UKCruiseJeff

David Bowie was memorable and Paul McCartney created a wonderful night of atmosphere with such a list of hits. Dolly Parton added glitz, and whilst Elton John doesn’t appear to have his old voice no one can accuse him of not putting on a show. I always think of John Peel during Glasto. He launched so many careers that wouldn’t have made it without him. He was a lovely modest and (hard to believe) a painfully shy man - and most importantly use to get me into The Round House for free. He loved Arthur Brown, and during one performance John had to put Arthur Brown’s head out which was badly on fire after his performance of “Fire!”. I miss him. I have many story’s about him 😉 There’s lot’s of variety on this year’s line up but the stars in the end will always be that exuberant audience. Jeff

😆 So many genii (?) get into trouble. Jeff

Not for along time. It was special. It still is. But. It’s a TV experience now rather than going there for us. Progress bestows on mature people, enormous TV’s, gigaband broadband, fridges with booze and sandwich stuff and Vi-Spring beds. And no queues for the toilets or people peeing on your teepee. And you can go between several stages when your bored via the remote control. And we have to plan seaside trips with a wide berth to the event because it cloggs up the A303 for quite a while. I enjoy the TV experience and feel sorry for those there. In a way. Jeff

I have often harboured the idea (somewhat grudgingly at times) that the closer you get to genius the weirder you might appear to others. Jeff

The most impressive thing about this “Lady” - for me having struggled with my linguistics in spite of a French girlfriend - is that he can do a complete full evening comedy set in Paris entirely in French. As a 62 year old. I just wish he wouldn’t dress as an 80 year old woman. Jeff

Fun!

Man? Be careful ……… Jeff

Dexy was dire and Anne-Marie looked like she’d been trussed up as a Baco-foil Christmas Turkey. Aurora is wafting around like a cloud. A weird cloud! I understand that Paloma Faith has been pulled this evening. Perhaps she has been a bit tired? 😉 Have you popped over to Heilung? Bewildering. Jeff

A Public Service Announcement ……… for UK Coolers and those elsewhere with suitable streaming aids. Glasto has started and it’s currently live streaming on several stages all at the same time on different selectable BBC IPlayer channels all weekend for free. Can’t be cheaper than that! 🙂 It’s a perfect way of escaping from Election misery for a few days!!! 👍👍👍 Here’s the lineup with hundreds of acts and rough timing schedule for around 14 or so live stages. https://glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up/line-up-2024/ Enjoy all ….. Jeff

Today’s Times. They should have one that includes France etc etc Jeff

Until now most of my purchases has simply been high-end supermarket purchases so my decision to up my game from that is relatively recent. My cousin bought a farm in Italy and he gave me a bottle of extremely cloudy deep green oil from his farm many years ago. It had quite an effect on me and it was extraordinary. Since then I have only bought unfiltered very deep green rustic simply cold pressed oil. hence those two bottles a few days ago. I also bought some extraordinary oil direct from a farm near St Paul De Vence on a visit to Colombe d’or to buy the oil they were using. We use to spend a lot of time in Nice and a shop Olio Donato there sells and send it by mail order one of our favourites which is a Provence Herb Oil. https://en.oliodonato.com/huiles FWIW, what I’ve learned just as a very daft generalisation is that in a way a bit UNLIKE wine - if you disregard ostentasious bottles and boxing you do get much more of what you pay for if you spend a lot on olive oil. Although part of the price might be rarity, I’m now buying unfiltered early harvest cold pressed small batch oils. Not certain that’s helpful! Jeff

I have no idea whether I’m fortunate or unfortunate as I find that I think of neither left or right as being sort of enemy or a best fit for me. As I’ve got older I have found I’m crawling slowly to what’s termed “left” as I believe that we’re all deserving to a set of minimum life standards perhaps best described as a minimum universal income. I think in our advanced society there should be enough ingenuity to contrive and ensure that everyone has enough food, warmth and shelter but that only the fertile environment for wealth creation and aspiration can fund it. Many people gravitate to publications that support their personal politics and beliefs because it provides them with the comfort and reassurance of self-validation. It tells them that they are right. Too few are sufficiently inquisitive to try and understand why others have a completely mirror-image different set of views. But things needn’t be polarised. I simply love having my mind changed because it validates at least three traits. The ability to listen to contra-arguments, being open-minded and genuinely vulnerable to mind changing. Being inconsistent I believe is a strength not a weakness. Jeff

Unfiltered from rare and early olives. One from ancient farm outside Florence. The other from an older Sicilian farm. Can’t wait. Jeff

You only learn by listening to both sides of every story. The terrible painful truth is that you learn nothing from people that share the same opinions as yours, and can only learn from people that disagree with your views. Sometimes if you are of a fortunate mindset one can even change one’s mind about things and grow from listening. Jeff

I read the WSJ every day … as well as the WP! I liked the item about the kosher dill pickles!

We are in an awful fix. I have no idea how we contrive to make these things happen. I’ve also just discovered when opening my vote papers that they have realigned boundaries and we’re expected to vote for people who have nothing to do with our constituency. The world gets more bewildering. Still there is bread to be made and olive oil that needs mopping up and wine to be drunk. 🙂 Jeff

Which one was playing for Panama - Biden or Trump. Neither looks nimble. 😁 Jeff

I think The US reuniting with the UK would be a wonderful thing and as long as you kept Harry and Megs, consider it done. A potential downside is that Macron may demand Louisiana back for the original price paid ($15m for the 828k square miles) and the US would then be bijoux and intimate at around half its current size. Mind you …. listening to the debate ,,,, perhaps we’ll put it on hold for an election or two. 🙂 Jeff

🇺🇸 1 minute to go ….. Jeff

Thanks, I meant no criticism as I enjoy the debate, I was simply responding to the example of your choice. In simple terms it seems obvious that a blind person should never be on a cruise unaccompanied by a human. A dog cannot point out on deck on a rocking ship where the blind person should grab to steady themselves. If you take blind people out of this argument I’m not certain that we should be so overly concerned about all the other categories. Jeff

Lovely. This will set Spin’s heart a-flutter I promise. Jeff

A hard-earned cruise is not a suitable place to be forced to go through the motions.