Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Kynance]

22 hours ago, alc13 said:

Gorgeous!  Those colors...  what is your new over-wintering trick?  It certainly seems to have worked.

 

 @alc13 - glad you liked the agapanthus - thank you! The variegated one - Agapanthus silver star, I think - is an evergreen type, so these like to be kept completely dry during the winter months, which are pretty wet here in the UK. I was a bit lazy in previous years and just wrapped it in horticultural fleece and left it in a sheltered spot - however, last autumn I tucked it away in a grow house and I think that made all the difference. Deciduous agapanthus don’t mind getting wet so much - we can naturalise bulbs in flower beds here in the south - but most of mine are in pots so I just wrap them in fleece and place them under the eaves of the house. The right amount of feeding is also important - I have a specialist feed and try to feed them fortnightly from April until September. 

[vettprincess]

Hey 

Big Mike how are things at your house? We hope the storms/hurricanes will calm down.

We are worried for you in Texas and my friend in LA -Lafayette. They are staying in their house as of now.

 

[Bigmike911]

40 minutes ago, vettprincess said:

Hey 

Big Mike how are things at your house? We hope the storms/hurricanes will calm down.

We are worried for you in Texas and my friend in LA -Lafayette. They are staying in their house as of now.

 

So far so good. The Sun is shining though we have already had passing squall lines from the outer bands of the storm. Fortunately we will likely miss most of the wind and rain being on the 'dry' side of the storm. I have removed any thing that might get airborne to storage and we have a 20 KW back up generator. The only impact on us is potentially loss of power and we've got that taken care of. It runs on natural gas, so we can go for weeks if we have to. The local authorities in the impacted area expect power to be out in some places for weeks. 

 

Unfortunately, for those who live along the Texas/Louisiana border it is going to be tough. The storm is now a Cat 4 and will likely be a Cat 5 when is slams into the coast at the Sabine River at midnight tonight. Coastal towns from Galveston north and east are under mandatory evacuations as are communities on Galveston Bay. The storm surge at Galveston is expected to be 6 to 9 feet above MHT, and that will flood a lot of places many miles inland. One forecaster had a map of Lake Charles, LA and it showed flooding in all parts of the city, with up to 15 feet of water in some places in the surge. 

 

Your friends in Lafayette are likely to get a lot of rain, and some wind but they should be safe. But if you live in the small cities and towns on either side of the Sabine you will suffer catastrophic damage. They are now forecasting Cat 1 winds all the way to the Louisiana/Arkansas border about 250 miles from the coast. Laura is going to be one of those storms people remember for years. 

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed and saying prayers for those in harms way. Thank you for your concern, Vette Princess. 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Bigmike911

[vettprincess]

3 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

So far so good. The Sun is shining though we have already had passing squall lines from the outer bands of the storm. Fortunately we will likely miss most of the wind and rain being on the 'dry' side of the storm. I have removed any thing that might get airborne to storage and we have a 20 KW back up generator. The only impact on us is potentially loss of power and we've got that taken care of. It runs on natural gas, so we can go for weeks if we have to. The local authorities in the impacted area expect power to be out in some places for weeks. 

 

Unfortunately, for those who live along the Texas/Louisiana border it is going to be tough. The storm is now a Cat 4 and will likely be a Cat 5 when is slams into the coast at the Sabine River at midnight tonight. Coastal towns from Galveston north and east are under mandatory evacuations as are communities on Galveston Bay. The storm surge at Galveston is expected to be 6 to 9 feet above MHT, and that will flood a lot of places many miles inland. One forecaster had a map of Lake Charles, LA and it showed flooding in all parts of the city, with up to 15 feet of water in some places in the surge. 

 

Your friends in Lafayette are likely to get a lot of rain, and some wind but they should be safe. But if you live in the small cities and towns on either side of the Sabine you will suffer catastrophic damage. They are now forecasting Cat 1 winds all the way to the Louisiana/Arkansas border about 250 miles from the coast. Laura is going to be one of those storms people remember for years. 

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed and saying prayers for those in harms way. Thank you for your concern, Vette Princess. 

Glad you are ok and have back up generator plans. I have not been able to get hold of my friends to say they can drive up here and stay with me if they have no power for an extended period of time. I have plenty of room. I hope you are correct about Lafayette.  Terrible times again for that area of the country. Even tornadoes being produced from these storms.

You take care and stay safe.

 

 

 

[Bigmike911]

Thursday Morning Report from South East Texas. Hurricane Laura made land fall early this morning as a category four storm. Landfall was in Cameron Parish, Louisiana and the town of Lake Charles. They are reporting 'Catastrophic" damage, but no loss of life.

Trees, power lines and road signs have been blown down, and building have been heavily damaged. They are without commercial power for 500,000 people. The Governor of Louisiana has reported only one death, thankfully. The storm is currently at the Louisiana/Arkansas border still a cat one.

 

Some damage on the Texas side of the Sabine River, but no where near the predictions yesterday. Here in greater Houston. some rain, but not very much, no wind to speak of and no casualties. So the nearly five million souls who live in the area are secure. 

 

The rest of my morning will be spent undoing the preparations I made yesterday in anticipation of strong wind and rain. In fact I need to water some plants this morning. The hurricane did leave us with high dew points, and it's going to be a slog this morning in the dew point 80 and 96f high heat. We missed another hit, but there will be more opportunities. This is an unending story in the Gulf of Mexico region. 

[vettprincess]

5 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

Thursday Morning Report from South East Texas. Hurricane Laura made land fall early this morning as a category four storm. Landfall was in Cameron Parish, Louisiana and the town of Lake Charles. They are reporting 'Catastrophic" damage, but no loss of life.

Trees, power lines and road signs have been blown down, and building have been heavily damaged. They are without commercial power for 500,000 people. The Governor of Louisiana has reported only one death, thankfully. The storm is currently at the Louisiana/Arkansas border still a cat one.

 

Some damage on the Texas side of the Sabine River, but no where near the predictions yesterday. Here in greater Houston. some rain, but not very much, no wind to speak of and no casualties. So the nearly five million souls who live in the area are secure. 

 

The rest of my morning will be spent undoing the preparations I made yesterday in anticipation of strong wind and rain. In fact I need to water some plants this morning. The hurricane did leave us with high dew points, and it's going to be a slog this morning in the dew point 80 and 96f high heat. We missed another hit, but there will be more opportunities. This is an unending story in the Gulf of Mexico region. 

Glad you are ok. My friends in Lafayette have no power but house is ok. Their "camps" are probably gone.

We have a lot of extreme heat here in the north country and of course the riots and looting and business destruction in downtown last night. Curfews in place. YEA but they still ignore it.

Daughter and I are going to move out of MN. So dangerous here and abnormal crime near me all the time.

Maybe if I beg, the QM2 will drive over and pick me up to escape from here. Heat making me nuts!!!!!

Only saving grace are all my British TV shows that I can get on public TV.

Happy week-end to you here and across the pond.

 

 

[Host Hattie]

Glad you have escaped the worst of the storm, we've had some wild weather this week already and there are thunder storms forecast for tomorrow. It's a Bank Holiday weekend here but Mr HH is working Saturday and Sunday.

 

[Bigmike911]

Storm Postscript. I live west of a township called The Woodlands, Texas. It is one of those master planned communities and generally speaking it is a great place. However, in the establishment of the community, the developer did a deal with an energy company to deliver power for the houses and business in the area. The company is a Louisiana company called Entergy. So to cut cost for interconnecting to the dominant power delivery company  they bring their power in from Louisiana, and the storm shut most of their lines down. So this upscale community has been having rolling blackouts since the storm. I am sure the residents are not happy campers. As it happens the internet circuits that power my internet are powered in the woodlands, so my internet was down from 2 to 7 pm. when the internet company brought in back up generators. 

 

I must say, I do miss not having Classic FM playing in the background when I am working. But as you can see I am back on line now. 

[Bigmike911]

3 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Glad you are ok. My friends in Lafayette have no power but house is ok. Their "camps" are probably gone.

We have a lot of extreme heat here in the north country and of course the riots and looting and business destruction in downtown last night. Curfews in place. YEA but they still ignore it.

Daughter and I are going to move out of MN. So dangerous here and abnormal crime near me all the time.

Maybe if I beg, the QM2 will drive over and pick me up to escape from here. Heat making me nuts!!!!!

Only saving grace are all my British TV shows that I can get on public TV.

Happy week-end to you here and across the pond.

 

 

Sorry to hear about the violence it seems endemic. Where are you thinking of moving to  Vette Princess? I must say living in a small town, near a big city is a very nice life style, and that is why I love being here. 

[vettprincess]

14 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

Sorry to hear about the violence it seems endemic. Where are you thinking of moving to  Vette Princess? I must say living in a small town, near a big city is a very nice life style, and that is why I love being here. 

Sorry about your power issues. Funny how we are so dependent on all our devices for communication. Violence constant and new creative ways to cause harm-shooting from bicycles, lots of car jackings then crashing the car and running. driving around an attacking people walking on the street, just crazy and not safe anywhere. We need out of MN. TAXES-we have to pay for all the damage from riots and this week destruction downtown. Business destroyed and not coming back. NOV here will be dangerous and then in March when the cops go on trial the city will burn down. Finally national guard and state patrol called in Wed. night. Curfews but people do not obey any laws. Looking at WY and FL. Enough of that must be boring the others on the board.

Someone was building a replica of the Titanic and was supposed to be done in 2016, I think.

Wonder what is going on with that project.

Anybody want to sail on it besides me and my daughter?????

First would be to take the QM2 over to England and sail back on the Titanic II. Exciting just to dream about doing that.

 

 

 

[Lanky Lad]

2 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Sorry about your power issues. Funny how we are so dependent on all our devices for communication. Violence constant and new creative ways to cause harm-shooting from bicycles, lots of car jackings then crashing the car and running. driving around an attacking people walking on the street, just crazy and not safe anywhere. We need out of MN. TAXES-we have to pay for all the damage from riots and this week destruction downtown. Business destroyed and not coming back. NOV here will be dangerous and then in March when the cops go on trial the city will burn down. Finally national guard and state patrol called in Wed. night. Curfews but people do not obey any laws. Looking at WY and FL. Enough of that must be boring the others on the board.

Someone was building a replica of the Titanic and was supposed to be done in 2016, I think.

Wonder what is going on with that project.

Anybody want to sail on it besides me and my daughter?????

First would be to take the QM2 over to England and sail back on the Titanic II. Exciting just to dream about doing that.

 

 

 

Sorry to read your news.  I don't fancy a trip on Titanic, but I would like to see it. 

 

I had booked the Dolphin hotel in Southampton for December.  It seems I can't cancel or change the booking so it looks like another road trip. 

 

Hopefully, we will be on QM2 in May, but as this goes on a Monday, we are going to travel down on Saturday and hopefully visit Portsmouth on the Sunday.  I have been a couple of times, but my friend has not so I will take him to see the Royal Navy Dock Yard and the Mary Rose etc.

[Bigmike911]

56 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

Sorry to read your news.  I don't fancy a trip on Titanic, but I would like to see it. 

 

I had booked the Dolphin hotel in Southampton for December.  It seems I can't cancel or change the booking so it looks like another road trip. 

 

Hopefully, we will be on QM2 in May, but as this goes on a Monday, we are going to travel down on Saturday and hopefully visit Portsmouth on the Sunday.  I have been a couple of times, but my friend has not so I will take him to see the Royal Navy Dock Yard and the Mary Rose etc.

I envy you the trip to Portsmouth LL, I did that in Nov. 2018 and was aboard HMS Victory at 11 am on 11th November. It is fascinating as is the Mary Rose. Enjoy your trip. 

[Lanky Lad]

44 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

I envy you the trip to Portsmouth LL, I did that in Nov. 2018 and was aboard HMS Victory at 11 am on 11th November. It is fascinating as is the Mary Rose. Enjoy your trip. 

Thanks Bigmike

 

I will look forward to seeing Mary Rose in here new home, they had not finished the work last time I was there.  I remember watching on TV as she was lifted from the waters off Southsea.  Hopefully, we will get nice weather which in early May could be asking a bit much.

[Bowm54]

Really sorry to read of your predicament. Watching the rioting on the news doesn’t show the full personal effect on normal law abiding people.

Coming originally from New Zealand the only experience of widespread civil disobedience was as a result of a South African rugby tour during the early 80s.

It was during the apartheid years and most of the country didn’t want the tour to happen, 

but the government felt they had to uphold the law. Mayhem broke out across the country, fortunately there wasn’t shooting.

Regarding the Titanic replica, the promoter, a self proclaimed billionaire named Clive, who is a big noter and serial litigator has let it slide into history. He does however have a couple of large aircraft languishing on the grass at Brisbane airport.
Sorry this is a reply to Vett Princes but my link didn’t work.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Bowm54
Add

[Host Hattie]

I know it's difficult when discussing how things are but please try to avoid political comments in your posts.

Thank you

[vettprincess]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

I know it's difficult when discussing how things are but please try to avoid political comments in your posts.

Thank you

Politics? Politics?

Missed that.

[Host Hattie]

It's a beautiful sunny morning in Wales, I have no plans for the day except reading my book in the garden - have a good day everyone.

[Lanky Lad]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

It's a beautiful sunny morning in Wales, I have no plans for the day except reading my book in the garden - have a good day everyone.

It's lovely and sunny here in Lancashire as well, but not very warm for sitting in the garden.  Some goods news is they are lifting the local lockdown in Hyndburn as the infection rate has dropped. 

 

I am toying with the idea of a train trip next weekend, only a short one, but not been on a train since February.

[Camgirl]

40 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

I am toying with the idea of a train trip next weekend, only a short one, but not been on a train since February.

Just before the lockdown, in February, my husband and I, plus my sister and her husband, all went on a fabulous holiday touring Switzerland by train. The whole journey was done by train, right from our home stations. It was a wonderful trip which seems so very long ago now that so much has changed. We were incredibly lucky we managed to get the trip in, especially as there had been loads of strikes on French railways just before our trip, as well.

 

Now I just can't imagine being able to do such a thing again for a very long time. That makes me feel quite sad to see how the world has changed in such a short time. 

 

I hope you get to go on your train trip, Lanky Lad, and enjoy it. And I'm glad to hear your local lockdown is easing. I hope it means that the idea of restricting smaller areas is working, at least to some extent.

 

Kynance, your agapanthus are wonderful, well done! We are now growing a much larger, second flush of strawberries. I'm not sure if they will ripen in time before it is too cold, but I hope it is a promising sign for next year.

[Host Hattie]

That's good news LL, enjoy your train trip.

Before we started cruising we did a trip to the Italian Riviera by train. I loved the traveling part of it but not all the organised tour parts, especially as our "tour guide" hadn't done the trip before so wasn't particularly useful.

 

[LewiLewi]

We were talking about a tour of France. There are both train tours as well as coach tours. We have been to France before, but have not been to the Eastern part at all. Has anyone toured all of France on an escorted tour, and if so, is one particular tour more memorable? Of course, this will take place post vaccine.

For some reason, we feel it may be safer on land than at sea, for a little while.

[Lanky Lad]

I got into cruise through railways.  A local hospital did a day trip on the Orient Express (well the British Pullman train).  It was only a three hour trip but wonderful.  The next year they offered a 2 night trip on QE2, a once in a lifetime experience.  That was in 1991 and I got hooked.

[naturelovergirl]

We had a beautiful weekend taking the RV (caravan) to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in NC and TN.

(The rain which had been in the forecast for us turned into very little... and it was gorgeous.)

 

For anyone looking to “socially distance” there, our advice is to stick to the National Park... lots of places to do that in there!

Always stunning!

 

The touristy mountain towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN are much more crowded with people... we just drove through them- not feeling confident to even stop.

We kept our RV outside of the park on the NC side- very pleasant and quiet. In normal years we always prefer staying on this side... but especially now!

 

The entire National Park was excellent, on the other hand. Easy to do your own thing.

We enjoyed the views and hiking very much!

The jaunt helped satiate our wanderlust... at least for the moment.

[Host Hattie]

It looks beautiful, our local track and trace has identified cases in people who travelled on a flight from Zakynthos in Greece so now everyone on the flight has to self isolate 😱

[Bigmike911]

6 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

I got into cruise through railways.  A local hospital did a day trip on the Orient Express (well the British Pullman train).  It was only a three hour trip but wonderful.  The next year they offered a 2 night trip on QE2, a once in a lifetime experience.  That was in 1991 and I got hooked.

My first sailing on QM2 was in 2005 and we took the Orient Express/British Pullman train from London Victoria right into the Queen Elizabeth Terminal. Off the train after a wonderful brunch and much wine, right into check in, up the stairs and on board. It was a memorable trip. Unfortunately they haven't offered it in years.