P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[Adawn47]

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Great news Avril.

I hope he manages to stay off his vape.  Before David had his heart surgery he spent 3 weeks in hospital having tests and didn't have any cigarettes.  23 years later he is still a no smoker. 

I used to go to visit him straight from work and every evening I would see people standing outside smoking.  There was one lady who had a small oxygen tank on wheels and she used to take her mask off her face to take a drag on her cigarette.

If he wants his vape he'll have to rummage through the bin for it😁 Seriously josy, I believe him. I have never seen him so frightened and emotional when I left him that first night in hospital. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, to have to leave him when he needed me so much. 

Avril

[kalos]

@Adawn47 Hope things go well for Frank tomorrow Avril.

 

I think Frank will be ok giving up the Vape and the salt ,lets face it with  HF you have 

little choice if you want to improve as their is no cure .

Just read out your post to Mrs K  and she remembers doing exactly the same as you .

Clearing out the freezer and fridge of anything  that had  a "Red" on the traffic light 

system on food packages . Lots of stuff she will make herself as I am low sugar too.

Can be a pain but Frank will get there as he has a woman called Avril looking out for him 🙂

 

Onwards and upwards , take care .🙂

Edited January 11 by kalos

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Clearing out the freezer and fridge of anything  that had  a "Red" on the traffic light 

system on food packages .

One positive sign is his hb levels, although not as high as they would like, are stable and not falling. 

On the traffic light system, I understand the red - absolutely never, green - no restrictions, but  I'm unsure about the amber when on a low sodium diet. Could you make that clearer for for me please.

Avril

[kalos]

4 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

One positive sign is his hb levels, although not as high as they would like, are stable and not falling. 

On the traffic light system, I understand the red - absolutely never, green - no restrictions, but  I'm unsure about the amber when on a low sodium diet. Could you make that clearer for for me please.

Avril

 

Just asked Mrs K     Salt .. Anything under 0.5g is green and good and 0.9g is amber .

Some foods we go to 06;g at a push .

 I will put the light system below for you to read ,hope it helps .

 

 

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/check-the-label

[Adawn47]

17 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Just asked Mrs K     Salt .. Anything under 0.5g is green and good and 0.9g is amber .

Some foods we go to 06;g at a push .

 I will put the light system below for you to read ,hope it helps .

 

 

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/check-the-label

Thank you mrs kalos. That's very useful.

Avril

[kalos]

 

 

Morning 4.c and dull here ,nothing much doing today.

Yesterday we decided to go out and check the car tyre pressure for the first time 

this year . The air machine is now card only and as you swipe your card it  says ..

"Thankyou for using me "🙂 Then charge you .50p  and to think I keep a couple

of .20ps in my wallet for such things . It's a £1 on some of them .😲

Inflations gone mad !   

Never the less they needed checking with all the bad winter weather that they 

say could hit us next week .

I wonder how many will be running around trying to find an air line that has not

frozen if the temps really dip ?🤔

 

     Take care 🙂 

 

 

 

Edited January 12 by kalos

[grapau27]

Good morning.

4°C and raining here.

I hope everyone is well.

Saw this and thought our pet lovers would love it.

[Josy1953]

Good morning everyone.

@Adawn47I will be thinking of you and Frank today, I remember how worried I was when I knew that DH was having his op

 

A cool 3°c here but dry so we can't grumble.  The children asked if I would go to the oatcake shop this morning because they would like oatcakes for tea.  DH had also asked me to get oatcakes this morning so that he can cook a full English for his lunch when I go out with my sisters.

Have a good day everyone.

[bobstheboy]

Avril, my very best wishes to you and Frank.

[grapau27]

Avril @Adawn47.

Thinking of you both today.

Best wishes for Frank's recovery.

[lincslady]

7 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Avril @Adawn47.

Thinking of you both today.

Best wishes for Frank's recovery.

Me too, Avril.

[Beckett]

25 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Me too, Avril.

And me. My goodness Avril, the combined amount of good wishes on here runs into "a whole lotta love" for you and your dear Frank. Very best wishes for you both today. Jane xxx

[Angel57]

4 minutes ago, Beckett said:

And me. My goodness Avril, the combined amount of good wishes on here runs into "a whole lotta love" for you and your dear Frank. Very best wishes for you both today. Jane xxx

And me too Avril. You and Frank are in my thoughts. X

[Eglesbrech]

@Adawn47 if you are looking at reducing salt for Frank then one of the highest areas for hidden salt is bread. A recent survey showed that supermarket bread has as much salt per slice as a small bag of crisps!

 

I make all my own bread and that way I can control the amount of salt it contains. I use less than half what most recipes suggest and it tastes just as good. 

[Josy1953]

21 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

@Adawn47 if you are looking at reducing salt for Frank then one of the highest areas for hidden salt is bread. A recent survey showed that supermarket bread has as much salt per slice as a small bag of crisps!

 

I make all my own bread and that way I can control the amount of salt it contains. I use less than half what most recipes suggest and it tastes just as good. 

I make all of our bread and use half the sugar and salt amounts.  As you say the taste is fine.

[kalos]

Regarding bread I eat brown bread which is amber 0.35g or sometimes 

a 50/50 loaf  0.4g  but am not a very big bread eater but for those who are 

making your own bread is a viable option.

When making Yorkshire puds we simply omit the salt .

Things like pizzas ,Mrs K will make her own using wraps as a base , things like

crisp are far to high in salt apart from the ones with the blue bag as you throw the

salt away but personally only as a treat every so often ,

Another one is if we decide on a chippy ,we ask for a thin batter on the fish and

some places will steam the fish for you .

 

@Adawn47  Hope Frank gets good news today I think he's due some 🙂 

[Peanut006]

1 hour ago, Angel57 said:

And me too Avril. You and Frank are in my thoughts. X

And me too Avril. Take care both of you

 

Michelle

[Eddie99]

Sounds like a bread maker should be top of your shopping list Avril? Fresh home made bread with home-made soup in winter and salad in summer sounds good

I believe cheese is also a culprit wrt hidden salt, which is a pity

You could look at getting a steamer to cook everything gently with flavourings like herbs and citrus so you don’t miss salt?

You’ll work it all out, I’m sure

Best wishes to you both x

 

I wonder if we’ll be onboard Iona 24 hours from now?  I still can’t really believe it.  Have a strange “Meh” feeling, but I’m hoping that’s only because it’s been so long and we spent so long thinking that we would never be able to cruise again

Edited January 12 by Eddie99

[Ardennais]

We arrived home last night after a very enjoyable four night cruise on Queen Victoria - to Hamburg and back. Embarkation at Mayflower was a breeze - so different to Selbourne’s experience the previous weekend. We had a time of 2.30 so that might have made a difference. CPS staff were waiting for cars to arrive! 
We had only sailed once before with Cunard, on QM in 2013. 
 

A few quick observations. Queen Victoria is very elegant but quite dark. The size suited us as my mother was with us. No waiting for lifts, plenty of room to sit around the ship apart from the Chart Room (coffee bar) before lunch. 
 

We were on Freedom dining, and were immediately seated on the 4 nights without having to share. Food was excellent - fewer mains in the MDR than P&O but really tasty. The portions are quite moderate. Service was amazing. Had a great pub lunch in the Golden Lion with several mains to choose from - I seem to recall that there was only the fish chips there on QM but I might be mistaken. Lido buffet had lovely salads and fruit juices were available all day which is good as the drinks were quite expensive. 
 

Dress code - no tie or jacket required. The two Gala nights were labelled as being ‘optional’. Quite a high proportion had dressed up but there were also many in very casual attire and trainers which didn’t bother us one bit. It felt very relaxed. 
 

Entertainment was great and there were speakers onboard as part of the Insights programme. Great atmosphere in the Queen Room with a live band for the dancing. 
 

Disembarkation was very easy, probably helped by the fact that over 500 had joined in Hamburg for the beginning of the world cruise. 
 

We had a brilliant time - no apps required! We probably wouldn’t choose to do a longer cruise on the Queens as they’re getting on a bit and we do like the lighter modern ships and a more relaxed atmosphere at night. Having said that, everything seemed far more stuffy back in 2013 so things are changing. We might try Queen Anne next! 
 

Forgot to add - cabins were serviced twice a day and it was great to have fresh towels after the evening shower. Grats are added of course and as I said, the drinks are expensive. Definitely a higher standard overall than P&O in terms of quality of food and service, but of course, the overall cost is much higher. 
 

 

Edited January 12 by Ardennais

[Josy1953]

Just back from lunch with my lovely sisters.  The restaurant that we went to was one that DH and I used to visit often but it is quite a while since went there so it was nice change.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Eddie99 said:

Sounds like a bread maker should be top of your shopping list Avril? Fresh home made bread with home-made soup in winter and salad in summer sounds good

I believe cheese is also a culprit wrt hidden salt, which is a pity

You could look at getting a steamer to cook everything gently with flavourings like herbs and citrus so you don’t miss salt?

You’ll work it all out, I’m sure

Best wishes to you both x

 

I wonder if we’ll be onboard Iona 24 hours from now?  I still can’t really believe it.  Have a strange “Meh” feeling, but I’m hoping that’s only because it’s been so long and we spent so long thinking that we would never be able to cruise again

I hope you have an amazing cruise @Eddie99

[Eddie99]

Thank you Graham.  I’ve just finished the packing

Still feeling unsure - isn’t it silly?

I’ll try to do a “Live from … “ but it won’t be up to Selbourne standard 

[Angel57]

5 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Thank you Graham.  I’ve just finished the packing

Still feeling unsure - isn’t it silly?

I’ll try to do a “Live from … “ but it won’t be up to Selbourne standard 

Have a great cruise. It is not silly to feel “unsure”. I think many of us do before a cruise, especially if different to the norm.
I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts, both good and bad, as I’m on her for the first time in early June.

Bon Voyage!

[purplesea]

29 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Thank you Graham.  I’ve just finished the packing

Still feeling unsure - isn’t it silly?

I’ll try to do a “Live from … “ but it won’t be up to Selbourne standard 

Have a great time.

[kalos]

@Eddie99  Have a great time ,we are all sure you will 🙂 

 

@Ardennais  We have happy memories of Queen Vic  as well and glad 

you and your family also had a good time 🙂