Tothesunset

Just watching footage from Maui on the BBC. Hope any Coolers from that fair island are safe. So many devastated families, homes and businesses. Tragic.

Thank you. I shall not use those phrases going forward. At the end of the day they are nonsense.

Whenever I see/hear the phrase "reaching out to" I can't suppress a gentle gagging reflex.

We've seen some terribly infantile, needy and entitled brats on board Silversea. They've all been over 60, though.

My grandfather downed 35 aircraft in the Battle of Britain. He was the worst mechanic the Luftwaffe ever had.

Don't they usually sneak into La Dame before it opens and put a towel and book on the chair they want?

You mean there might be passengers aboard SS who would use the system to their advantage without regard to anyone else? Surely not.

Another vote for Lyon. We lived an hour north of Lyon for 5 years and visited frequently. Do not drive in Lyon, it's chaotic and parking is difficult. (We used to park on a French Army base; they were surprisingly accommodating to RAF veterans) While many consider France the food capital of the world, Lyon is undoubtedly the food capital of France but everywhere except McDs will be shut on 25th. There's a TGV (high speed train) from Gare du Lyon, Paris to Lyon.

Apparently it's going to be so formal that people will be expected to wear their baseball caps peak forward.

It's getting to the point where formal wear on SS is defined by the cut of your cargo pants and hoodie.

In Britain we solve that problem by not having summer.

Does he?

Or maybe a McD's franchise. With soda pairing.

'Cos they're empty?

Oh no. Don't want to see people wearing overalls.

All those millions of years of evolution wasted...

I don't remember you taking that.

Surely, on formal nights, jeans and T-shirt are fine as long as they identify as tuxedos?

What a perfectly concise and considered opinion and impossible to gainsay. The recent Brexit shenanigans in UK have been accompanied by populist nonsense such as "standing up for British values" without defining what that standard might be. Are those the "British Values" of an Eton schoolmaster, Clyde riveter, Welsh sheep farmer, postman, hedge fund manager; are they the same values in Pontypridd as in Cheltenham, in Dalhousie as in Harrogate, in Wilmslow as in Armagh? I like your Mr Trudeau.

Take low expectations and a good book.

On another line's board on cruise critic the subject of dress code has exercised many posters these past few days. My take is that it's too much trouble for some/many. I think that's sad. The race to the bottom is getting swifter. One contributor even suggested that his ripped designer jeans cost far more than most people's tuxedos and should therefore be permitted on formal nights. Just shows - you can't buy class or good taste.

It's a hybrid. Roughly 60 miles of electric range from a full charge. We can charge it in our garage from the mains at cheap overnight rate or from our solar panels on a sunny day. Went to Norwich today. 150 mile round trip used all the electric plus 11 litres of petrol. The electric used cost about the same as 3 litres of petrol. So as a cost equivalent that equals about 50mpg. Obviously, journeys up to 60 miles will cost in electric the equivalent of 3 litres or about £4.50. Or less if solar. But, more importantly, it pushes out 489 bhp and goes like a scalded cat! It's a BMW X5 X-drive 50e M Sport.

In good old British fashion the heavens decided to open extravagantly today when we picked up the new car. Anyway, here she is before getting coated in mud on the way home:

Oh no. Confronting self-entitled misanthropes is much more satisfying.

It strikes me as odd that a so-called 6 star line should expect its customers to arrange their own Blacklane transfers when they are supposed to be part of the package. Surely the SS admin should be handling these things.