WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Thought I'd give Diane a break this week. Sorry, no pretty pic, but here's a link - posted by Gardenbirder late Saturday - to a funny BBC page re the Wales earthquake:   http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43100524  :-))

  • LYNETTE - I hope that you will feel better, soon.

  • Lindybird said:
    Tonight we got a phone call from the travel agents saying that unbelievably, the whole cruise has been cancelled, as the entire ship has been booked in its entirety by one man.....  We assume this is a millionaire, who has given them some vast sum to get his way. We are to be compensated for our flights which we'd paid for in full. I'm stunned, upset and annoyed in equal measure.

    That's diabolical.  Clearly Royal Caribbean prefer to have money instead of goodwill.

    You have my utter sympathy, Lindy - and I can hardly call you a whinger as I'd have been far more vocal!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • Unknown said:
    I'm with everyone when it comes to simple weddings.  (Bravo Clare and Lindybird - a lovely photo). My OH proposed (as in "it's okay with me" - so romantic) when he decided to retire and realized it would make good financial sense for me to formalize our relationship before he cut himself loose from his employer!    :-)   As I've mentioned before, we married in my tiny garden. My daughter borrowed one of my skirts and tops, my granddaughter wore her high school graduation party outift (full length) and OH's best friend and wife bought their daughter who wore jeans and a T-shirt.  Then OH went home to do laundry and I took daughter's boyfriend and my grandkids off for a tour of the Queen Mary.

    Absolutely perfect!  I would have loved that, especially seeing the magnificent Queen Mary afterwards.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • OG - I too, always went the opposite way to what my parents wanted- so much so that my mother used to call me 'Contrary Mary'.

  • Lindybird said:
    Tonight we got a phone call from the travel agents saying that unbelievably, the whole cruise has been cancelled, as the entire ship has been booked in its entirety by one man.....  We assume this is a millionaire, who has given them some vast sum to get his way. We are to be compensated for our flights which we'd paid for in full. I'm stunned, upset and annoyed in equal measure.

    I feel very sorry for you Lindy and OH

    It's the same old story with big companies - money always talks, and they don't seem to care about anything else. I have worked for P&O so I will say no more.

    Lindy I hope you can still have a happy 70th birthday and I do hope you have a lovely day (you oldy).

    Hi to you all on this thread glad to see you are all still around and still kicking - my love goes out to you all.

    "Birds are, quite simply, little miracles - and as such they require care and consideration."

    Magnus Ullman

    My Flickr account is here


  • I actually went into the garden today!  Yesterday I watched from indoors when OH did a bit of pruning.  Today he was hoeing around the rhubarb and the rest of that patch (raised beds are draining!) so he could put the cold frames out to warm the ground for sowing seeds next month.  The soil looks very good there, so I went out for a closer look.  When he went to get the frames from behind the shed, he had to move bulb troughs out of the way and discovered some were quite advanced, including a small container of pretty dwarf Iris in full bloom – so we now have something extra to look at on the deck!  I also went to look in the greenhouse and was thrilled to see that the Tarragon has survived another winter.  Maybe we shall have a garden this year after all!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Morning all:

    Lindybird:  Hmm; $200 not much of an incentive is it?  I'll be interested in reading the TripAdvisor thread that Heather mentioned...   How about a river cruise?  Do hope you can organize something.  Re price of wine:  I seem to remember other passengers smuggling booze on board on the (one) cruise we took. I was on assignment for the magazine, so it was a freebie. It was a Carnival Cruise, (at least we had no brawling families onboard); still, Carnival wouldn't be my first, second, or third choice.  My OH and I were the only people at our dinner table who ordered wine; everyone else had apparently enjoyed before-dinner drinks in their cabins.  All a bit disconcerting, especially when they happily accepted our offer to share our wine (those who weren't former Prohibitionists that is). God, what a bunch. Half of them were slightly inebriated while the other half were looking to hold hands with everyone so they could say Grace!  We ended up eating most of our meals at the cafe on board.

    OG: An orange wedding dress!  I love it. :-))  Did it have a big scarlet "A" on it?    I went through recipes a month or so ago and tossed out those that seemed too ambitious or time-consuming.  How nice to discover signs of spring in the garden.

    Limpy: Hi to you too; good to have you stop by! Hope you got to enjoy some benefits of working for P&O.

    Heather: I'm sure many of our parents must've despaired of us - seems to be built-in to every generation.

    AQ: Yes, we have photos.  And what a motley crew we look. OH had lost weight, what with his poor Mom on death's doorstep and him running back and forth to her house, so his pants were baggy; my daughter was slightly heavier than I so "my" skirt was a bit tight on her (and she wasn't wearing a bra with my snug knit top so you can imagine that) and grandson was wearing a white (well that's how it started off) shirt, bow tie (Lord knows where they found that) and a waistcoat that didn't match his pants.  He'd also 'decorated' the garden with toilet paper (and for US folks, you know what TP-ing a house means).  The minister was a woman who was wearing a black cloak akin to what UK barristers wear....  But the sun was shining and we had plenty of champagne and yummy snacks.  :-)

    Off to sort out the world.

  • Unknown said:
    Yes, we have photos.  And what a motley crew we look. OH had lost weight, what with his poor Mom on death's doorstep and him running back and forth to her house, so his pants were baggy; my daughter was slightly heavier than I so "my" skirt was a bit tight on her (and she wasn't wearing a bra with my snug knit top so you can imagine that) and grandson was wearing a white (well that's how it started off) shirt, bow tie (Lord knows where they found that) and a waistcoat that didn't match his pants.  He'd also 'decorated' the garden with toilet paper (and for US folks, you know what TP-ing a house means).  The minister was a woman who was wearing a black cloak akin to what UK barristers wear....  But the sun was shining and we had plenty of champagne and yummy snacks.  :-)

    LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • Lindy,  That was very shabby treatment from Royal Caribbean, but, as Limpy says,

    money talks. There must be quite a few disappointed people right now.

    I hope you get some joy from your visit to the travel Agent.

    Annette, I had to google TP-ing. There were clear instructions on how to carry it out. I was quite interested! It would create quite a stir around here. Mmmh!

    Lovely to see signs of Spring OG. There have been snowdrops in the garden for several weeks now, and the daffodils are just starting to open

  • Oh Lindybird what a disappointment, have you tried looking at the Caribbean cruise with P&O in October. I know its later than you want but there might be the odd cabin free. Just a thought. The cruise sales from Southhamton with a return from Barbados. With having a family do in August we decided to make it later, hence October.