Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks ..

 

I think the thing about Clarkson that I think that many of the people who dislike him often do not get is not that he is thick and stupid as he pretends, but that he is highly intelligent, well read, articulate and very easily bored and doesn’t take himself or others seriously at all. He is a very serious observer of the absurdities of life.

 

He enjoys breaching political correctness and doing what we now call “causing offence” because he feels that others take things far too seriously and the PC thing is totally out of control - and it is a way of livening what would otherwise be a rather colourless life.

 

I think the Calcutta Police force should buy a few more bikes .....

 

 

 

 

 

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[mysty]

Oh J.....where's the fun in that? :) More bikes would just increase traffic. Ha Ha!

[jpalbny]

That picture can't be from Kolkata. I've never seen a street that empty!

 

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[mysty]

Today is International Lefthanders Day! In honour.....

 

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Great Daily Funny M!

 

 

 

 

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[jpalbny]

That looks like a tasty ragu, Jeff! Nice for a cool fall day.

 

Last night I grilled pork chops and served them with a creamy cucumber salad. The creamy dressing went well with the spicy mole rub on the chops. And I grilled a few mini peppers for a splash of color.

 

We opened a bottle of red from Chile to go with it. Nice!

 

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[Mudhen]

Very impressed! A beautiful plate with a lovely wine to go with it.

Let's see.....we can get to Albany in a couple of hours.....what's for dinner tomorrow?!!! giggle!

[Daveywavey70]

Well it sure beats hospital food! This evening I was given a choice of spinach curry or turkey salad. I went for the third option, Scotch Mist. Will ask better half for a delivery later!

[mysty]

Lovely plates J and JP! DW....did I miss something? Hospital food? Hope you are OK!

[Daveywavey70]

I’ll be fine M, they’re just doing some tests.

[Daveywavey70]

Just came across this

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45179970#

 

Made me chuckle.

 

Apologies, sorry thought I was in the cooler!

 

Small screens ain’t easy.

[Bill B]

Last night I grilled pork chops and served them with a creamy cucumber salad. The creamy dressing went well with the spicy mole rub on the chops. And I grilled a few mini peppers for a splash of color.

 

We opened a bottle of red from Chile to go with it. Nice!

 

That sounds wonderful and looks delicious... except, where are the potatoes?

[mysty]

DW...hope the tests go smoothly! And that parrot is a bird after my own heart! :)

[jpalbny]

That parrot story was hilarious!

 

DW, hope the testing goes smoothly. And that the food offerings get better!

 

Bill, I had leftover rice to serve with last night's dinner. I left it off the plate until after the picture as it wasn't so photogenic.

 

Mudhen, the wine certainly was delicious. It was from Vina el Principal, a stunning property in the Maipo Valley. One of their delicious red blends. Brought back some memories. I so love travel!

 

No idea what's for dinner tonight. Time to look in the freezer and hope that someting says, "Eat me!"

 

***

 

Speaking of travel, we decided that we needed to squeeze in another trip this year so last night I booked a weekend trip to Quito. We have been there once prior to a Galapagos trip, and we looked at the beautiful mountains there and yearned to visit them up close.

 

So we're going over Columbus Day (Canadian Thanksgiving) weekend. AMEX had the tickets for a cheaper price than I could find so it was impossible to pass them up. Yes, I realize that we are a little nuts going there for a weekend, but it will be fun. If we can do it, why not? We will have two full days there so we'll be just fine. And the time difference is minimal so no real jet lag to contend with. Plus it counts as a bit of a "mileage run" to keep up our elite FF status.

 

I'm on the hunt for a tour guide to take us to the Cloud Forest and the Volcanoes. I figure it will be a warmup for Chris's big South America trip in January, to make sure that the altitude still doesn't bother us.

[Daveywavey70]

I'm not holding out much hope on the food front. Today's effort looked like potato peeling potage followed by some chicken strings in sauce served with a side order of thrice cooked cabbage.

 

On the bright side though I've found a very interesting use for this stand thingy that they have attached to me. Turns out it's the perfect size to double up as an iPad pro holder.

 

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[mysty]

Very creative DW!

 

And great plan JP!

Edited August 14, 2018 by mysty

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good evening all ....... well done JP. I do believe that my love of potatoes has been the root of all weight evil and I have really had very little now for some time. I am just left with the enemy of comparative inactivity ....... Your trips sound exciting. :)

 

Dave sorry to hear of your hospital visit for tests - hope it is nothing sinister.

 

I think we are now concluding that unless there is something wrong then we will now dispense with routine this or routine that. Wifey and I had our blood tests a week or so ago and both of us found the anticipation of results to bring back all the old feelings of stress and anxiety. And most of my tests were simply to check that other medications weren't causing too much damage and harm. And we do know that some have certainly harmed me and we will not know until after I am gone whether they have extended my disgraceful existence by a nanosecond or not. And even then I certainly won't be interested.

 

We have decided we'll have another stay or two at Seaside over the next few weeks before our Vienna trip. So we head down to the balcony next week until we are bored and head back.

[Daveywavey70]

Hopefully not J. They ain't talking about sepsis as much as they were yesterday but tell u very little so well see. I'm sure I'll be fine.

Glad your going to venture back to Seaside and balcony. Are you waiting till the school hols are over first? That 1st week in Sept we are always overrun with requests for twin rooms with walk in showers on the first floor!

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Oh dear .... I do so hope you are OK. I thought I spied a pump below your ipad so presumably you are being pumped with antibiotics?

 

We use to avoid the school holidays largely because of a very troublesome neighbour from hell down at seaside. But we faced him in court a year or so back and it gave him the fright of his life and now he behaves like our new bestest friend. His kids were fersl but have grown up and another troublesome neighbour actually moved solely in order to avoid facing us in court we believe. And so now we have peace at last and an idylic seaside. No one likes going to court but in our case it was the only solution.

 

We drive at around 1 am or so and we miss most of the traffic. Seaside is in a quiet small micro climate and whether it is school holidays or not really doesn’t change it much.

[Daveywavey70]

It’ll be fine ta Jeff, you don’t fancy doing the same with our nasty neighbour by any chance? I Ended up banning him 9 years ago and the only way I made him stop was to call the legal dpt of the local council to tell them that we were suing them for harassment as of the 250+ complaints that he made against us, all had been unfounded yet they insisted that they were obliged to fully investigate every complaint. I requested a copy of the councils policy regarding investigating proven vexatious complaints. Never heard from them again.

[UKCruiseJeff]

I feel your pain.

 

Our situation was simply old-fashioned jealousy and envy. As an East-end lad with a pretty tough upbringing, I foolishly never predicted that like it or not seaside towns are really quite economically deprived areas. That breeds envy of those that are not similarly deprived. I hadn't expected it. So second-home owners who drive a Helga and whose visiting friends are also seen as being comparatively "well-off" can be the target of some nastiness. A local life-long friend was also a local MP who use to visit for one of my famous fish all day lunches and that caused envy and attention. One of my friends - also a client use to stay and was a reasonably well known entrepreneur. Most of it you can simply ignore, but when it reaches a point where it compromises the peaceful enjoyment of your life - and it is clear that all they intend is to upset you - and you let it go for too long in the hope that they will simply get bored and lose interest - you reach a point where there is only one option left - and doing nothing isn't that option. It was really only a couple of people out of many more we were friendly with.

 

It was costly and stressful and really not what I wanted - but thankfully it is now history and we have moved on. Some of the rumours we discovered that had been manufactured were funny some sinister. I had to write to one person making it very clear that I'd have no hesitation in ruining their day if they didn't desist. In the end we saw off two owners who moved out and it is now belatedly extremely lovely. We get on with everyone. :D ;)

[UpstateJan]

I'm on the hunt for a tour guide to take us to the Cloud Forest and the Volcanoes. I figure it will be a warmup for Chris's big South America trip in January, to make sure that the altitude still doesn't bother us.

 

JP, we stayed at the San Jorge Eco resort prior to our Galapagos adventure in 2011. We had a few tours with them including to the cloud forest for bird watching, the Tandayapa resort was really beautiful, more hummingbirds than I knew existed, plus all the other cool dudes, and a side trip up the hill with the caretaker to find the wild orchids. You may want to check them out to see if they will do day tours. Oooohhhh, and the empanadas, yes we were served both breakfast and lunch there, amazing food including the dessert which was "jungle fruit, not something you buy in stores".

 

Enjoy, I'm very jealous! We're going to Montreal over Labor Day to visit brother-in-law, and over Columbus Day weekend to Toronto to visit mother-in-law. Otherwise, avoiding Saratoga tourists, and staying home until our March cruise.

 

Jan

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....for those with a sweet tooth...

 

 

It's called a Nanaimo bar. The Nanaimo bar is a dessert item of Canadian origin. It is a bar dessert which requires no baking and is named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island.

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Lovely funny M!

 

Today’s ribeye day ...

 

 

 

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