MarkC

Hope you had a good breakfast before sailing.

Always do

Sounds like that video on the Model Railway Partwork thread. Don't watch on a full stomach...

Quite possibly...we certainly expect to be rolling quite a lot, as the swell is going to be abaft the beam...

Welcome to a standard drying day in the Outer Hebrides. seriously batten down the hatches and stay safe and warm

Alan in the gale swept outer Hebrides

Hi Alan. I have a friend who lives in Carloway - I hear lots about your gentle breezes up there!

That's me

Not as good as last time we came through - we only got up to 21.8 knots today. Last time was 23.9 knots, but we were turning 122 rpm, as opposed to today's more pedestrian 105 rpm...

And here I was hoping they had, in fact, invented holodecks, Dave...

Stay safe, Mark.

Thanks, Debs

Yep, stay safe.

I bet the "mop n bucket" man was busy on that boat!

I wonder how many passengers were pleased to get an extra 30 hours added to their time at sea.  And looking on the bright there probably weren't big queues for the restaurants so you could grab a nice seat and maybe a few extra helpings for your meal.

Absolutely, Mike. Those things are big, but they're a pig in a seaway unless going fast enough for the stabilisers to work - and, of course, once in the German Bight, your ability to manoeuvre is limited...

Your Saturn bound?

Did it set the foghorn off in Leghorn?

I say..I said I SAY... We're not Saturn bound - but I have had my share of 'space cadets' as shipmates over the years...

Let me just rephrase that..... Is Norwegian airport alcohol cheaper than ordinary Norwegian alcohol?

Sorry, I don't understand - "Cheap, Norwegian and alcohol!". Nope never heard that phrase before!!

You should see the prices in Oahu Costco...

Gentle cruise, then.

Indeed...

Payoff day for me tomorrow and we should get in just before the weather turns. Actually getting home might be another matter entirely however!

You'd think it was the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from the media froth!

Jawohl, Herr Kapitän!

PING...ping...PING..ping..

Be careful driving all that distance. Take plenty of breaks, if need be.

I know, steve. Planning a stop just outside Chester. Done this trip before, and it's a good point to take a break. It's the 'ordinary' roads out of the way; all motorway (bar Leeming to Scotch Corner) after that. Will also stop at Wetherby if necessary. See how the traffic situation is, of course. That might dictate another stop or two if progress is slower than hoped.

And cheers, Neil

Congratulations, it’s great being a papa!

Congrats

Thanks, all

Ah! possibly a White Christmas then. Seriously though, Best wishes and hopefully a quiet and uneventful Christmas.

Hope you can make the best of this disappointing situation Mark and that at least you'll get festive foodstuff. Best wishes and happy browsing on RMWeb. John

Thanks, Steve and Brit. Just been told we will be going alongside at noon on the 25th... Food - I was on here last Christmas as well - the spread was impressive, it has to be said. Weather looks fair for the next few days, so that's something. It's -8 Deg.C at our destination today - bracing...

I recall proper fire and it been red hot, pulling myself along 3 or 4. 45 gallon oil drums welded together pushing my BA set in front of me.

There was one particular instructor at South Shields who would take great delight in 'demonstrating a sudden flare up of the fire' by simply throwing a few litres of paraffin onto the already raging fire in the 'tank' - do that these days and he'd be in serious trouble with 'authority'...

I'm convinced there was a competition between instructors as to who could get it the hottest. Based at York i probably had more BA jobs during my probation than they had experienced in 20 years in the job.

Started with 16Gb in the recent new-build PC. Very effective if there's not much on it!

Quite. More is better, as the saying goes, but the system is now maxed out. Should keep the thing going for another year or so.

And here I am, still on 2GB... :-(

Don't worry, it was probably laid by the Americans

I blame the Soviets, me...

"INCOMING!"

They haven't broken your ship I hope.

Nope - they tried to though... fortunately our bollards (ooh, matron) are made of strong stuff...

The mind has just put a image in my head that I can not shift.

Interesting would I be right in thinking you don't see much sun there!

Only burnt what couldn`t be recycled? A lot of Charity Shops will take bubble wrap.

I'm usually too busy to see much daylight between 8 & 6! Recycling? Good luck storing it on board, then finding a port facility that will accept it. They're all <supposed> to, but many don't. So...

It's very worrying...and generally the ship and her company just keep on with the job - although 15 months ago, I missed the first drydocking since we bought her, so I left a dark blue painted ship, and returned to one now in the Company's reddish orange livery

So much like the constantly changing railway liveries?

Not my mob - we have house colours. Any ship coming into our fleet has the hull painted the correct colour at the next docking. The funnel, of course, goes into Company colours with emblam immediately the ship is taken over.

If you were to search in physical shops for such books, you wouldn't get far by car or public transport for £2.80....and there's the time factor to consider...

I know - still all bargains really

Or you could think about how much tax they pay and how they have destroyed local bookshops and boycott them on moral grounds.

No doubt it will be the wrong kind of snow...

Not over there. It's only the UK that seems to go into meltdown with a few flakes of snow !

The Netherlands are as bad as the UK when it snows - we are not alone...

I feel all flight details for holidays bring happiness whether they are at home or away.

Those were the days Mark!

Nothing changes regarding the "Escape Message", Neil!

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday!

Mines 43!!

'eh 2 brutes'

Tell me about it my wife's started already "I'd like the house decorating, I'd like new carpets, I'd like a new wardrobe and it goes on!

Infamy,Infamy; they've all got it in for me!

Sympathies. Last year someone used my business email address as "reply-to" when sending out phishing emails asking for a payment. Not helpful. People were visiting my business website and phoning me asking what the payment was for. Made me look a right d*ck.

Cheers, Pete. It really is annoying. I've had the same email for some 10 years, but might have to change it

It's one of those things that happens every now and again. It happened to me a few years ago. Eventually the rejected emails stopped, but it was annoying at the time.

You'll be going all round the workshop now, looking for something - anything - to roll....

Lovely bit of kit. It has grooves in the rollers for bending rail but I'd have liked a slightly thinner and deeper groove for rolling bits of angle iron section

Funny you should mention that, Horse...