Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Colin_Cameron]

 Well the weather is holding up here, and having missed my dad’s 90th a few weeks ago he had his first visitors in 10 weeks yesterday. My sister and her kids went over and spent an hour or so in the garden and I joined in on a video call. It’s quite an ingenious way to limit contact. If you can’t go inside to use the loo, visitors can only stay as long as they can keep their legs crossed!

 

Not sure how long it will be before we can travel and I can see him in person. 

 

Actually my sister is not his first visitor. He set off his ‘panic button’ the other day. When the alert company couldn't get any response on the phone they sent someone out to investigate. They rang the doorbell but got no answer. Then heard a noise at the back of the house and went around to find him, on the roof, replacing broken slates. He’d bumped his button by accident and hadn’t heard the phone ring when they called. 

 

At at least we know the system works!😁

 

 

[Colin_Cameron]

Re: deer eating plants. We used to have a problem with them biting the heads off flowers, tulips in particular, until a neighbour hit on a solution. A chopped up chilli placed inside the heads of the first flowers to open each season. They only ate one.

[Lanky Lad]

9 minutes ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Re: deer eating plants.

It must be time I went to bed, I saw that and had a vision of a giant Venus fly trap. 

[Colin_Cameron]

1 minute ago, Lanky Lad said:

It must be time I went to bed, I saw that and had a vision of a giant Venus fly trap. 

After I posted it I had the same thought.

[BlueRiband]

6 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Good afternoon from the nasty site where all the trouble started-Minneapolis MN. Enough on that.

I must say-what a wonderful puzzle accomplishment. Just lovely. I know some people that frame a puzzle like this.

My garden is starting to get better with the warmer weather and rain.

As for QM2.

I called today about the 2 Canada New England cruises. They said a decision would be made by next week as to what will happen.

I would just love if she just cruised up and down the eastern coast to at least 4 ports. Dreamer that I am.

 

Interesting that Cunard has not made a decision since the Canadian government won't let the ship dock.  In another thread a UK member has a final payment due in two days and is worried that the deposit will be forfeited if he doesn't pay up. 

[Host Hattie]

Another cool day here, I seemed to have more visitors in the office today, including a group of 4 moving into the room opposite. I'm not particularly impressed at having to share corridor space and kitchen facilities, at least they're all men so I've still got the toilet to myself !

Our furlough rules have been changed so that everyone has to have been furloughed by June 10th or they can't be furloughed at all. It was a late addition to the rules so there's been a change of arrangements for some of my colleagues.

I hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying the relaxation of lockdown where it's happening.

@Colin_Cameron love the thought of the deer eating plants !

 

[Bigmike911]

21 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Re: deer eating plants. We used to have a problem with them biting the heads off flowers, tulips in particular, until a neighbour hit on a solution. A chopped up chilli placed inside the heads of the first flowers to open each season. They only ate one.

A deer eating plant? Interesting concept. The only issue with the chili, is that the deer ate most of the leaves on the Emperor One, which means we will have to glue chili peppers to every leaf to make sure they get the right one. I think I will just stay with the fencing, and making sure I remember to check whether or not the plants, shrubs or trees are deer resistant, But Colin I appreciate the thought. One of your posts does worry me. Your 90 year old father should probably not be working on the roof. I am 76 and don't do ladders any more. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Bigmike911

[Colin_Cameron]

1 hour ago, Bigmike911 said:

Your 90 year old father should probably not be working on the roof.

You try telling him that!  😁

[Bigmike911]

3 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

You try telling him that!  😁

Well Scots are know for having strong opinions a.k.a. being hard headed. I hear you, but I have also learned my limitations, some times the hard way. Good luck.

[Photo Andy]

In North East UK, weather changed on Wednesday sunny, windy, some rain overnight and cool wind, but we have had lots of sun and no rain prior to Wednesday. I was out on my mountain bike last week and the countryside has lots of fly tipping - so sad and someone will eventually need to clean it up. We have done some garden maintenance to make life easier for ourselves. I removed some garden waste to the local recycling centre a 1 hour wait, and 1 car in and 1 car out, workers wore facemasks, then removed them to have a cigarette.  

On Monday 1st June my car had a service booked, it had been booked on line 2 weeks prior, (many questions re me, the car, was I an essential worker? (not now) etc and then an appt time and date was emailed)  - an interesting "new normal" experience, the show room doors were left open, you were corralled to an area 2m in front of the service reception, no seat just stood stated who you were etc, your car keys were placed in a black box and they take credit card payment over the telephone when they notified me the service was finished. We were not allowed to use the WCs and then were asked to leave. Walked for 3 hours and we found a picnic site about 1 mile away so walked, wiped the seat, then  sat and read my emails and an electronic version of a newspaper on my I phone. The weather was warm and sunny otherwise this would have been awful sitting in cold wet weather etc.  I was notified the car was finished, they asked for payment over the telephone making sure I was not overheard then walked back to the garage. The receptionist stated she had emailed all the documents to me, my keys were in the little black box and we left. My wife had wipes in her rucksack (Cath Kidston bought on an QV voyage last year - whoo hoo!) we cleaned and wiped down the car. The service engineers had worn gloves but we are cautious.  

During the height of the lockdown we went into Durham city our local town, parked outside and walked in as I wanted to take some picture of an empty city - very surreal as normally a bustling University city and NOBOBY.  

Just a thought about future cruising, Disney has plans to open the theme parks - I appreciate Cunard is not a theme park but they are both travel companies and it will be interesting to see how Disney manages the unlocking as it may give other travel companies a strategy to unlock and resume operations in the "new normal" .

Stay safe.  

[hypercafe]

Hi all, here in New York City today is going to be very hot, 85+F which is far above normal. Monday the city is set to start phase I of the step's to emerge from quarantine for the 8.9 million of us however now we are in the mist of massive protests over the murder of Mr. Floyd which have included looting and burning.  Who can say how it will all turn out however from a cruise/vacation point I would recommend staying far away from here. 

[Host Hattie]

@Photo Andy thanks for the information about your car servicing experience. Mine is telling me her first service is due soon, she's quite polite at the moment but I suspect the serious nagging will start in a few hundred miles !

 

[alc13]

15 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

A deer eating plant? Interesting concept. The only issue with the chili, is that the deer ate most of the leaves on the Emperor One, which means we will have to glue chili peppers to every leaf to make sure they get the right one.

Thanks, BigMike911, you made me laugh out loud with that.

[Lanky Lad]

10 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

@Photo Andy thanks for the information about your car servicing experience. Mine is telling me her first service is due soon, she's quite polite at the moment but I suspect the serious nagging will start in a few hundred miles !

 

Yes thanks Photo Andy, my car is due a service and MOT in early July.  I am hoping I can take it in before I go back to work.  I am wondering what to do whilst I am waiting for it to be finished.  I have a service plan, but that limits me to where I can take the car.  The original plan was to drop the car off and go into Manchester on the tram from Bury.  That's not happening this year. 

[Photo Andy]

Lanky Lad

The car service was a intermediate (small) -  oil change, oil filter change and pollen filter change with a check and top up of all fluids. Total time 2 hours 30 mins walking in to garage to driving out. If it was a big service (2021 June) then probably 4-5 hours to amuse ourselves. The problem with the MOT and I need one in Sept 2020 is the mechanic will crawl all over the car to check seat belts, all warning light etc so car will need a thorough clean post the MOT.   

As I stated the weather was warm and sunny with us finding a picnic area to sit, I had my I phone, ear buds and an external power pack so would not be bored, carried a bottle of water but being outdoors in sunshine was fine but rain and snow and I know people will say no such thing as bad weather just poor clothing could be quite challenging! Toilet issues as none were available - public toilets need to be opened up or the countryside is going to become a public toilet! 

When we came home with the car on the drive all passenger doors and the estate door were left open for fresh air and UV light - bless the summer weather. I was around the car whilst it was left open. 

I will go for my MOT in Sept and get it over provided we are not in a 2nd wave and lockdown. 

Best wishes. 

[frankp01]

We went from 60 degree days to 80 degree days overnight. And a tornado scare last night. We actually took refuge in the basement for the 20 minutes duration of the alert. Tornadoes are one weather event that scares me to death. They seem to have a mind of their own. Fortunately they're not a  common occurrence here.

 

Today's zoom happy hour conference call took our mind off of all of the recent events. We were seated in one of the bay window seating areas in Kings Court. That's one of my favorite breakfast spots, and it served admirably for cocktails, too. The setting was one of the more difficult ones to arrange, mostly because we were in the background of the photo, rather than the foreground. That meant having to set up a much larger green screen setting. I also had to remove two of the chairs from the table, to make room for us! Attached are the two behind the scenes shots, and the final result. If we can't be aboard in reality, we'll settle for virtually.

[Camgirl]

Brilliant!

[Host Hattie]

That's so clever @frankp01.

After weeks of beautiful weather here, on the first Saturday we could have met people from another household outdoors, it's blowing a gale and pouring down ! So for the moment, isolation continues.

 

[navybankerteacher]

Connecticut is slowly re-opening.  I finally got my hair cut the other day (I had let it slide in January and February - so I was already well past shaggy when everything closed).  

 

Attended a granddaughter’s secondary school graduation via ZOOM - and have been invited to my duughter’s (distancing) celebration of my birthday next week.

 

Things are under control - the high infection rates here - and massive ones in nearby New York have encouraged common sense easing of precautions — sadly not the case in the almost 20 states whose folks seem to think they escaped the worst - already spiking up. 

 

I am am inclined to think what will happen in Florida in coming weeks may very well cause delaying of the early August cruise schedule.

[vettprincess]

On 6/5/2020 at 7:07 PM, frankp01 said:

We went from 60 degree days to 80 degree days overnight. And a tornado scare last night. We actually took refuge in the basement for the 20 minutes duration of the alert. Tornadoes are one weather event that scares me to death. They seem to have a mind of their own. Fortunately they're not a  common occurrence here.

 

Today's zoom happy hour conference call took our mind off of all of the recent events. We were seated in one of the bay window seating areas in Kings Court. That's one of my favorite breakfast spots, and it served admirably for cocktails, too. The setting was one of the more difficult ones to arrange, mostly because we were in the background of the photo, rather than the foreground. That meant having to set up a much larger green screen setting. I also had to remove two of the chairs from the table, to make room for us! Attached are the two behind the scenes shots, and the final result. If we can't be aboard in reality, we'll settle for virtually.

Great work. Appreciate all your efforts. Just love that location on the Queen. Already had tornadoes south of the city last week possibly more this week because heat wave coming. I have seen more destruction in my city from the riots than from a tornado.

Edited June 7, 2020 by vettprincess
spelling

[frankp01]

5 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Great work. Appreciate all your efforts. Just love that location on the Queen. 

 

I have a few more photos lined up for our next few calls:  the champagne bar, and possibly another Verandah location.

 

Aren't those bay-window tables the best? Even when it's cold and rainy I enjoy having breakfast, drinking my coffee and watching the rain hit the decks. And when it's nice it's great watching all the 'deck walkers'. Something I've noticed that I find very interesting: about 90% of those doing laps walk counter-clockwise. A freind hypothosized that it's correlated to folks being primarily right-handed. That also makes their right leg the dominent one. If you were ice skating, the right leg would then push you towards the left. The same may apply when walking. Food for thought.

[naturelovergirl]

Hello from Florida.
Yes- Universal Orlando parks opened on Friday with partial capacity and specific rules. Other parks and tourist venues will continue to open with restrictions. Also... Yes, Disney will open with limited capacity and many changed rules in Mid-July. It is a slow grind back (and not anywhere near what we all considered "normal" before the pandemic)... but they are all trying to do the best that they can for all.

 

We personally continue to miss seeing family, friends, and traveling so much...

[Kynance]

We had 4 ripe “Cambridge Favourite” strawberries today - here’s a photo of the 2 we haven’t eaten. ☺️  I said I was hopeful we would have enough for a jug of Pimms - at the moment it’s more of a glass! 🍓

I paid In my refund cheque for the cancelled 5 May QV departure on Friday: because my bank does not offer the facility to do this via a photo on its app I had to go to an actual branch, which in itself was ok - the problem was I scuffed an alloy wheel on my new car whilst going into a multi story car park beforehand! Arrrgggh! 😤😡 I think I can get it repaired under some “smart repair” protection I took out but nevertheless I wasn’t a happy bunny. I have very poor hand/eye coordination so when I bought the car I got front & rear parking sensors, a parking camera and parking assist, where the car basically parks itself, but none of this, it seems, helps with working out where the wheels are in relation to a curb! 🙄

 

I did have a really good 90 minute chat on Saturday with my best friend whom I’ve know since our very first day at infants school together (I think it’s called reception now), so that cheered me up.  On Sunday I had a nice afternoon alternating between reading in the shed and pottering in the garden. I am very pleased with my agapanthus husbandry because I am going to get one to flower which has not done so for a few years - it has variegated leaves and apparently agapanthus of this type can be more of a challenge when it comes to repeat flowering from one year to the next. 

My other half is having an exciting trip out tomorrow whilst I work from home - he has an appointment at our local recycling centre to clear some clutter from our garage! 

 

 

 

 

[babydrum]

On 6/6/2020 at 10:45 AM, navybankerteacher said:

Connecticut is slowly re-opening.  I finally got my hair cut the other day (I had let it slide in January and February - so I was already well past shaggy when everything closed).  

 

Attended a granddaughter’s secondary school graduation via ZOOM - and have been invited to my duughter’s (distancing) celebration of my birthday next week.

 

Things are under control - the high infection rates here - and massive ones in nearby New York have encouraged common sense easing of precautions — sadly not the case in the almost 20 states whose folks seem to think they escaped the worst - already spiking up. 

 

I am am inclined to think what will happen in Florida in coming weeks may very well cause delaying of the early August cruise schedule.

I live in one of the states that opened up three weeks ago and it made perfect sense to me.  We had 40 active cases and 10 deaths at the time.  I'd like to know what the criteria is for moving forward to most people.  Did the number of cases rise, sure they were expected to but we are still at 10 deaths.   The whole point of closing down our entire economy was to flatten the curve not to eradicate the disease entirely.  We are not a one size fits all country and the powers that be need to stop acting like we are.  

[vettprincess]

Hot here today in Minnesota. Very unusual for this time. I did work in my gardens on my vegetables and flowers. Tons of peonies are blooming. I now have 11 vases of them in the house.

 Used everything I could find to put them in.

I have over 20 tomato plants in pots and in the ground.

Caged them up today.

When I learn how to get photos on here I would love to share with you all.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the day when Cunard announces the QM2 schedule for New England/Canada. Since Canada closed I wonder if they will even have the 10/9 cruise. 

Bye