for this and next year.

They suit us fine since we no longer wish to fly to join our favourite line Azamara

I did look into them but I think the maximum distance for free pick up was 200 miles and roughly calculated the were further away than that.

Avril

4 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Bob Dylan is on my list.

 

I limited it to 10, but there were a number of other songs that could be added. 
 

Could include songs by Wet wet Wet 🤣🤣

'The DayThe Rains Came Down' Jane Morgan.

A real oldie that dad would always play, 1957/8? The lyrics will cheer you up on a rainy day.

Avril

21 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

What's going on with you lot today?  I can't turn my back for 5 minutes.

 

I was a bit late getting in here today and there are pages and pages to get through.🤣

 

We are off later  to London, paying a fortune  for two rooms just to sleep for a few hours,  ready for tomorrows adventures. Needs must as it is a 6 am start.  Just have to pay up and forget.  

 

 

Have a good day everyone

We're like Pringles. When we start we can't stop😁

I hope everything goes well for you, and that you can finally get your pain issues  sorted. Wishing you all the best for tomorrow.

Avril

14 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I think that if/when the Nationwide and Virgin merger takes place they will likely be run as two companies for several years. When we received the emails spelling out the proposal I seemed to remember something about up to five years to become fully consolidated. It is a shame as I have been pleased with Virgin since they took over Yorkshire bank with generally better interest rates and my accounts. 

I was a little sceptical about Virgin at first, but have been more than satisfied with them. Better than Yorkshire imo. 

I recall the email saying x number of years, but I can't remember how many. We'll simply have to go with the flow. Nationwide seems to be on their way to becoming one of the largest banks, swallowing up the smaller ones. 

Avril

50 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Do Virgin offer any travel insurance? I suppose the question is do you want to travel this year as it might be easiest to bite the bullet.

I'd not thought about Virgin, but then again I've always used travel insurance companies. so that was where I was looking. Habit I suppose.

I could look at a few days away here and search cruises for 2025. I can then look into Nationwide after their move.  We'll see.

After the last  couple of years we just need something to look forward to.

Avril

3 minutes ago, Paddypuss said:

Yes have posted previously only one or two posts though, I am sure it was you adawn who said paddypuss reminded you of a name.

Yes that's right. It was dads pet name for my mum. She was part Irish with a temper.

Avril

4 minutes ago, Paddypuss said:

Good morning everyone. I am one of the "lurkers", love reading everyone's posts. How about cruises and cats I am a cat fan. Dogs are Ok, wouldn't have one though.  We have  similar family problem to graham's and it is very upsetting, but have to cope with it.  I love cruises holidays days away love staying g in hotels

Good morning and welcome. I'm tempted to say welcome back, because I think you may have posted before. I seem to recognise the name or maybe I'm imagining it.

I'm easily confused😊

Avril

25 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Perhaps call Nationwide, you can do the medical questionnaire and get a quote before you open an account.  You would at least have a whole year of cover with UK Insurance if you do it before end of April and hopefully the market will get calmer by next year.

We bank with Virgin now, who took over/merged with our bank Yorkshire. Virgin are now in the process of being taken over/merging with Nationwide by the end of this year, and will become our bank. Maybe I should wait until then🤫

Avril

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I guess what I'm saying is every single one of us will need to work a lot harder on finding a suitable cover, may find ourselves buying something we only want to use a part of and sadly some of us may decide it's just not worth the difficulty and extra expense.

I'm afraid I may falling into that category.

I've been spending  a little time each day with a cup of coffee and my laptop searching through this minefield only to end up with cold coffee and a frayed temper. 

I've been sorting out our travel insurance for over 50 years and it has never been this complicated. I'm begining to feel like an old uneducated numpty🤪

I know our ages, illnesses and now Frank's HF increases the cost of travel insurance, but the whole thing is so complicated now, and while I could always read between the lines and understand the small print, it now seems to be written in Sanskrit. 

As Dad always said that if something looks too good to be true, it usually is.

Frustrated Avril

1 hour ago, Peppers mum said:

I hope its ok to post on here as you all seem so close, I have followed you all for months and longed to join in.

I fully empathise with your Sarah Graham as I had a similar relationship with my own parents. I was never good enough. 96% in exams, why didn't I get 100%.? 

After my mum passed in 2007 only my dad had lost someone . . . I could write a book but I refuse to let it destroy or define me!!

I'm a young at heart 62 year old dog crazy, cruise lover and I really hope it's OK to join this thread?

Julie Xx

 

Hello Julie. You shouldn't have waited so long to join in. Welcome to the CC family.😊

Avril

21 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Fair point but as a guide ,they did not want to cover my HF and I would be happy for 

them to have a change of heart (excuse the pun ).

I was giving Avril a heads up on my condition . Thinking outside the box in Franks 

case ,does Avril want breakdown cover ? Phone cover ? At a guess No, she wants 

travel insurance but probably not opening a flex account that costs £15 pm plus

other costs , if and that's the "if " they decide not to cover ? All that to be possibly 

turned away at renewal by Aviva .

Me personally will wait until Aviva take over ,that will take the guess work out

for me personally .

You are correct Kalos.  A good travel insurance with cruise cover is all we need, no bells and whistles.

You know me so well😁

Avril

Just now, grapau27 said:

Thank you Avril.

I hope Frank is back to good health.

He is thank you Graham. He's obviously not 100%, but he's getting there.

Probably because he's doing as he's told😉😁

Avril

20 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Jane.

I was in and out of the consultants office in about 5 minutes.

She thought everything looked good.

Graham xx

Good news Graham,👍 that's what we like😊

Avril

36 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

It's still pouring down here.

Wish I was back here again now on Britannia in the Fjord's.

Much more of this rain Graham and you'll think were.😬

Avril

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I have a skin cancer check up today.

I hope all goes well at the hospital today Graham'

Avril

1 minute ago, Purdey16 said:

So you have only had a couple of hours Avril, when that happens to me it’s usually around 6 to 6.30 in morning I’m getting tired again and sneak back off again for a hour or so , I hope you get back to sleep again soon .

Thank you Sandra. Goodnight and sleep well.

Avril

I went to bed at 11.15 and last heard the clock chime at 12.30 before I fell asleep. I shall be like a limp rag for the rest of the day, but I'll be having an early night that's for sure. 

It's a liitle damp here after some rain during the night, but high winds and more rain forecast for today.

Avril

Good morning.

It's been a while since I last visited the Wide Awake Club. I've been tossing and tuning since 2.30 and finally gave in and got up. I hate nights like these, they throw my whole day off.

Avril

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

Check your shoe leather lass , after all that running around when Frank were bad 

could be thas wore your shoes out . Check tread on them 😉

Tread's fine Kalos, it's the little legs😁

Avril

9 minutes ago, Beckett said:

+1from 5ft 2 in Jane. 

Are you sure? I used to be 5ft 2in, but on my last health check I was 5ft 1in.

Just had a scary thought. That was 4 years ago, I could be 5ft by now😁

Avril

12 minutes ago, Beckett said:

Goo Morning Everyone

 

I hope you're all good and well. Lovely day here today - very bright and mild. I hope it's like this for you tomorrow @brian1.

 

Medical update from Smurf HQ: Saw GP this morning and aside from what we already knew ( (arthritis, opsteoporosis in spine), it turns out I have a large, but non- cancerous, tumour across Lumbar Spine L1 and L2. Referral to spinal surgeon next so he/she can assess the agression of the tumour. It may mean treatment (injections, surgery) or it might just be a watch and wait brief.

 

If I hadn't had the fall, I wouldn't have known. It was an "incidental finding". So, every cloud and all that!

 

I hope you all have a lovely day. Jane xx

Sorry to read that Jane, but as you say, every cloud......... 

 Also good news that it's benign, and hopefully that if treatment is needed it will be done soon.

Take care x

Avril

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Ps all the best people are small ... 😀

I couldn't agree more.

From 5ft 1in Avril

27 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

Good morning?

 

Well we got up this morning and looked out of the lounge windows to the tiny garden pond... just to check that neither the pesky foxes nor the psychopathic kitties had tried to rearrange the heron net protecting our fish... (they hadn't)... We couldn't help wondering just what was hanging from the squirrel-proof bird-feeder by the pond.... it was long, straight, a dark yellow brown and one end was distinctly blunt and rounded... and it was about 6" long. (15.2 cm for the young-uns)

 

Clearly investigation required... but then, before our very eyes, it moved... this enigma was a living thing! And then it dropped, went through the heron net... and vanished into the wilderness vegetation (that's the tough perineal weeds that we can't get rid of!) by the edge of the pond... was it a worm, was it a grass-snake... an especially thick and unpalatable noodle from a discarded Chinese take-away dropped by a disappointed carron crow this morning?

 

No! One thing and one thing only... (if we ruled out mirages, hallucination or too much red wine last night)... we had a mature slow-worm that had followed the mouse trail though the vegetation and the dense ivy inside our double-sided fence to then slither along the bracket and down to the bird nuts! 

 

Clearly the little "ungrat" wasn't content with the rewilding of that corner of the garden including the pebble-bed designed especially for little froggies and occasional baby toadies to hid from the marauding, monster mousers, the fern-bed that is a little larder for the same said froggies and the moist shade that we created by the odd bespoke fencing thingy.

 

So from "Gob-smacked-Couple-Surrey" this morning... 11˚C, cloudy and grey with a threat of just a little rain.

 

Hope all are well and also find something to surprise and excite today.

Thank you ttL. Another amusing anecdote to read with my morning coffee. I love them.😊

Avril

44 minutes ago, kalos said:

Whilst I've got all you curry fans here ,Is it acceptable to dip bread into a curry?

Asking for my naan.🙃😉

Actually the best thing to dip in curry is Naan.

If she doesn't object that is😁

Avril

1 hour ago, brian1 said:

I'm a Pataks man myself,lol.

Sharwoods......Thai green curry😋

Sis