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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jun 25, 2019 14:47:01 GMT
Quite a conundrum I think. Some people just want to get on a plane going the right way, others have varying seat requirements. For me, I start with a fear of flying, so I jeopardise my trousers whenever there is turbulence inflight. I was given a tip many years ago - get into a seat over the wing, that’s where turbulence has its smallest effect. So that’s what I aim for. Strangely for someone afraid of heights, I feel a need to be able to see out and down towards the ground, so window seat is on my list. And I travel eastwards as per POSH - Port Out, Starboard Home. It saves sun blindness. I don’t need extra legroom, but I’d love to be able to pull my table down and not get a visible bruise on my belly!!! I’m not such a bad flyer these days, but I still grip my seat and seat frame for takeoff. Landing for some reason is comforting - I know we’re getting safer and safer the lower we go. So I’m happy to pay for my seat of choice, window at the leading edge of the wing root, port out, starboard home. And I no longer get myself into a drunken haze in Departures. All of which is undoubtedly rubbish. The real problem is they still don’t do 500mph trains to Skiathos. And won’t do in my lifetime.
Yes, but imagine the carnage of a 500mph train crash. That's about the same speed your plane is flying.
If there was a head on collision between two going in opposite directions it'd be close to Concorde hitting the ground.
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Post by dennisn on Jun 25, 2019 14:59:19 GMT
I imagine it would be like a 500mph plane crash
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Post by Tre on Jun 27, 2019 19:03:09 GMT
Have a good journey to the airport in the morning Dennis & Vera. I’m expecting an update by tomorrow evening 😅
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Post by dennisn on Jun 27, 2019 19:42:27 GMT
I've had a disaster this afternoon. I cleaned my pond filter, then cleaned the pump, switched it back on and it blew everything (notably the hairdryer which was doing service for Vera's travelling hairdresser). Short story, we were very busy, so it was 6pm before I got home with a new pump. Which promptly blew everything. It is now 9pm and we still haven't gone to bed as planned at 8pm.
The intelligentsia among you will probably conclude that the electrics want looking at, so I've tried to get a man sorted for when we get back. In the meantime, the fishes will have to manage without. The last time the pump was off whilst we were away, I lost four of the fishes. I have 13 and the smallest one will be worth £50, the biggest few £150 each - I hasten to say I didn't pay that for them - I bought them over the years on offer at the fish shop, 5 for a tenner and each one was about the size of a finger. The big yellow Ghost Koi is nearly the length of my arm.
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Post by Tre on Jun 27, 2019 21:11:37 GMT
There should be an “unlike” button 😖 Fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞
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Post by kelso on Jun 28, 2019 5:58:52 GMT
Oh Dennis, what a start to your holiday. I hope you didn't have much in your freezer! Bob
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Post by dennisn on Jun 28, 2019 6:04:28 GMT
Freezer is OK (we actually have 3).
Got to close, boarded and door shut - on time - I don’t belieeeeve it!
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Post by cariad23 on Jun 28, 2019 10:59:39 GMT
have a wonderful time, fingers crossed for fish, my old cat used to regulary arrive home with fish like that i dread to think whose pond, we had alot of herons around which probably got the blame! look out for the mopeds !
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Post by *Di* on Jun 28, 2019 18:06:10 GMT
Hope you had a good journey, all settled in nicely at Villa Maria and your first meal out was delicious...
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Post by balddave on Jun 28, 2019 20:29:29 GMT
Dennis is still getting over his red carpet and brass band welcome, now enjoying a civil reception at the town hall whilst discussing how he’s going to cut ribbon for the new webcam.
Joking apart , here’s wishing Dennis and Vera a fabulous holiday, looking forward to skittering fishes report tomorrow.
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Post by *Di* on Jun 28, 2019 21:05:05 GMT
He's had HALF A DAY to write some sort of report for our entertainment though! He had better make up for it tomorrow I tell thee...
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Post by dennisn on Jun 29, 2019 4:26:24 GMT
Just a short quick update as I don’t have the energy for epic-ing.
We didn’t take off on time after all. When we fired up to go, the tubey caterpillar wouldn’t come unstuck and it took quite some time to let go of us.
Got to Skiathos on time, however, but then matched up the Birmingham farce with a Skiathos one - after opening the door, the nice lady promptly closed it again, because the trundly stairs weren’t matching up. They did it again another three times before she allowed it and even then, the steps were a high step down from the plane floor, which I’ve never before experienced!
APOLOGIES. The short quick never happened. I “paused” writing to go eat, came back and flaked out. And woke at 7am!
so, I apologise for doing remiss, but we’re already VERY late for our swim and if we don’t hurry the beach will be full of humans! To be continued.
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Post by kelso on Jun 29, 2019 4:47:17 GMT
Ah Dennis, you're slipping. I would have thought that a man of your intellect and experience would have known to suggest to the nice lady that they let the air out of the tyres to lower the plane to the level of the stairs. 😉 I hope that you and Vera have had a great swim. Looking forward to hearing who got in first this time. Bob
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Post by dennisn on Jun 30, 2019 11:19:16 GMT
Right folks I’m so sorry - I’ve been learning that 50% of us should not be subjected to the other 50% burying himself in an iPad when there are dresses and stuff in town waiting to be looked at.
So, back to the beginning. So the flight left late as usual - maybe the caterpillar grabs our plane every week? Flight was fine, all went to my plan. Wonder of wonders, row 13 has TWO windows!
one incident - towards the end of the flight, I stuck my hand down to grab my bumbag and bringing it back discovered a protruding screw on the drop down table, ripping a nice tear in the back of my hand. So I asked the nice lady for a sticking plaster and she said she’d get one soon ( after she Finished serving from the trolley!). Next time passing she gave me a serviette to hold over the bleeding and said she’d be back with a plaster and to get details for the accident book. Which she did some time later. After that, she came to offer me compensation, would I like something, chocolate, something, anything? I didn’t want anything, she offered a Baileys, I said you’ve got to be kidding, I’ve had six! So she gave up.
We landed on time (12:40) and then went through the above mentioned farce of the trundly stairs. Eventually reached the door for the customs check at 1pm, then. Through to the nice new suitcase roundabout things. There are two of them and we waited half an hour for our cases to appear, then out to the transfer coaches. Which are about 50 miles along the road. Well, maybe not 50 miles, but a helluva long walk when you’ve had enough and want to be there. Coach number six and eventually off we go. At Villa Maria, Stamatia was on Reception duty. How she has grown since last year. Suddenly she’s no longer a little girl, now a budding young lady.
Theboss of unpacking took took charge and in short order, the wardrobes were full and it was time to go up the road to the supermarket. The nice Australian girl isn’t there this year. So 70 Euros later we struggled back with our self catering supplies.
I had a swim in the pool - swimming has become a ritual now with my holiday, so it’s imperative I swim every day.
And so so off to Vareli for evening meal. The usual effusive greeting from George, he still has a grip of steel with his handshake. Tsatsiki with two pitta breads, kleftiko and sea bass, large bottle of water and two bottles of Amstel, 40.20 Euros and a free lovely ender of melon and I can’t remember what else.
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Post by dennisn on Jun 30, 2019 14:29:19 GMT
My epic for Saturday disappeared into the pixels in the sky, perhaps something to do with the rose wine I am gobbling.
So, start again. We slept long and late, until 7am. Wandered down to the beach. The blow up person at Byzantium is no more, maybe AndrewTommy were cruel to it in May. But the footpath has been refurbished, it’s almost civilised now. The goats opposite Thanos/Sunrise have grown up and have become cows, so no more entertaining from feeding them tasty bits of people’s gardens,
the day dawned quite gloomy. Very overcast except for a small window of sunshine in the east. But we were totally committed to a daybreak swim, even though we were terribly late, so we persevered off to the beach and did our swimming. The water was warmer than last June/July, or I was tougher, because I was able to get in with only a tiny bit of big girls blouse. And was it ever gorgeous? We had three flights of skittery fishes to welcome us and we knew we were back in a happy place. The boat boy and the boat girl and the boat dog all eventually turned up rather late. We had to leave sooner than we wanted, but the tourists were really getting into the beds and that’s not our thing, so off we went. By the time we got back to Villa Maris, the sun was beginning to take charge.
Breakfast - Vera has funny stuff, like grapefruit, weetabix and yogurt. I had four digestive biscuits with a slice of tomato on top (sprinkled with salt to thoroughly draw out the flavour - fruit and veg out here has me in ecstasy, so flavoursome.
Then off to town. Joy of joys, our bus was crewed by Katerina, who welcomed me by sharing a hug. Some people think she’s a bit of a battle axe but we believe you get back what you give out - offer a smile and happy greeting and you get the same back.
From Acropolis down to Papadiamanti street to check the shops, . On the plane I had discovered that my holiday trousers had an elastic fault - when I stood up my trousers fell down so I needed some more. Also I had discovered that one of my swimming cozzies had developed the same disturbing fault. So new gear was indicated. I saw a lovely cozzy and went in to try it on. The nice lady said “no shoes and please keep your underwear on. I agreed enthusiastically, but kind of forgot to mention I was going commando! But I bought them, so no harm done. The trousers shop was not bothered, and I got a nice pair, complete with next day alterations, for 15 Euros. Supposed to pick them up today, Sunday, but we can’t be bothered, go tomorrow. Vera bought a couple of women’s things.
Nikos Taverna for one chicken and one pork, two fresh orange juices and two draft beers - sorry it’s yesterday, I can’t remember how much it cost.
We ate at Jasteri, Vera sea bass fillets, I had thrapsala as recommended by a man - Skiathos kalamari, supposed to be better than just calamari, but I didn’t greatly enjoy it - OK, but not earth shattering.
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