DamianG

Hi all, just catching up on here. So sad to hear your news Pam, hope the treatment is swift and successful. Similarly hope your dad recovers soon Sandra. It reminded just how good this forum has been for me to share my woes in the past and how it really helped getting things off my chest. I hope that you both have some comfort knowing the virtual support that you have on here. Last month I told the tale of my train delays for my regular visit to our office in London. Well, last Friday couldn't be more different as I went door to door in under 3 hours in the morning (even with an allowance for the taxi being late) and got home in 3 hours 20 minutes. I picked a great day to be in the office as well since there had been a function the evening before with loads of leftover drinks in the fridge. My team insisted that I take as many as I could carry so I grabbed one of each cocktail for Michelle and some beer for me. Finally a Kalos style anecdote.... Michelle texted me asking what time my train home got in. Then she texted me again and the message just said "Would you like a lift?" My reply: "Yes please, the postcode is EC3M 7AF. What time do you think you will get here?"

I got one to my work email address last week from Colonel Gaddafi’s daughter asking for financial assistance.

Whatever do you mean Harry? 😉

Teddy enjoyed his morning walk in the park and brought home his own version of snow shoes.

Like Phil said it's been a long time since we had so much snow. Spot the car...

Hi Brian, it's Laithwaites, I just wasn't sure if we are allowed to quote names or not (but I'm following your lead here!).

I didn't but I do wonder if the offer is not generally available. I got the details on an email from them.

Talking of wine, one of my favourite retailers (the one beginning with L) has just sent me an offer of 12 bottles + prosecco + 4 glasses for £65. I'm not sure if that is open to any customer but I snapped it up.

Showing off your multi-lingual talents again...

You'd have had a much longer walk to go see Springsteen at Roundhay Park!

One particular property website now estimates the value between £268-£297k. Another website I looked at suggested that a typical mid-range income in 1977 was around £13k (which sounds on the high side to me but that's what I read) compared to £24k today. The differential in the rises between the two never fails to amaze me.

I’ve worked in Edinburgh and Glasgow many times and can recommend the east coast train ride north. The scenery is fantastic especially around Berwick upon Tweed where the track gets very close to the coastline. The furthest north I’ve been for work is Montrose but let’s just say I probably didn’t see the best of it!

I've never used the casino myself but can you use OBC in there and do they have a means of converting winnings to cash?

Get tha sen to God's own county, see t'sights and learn a whole new language!

We are booked on the Arvia cruise K316 6th August 2023 and bearing in mind your comments I tried a dummy booking to check availability. On P&O's website the front page suggests availability but when I tried to make a booking including our son it returned "sold out" for all cabin grades which suggests that all the child places have been taken. It was still possible to make a booking without him but no doubt there will be a knockdown sale of any remaining cabins closer to departure and I'm expecting a very full ship.

How nice, the complete opposite of folks making excuses why they can’t join you! Often the unscheduled or unexpected outings or meet ups are the best. Have a lovely time.

I'd forgotten about that! Our North Cape cruise was on Artemis too, in July 2009.

That sounds wonderful. We took a North Cape cruise years ago which briefly crossed into the Arctic Circle (I think Honningsvag was the furthest North that we got) and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm really sorry to hear that, take care and get well soon. When you do get round to researching your ports I'd be interested to hear what you've come up with as we enjoy doing that too. Best regards. Damian

It was one of those days, my 7am train South was also delayed due to a broken down train blocking the line at Wakefield. Meanwhile my friend’s stepdaughter’s train into Leeds was delayed 40 minutes allegedly due to a plastic bag that had blown onto and stuck on the rails! At least I am so used to the trip that I knew the best course of action was to get as far North as I could. The Doncaster train wasn’t that busy and I do wonder how many stayed in Kings Cross waiting for a Leeds, Harrogate, or Skipton service.

I worked in London yesterday and had no idea of the problems caused by Storm Otto. When I got to Kings Cross for the journey home it was immediately obvious that there were problems with lots of Northern bound trains delayed. My 17:33 service to Leeds was displayed on the departure boards as "Not arrived yet. Boarding shortly" which is a contradiction in itself. Just before 6pm a new service to Doncaster appeared on the departure boards (which is not a regular service as I make this trip at least once a month and pretty much know all the LNER options between 5-7pm). I was considering whether to jump on that one when I noticed that the rolling display showing the calling points stated "via Leeds" - another contradiction. At the same time I noticed that my 17:33 Leeds train had dropped off the departure boards completely so I got my skates on and ran for the Doncaster train. Once on the platform I noticed that the display on the side of the train stated Skipton as the final destination, which was good news as I usually catch a Skipton service since it always stops at Leeds. After we set off the automated announcement confirmed that the train was going to Skipton and would call at Leeds. The train guard then immediately made an announcement apologising and stating that this was incorrect (and out of their control) and that the service would be stopping at Doncaster. I looked online and saw that the 20:22 Doncaster to Leeds service was cancelled but that there was another option at 20:38 so I wasn't too concerned. Just before Doncaster the train guard announced that there was a 20:22 service to Leeds for anyone needing a connecting service. Then just as we pulled in she made a further announcement that this had been cancelled and that the next option was 20:38, which I already knew about from my online checks more than an hour earlier. However, as I got off the train in Doncaster there were station staff shouting directing us to another train waiting to take passengers to Wakefield and Leeds. It turned out that this was the 14:30 service from Kings Cross which had initially been delayed then parked up for a few hours in Doncaster. Once in Leeds there were no buses that would get me home within the hour, so I jumped on a Hull train which took me to a local station then got a taxi from there. All in all I was home around an hour later than expected, which I didn't think was bad at all. Disruptions happen and ultimately they got me home, but boy oh boy, how bad was the communication? The 17:33 disappearing off the departure board, the Skipton train that wasn't the Skipton train, and the fantastic but unannounced and unscheduled extra service that was just parked up in Doncaster ready to bring us to Leeds. I was alright but I'm sure it would have been stressful for many, especially those with young families on board.

We’ve used Parking4Cruises several times with no issues whatsoever. We changed to them after waiting over an hour to hand over the car keys to CPS back in 2015 for a Britannia cruise. I dread to think how CPS gets on these days with the even bigger ships.

I hope the peasants are not too much of a nuisance. Once on a cruise we happened to look down over our balcony towards the balconies below and saw a chap laid out with nothing on at all. I guess that he forgot his shorts too.