Today I shall be Mainly...

[Wendyf]

Happy Anniversary Paulette and Kev!
I'll have to raise 2 glasses now

[Big Kev]

I'll have to raise 2 glasses now

Sounds like a good idea to me

[PanBiker]

Happy Anniversary to Sue and Bob and Paulette and Kev.

Sally and I are in between both of you lot but not until December.

[Big Kev]

and the good news is, it's not raining in Lytham

[Gloria]

Happy Anniversary Sue and Bob, and Paulette and Kev, enjoy your days.

[Sue]

Congratulations and enjoy ,

[Sue]

I'll have to raise 2 glasses now

Sounds like a good idea to me

Yup. Hopefully we will have champagne.

[Big Kev]

I'll have to raise 2 glasses now

Sounds like a good idea to me

Yup. Hopefully we will have champagne.

Lovely, we have gin

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Everyone raise your glasses, cheers!

[Wendyf]

Cheers! I'm at the coffee stage though.

[Big Kev]

Cheers! I'm at the coffee stage though.

Preprandial gin here, we're off to a restaurant called The Firepit. The Greek moved to Lytham so is now an hour's walk from the hotel.

[Gloria]

Cheers, I’m on Chardonnay

[Big Kev]

Cheers. We had a bottle of Malbec with 3 courses, not eaten that much in one sitting for quite a while. Comfortably full so a walk along the front and a look at the sea was in order, it's a mild still night here.

[Sue]

The restaurant did us proud tonight. It was a lovely meal of gambas in garlic followed by chateaubriand steak . Dessert was rather sweet and sticky so I opted for ice cream . Our friend Mary reappeared with Jerry, and another couple joined us. We had a wonderful evening .
So thank you to the crew of the Viking cruise ship Helgrim for such a memorable evening, anniversary cake, champagne, and a rendition by the crew of an appropriate song....which due to the alcoholic haze I cannot remember. There are photos on Bobs camera yet to be uploaded.

[Stanley]

"which due to the alcoholic haze I cannot remember."
Like Wendy I was TT so I remember the evening perfectly......
Today I shall be working on my crankshaft and having a walk. I suspect I shall then be glued to the TV watching Ronnie.....(Overnight lead 12-5 over Judd Trump. )

[Wendyf]

"which due to the alcoholic haze I cannot remember."
Like Wendy I was TT so I remember the evening perfectly......

Not TT I'm afraid, I had drunk a toast in red wine earlier on!

[Sue]

"which due to the alcoholic haze I cannot remember."
Like Wendy I was TT so I remember the evening perfectly......

Not TT I'm afraid, I had drunk a toast in red wine earlier on!

Good to hear it . Early start again, will write later, two trips out today

[Stanley]

I've made a good start in the shed on the crankshaft and am now having breakfast. I shall have an hour in bed and then watch last night's snooker on catch up.



Most of my time this morning was taken up with getting the blank for the crankshaft installed in the 4 jaw independent chuck and making sure it was sitting in place with the right amount of set-off from centre and as near parallel as I could get it. It's less than a thou out from end to end so it will be only half that in the middle. Then do my measuring and set stops at each end of the cut so I don't have to check each time. Then I started cutting and you can see I have a good clear start. The r4eason why the first two cuts were too wide is that I made a mistake and included the webs. That's been rectified now and I am set on exactly 7/16". Ready for tomorrow now, some straightforward turning.

[Stanley]

I have to tell the truth. I had an hour of second sleep and since then have been watching Ronnie shredding Judd Trump 12-5 and they get going again in twenty minutes. Irresponsible but very enjoyable as well!

[Sue]

Afternoon

It was a hectic morning. We had a 4 hour walking tour of Porto which included some free time, when we indulged in a coffee and a bit of people watching. We got back to the boat just in time for lunch and both chose a light option plus wine of course. We now have 90 minutes to chill ( or pack) before we visit port producers for a tour on how to make port plus tastings. The weather is lovely again , so different from the forecast. I have loads of pictures to upload later

Yesterday morning we went to Lamego . Unfortunately it was all shut, as it was Sunday, Mothers day and Labour Day. We visited the hill top shrine and walked down the 700 steps back into the town. We honestly don’t believe it was 700 steps, but it is what we were told. We then sat and enjoyed the flowers, did a bit of sight seeing, tourist shopping and had a coffee so we could visit the ‘bathroom’ , a phrase I find infinitely funny. No offence meant. Whilst I visited said bathroom I got locked in. I shouted, hammered on the door and then thought to phone Bob before the automatic lighting switched off. He had no problem opening the door from the out side but I was shaken. I remember when this happened to our friend Wendy in France and it was well over an hour before she was ‘released’.

We were back on board for lunch. It was then a leisurely cruise down the river to Porto. It was cloudy and chilly, not the weather for sitting on deck so we enjoyed the route from our cabin and balcony. In the evening we celebrated. We had befriended another American couple who were travelling alone, Mary was well enough to join us so with her husband Jerry and an English couple from Stafford there were 8 at the table in all . We had asked for champagne but we have not been charged for it, the chef made a celebration cheese cake for us with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate on the plate and the whole waiting on crew came and sang as they poured the champagne. Great fun, and a lovely event to remember.

We leave in the morning, at 8.15 am to go to the airport. We fly to Munich at just after 11.00 where we change planes for Manchester. Unfortunately we arrive at manchester airport at rush hour so it may be 7.00 before we get home. However its been a lovely holiday and those who asked, yes I would recommend it. However entertainment is limited and meals though good, are not huge portions. Visits are excellent and exceeded our expectations.

My bad throat appears to be the main symptom that Mary had. My voice is now very weak and I have a dry cough. Bob started with it today. Luckily due to daily testing we know it is not covid but probably a cold . Mary suffered from bronchitis as a complication

I May get chance to write tomorrow, otherwise it will be Wednesday

[Gloria]

Thankyou for these updates Sue, you may have just talked us into booking that at some point.

[Sue]

This afternoon

A trip to the port wine cellars of Ferrier?. Excellent fascinating tour. Interesting guide, three ports to taste at the end with cheese, crackers,chutney and water . A great conclusion to the trip . Do you know when they ran out of warehouse space they bought up old streets and roofed them over creating new cellars in the old houses. The cobbled streets and street names remain. I was fascinated

[Tripps]

Perhaps Ferreira ? Looks like a nice classy drop.

I'm more of a Fletcher's from Aldi man myself.

[Stanley]

I have enjoyed the thoughts of Portuguese food Sue. (Port is too heavy for me, I get head-ache.....)
Today I shall be in the shed making the crankshaft for my engine the old fashioned way as I forgot to mill the excess metal out of the cut. (Although I might change my mind as it saves so much boring eccentric cutting!) At some point I shall watch the final frames of Ronnie winning his seventh title on catch-up. I shall definitely not miss my walk as I have this last couple of days, I am paying for it with back-ache!

[Sue]

Perhaps Ferreira ? Looks like a nice classy drop.

I'm more of a Fletcher's from Aldi man myself.

Yes it was ferreira .


We are all packed, breakfasted and ready for our coach to the airport at 8.15. We made sandwiches for lunch as the plan only sells dried up specimens. We fly to Munich and change for Manchester there.

[Stanley]

We made sandwiches for lunch as the plan only sells dried up specimens.
That's what I used to do in the old days when I was flying a lot. My butties were so much better than the airline's!




One pic says it all. I changed my mind and set the slug up under the mill to cut the unwanted metal out from between the webs of the crankshaft. When I came to do this I realised that you can run but you can't hide! I got the width wrong, and when I adjusted it yesterday I got it wrong again. I now have it right, 7/16", there's no doubt about it, advancing age is affecting me. Here you see the main cut taken out and now I'm taking the two smaller pieces out. It's all worth it, apart from rescuing myself from the mistake I have made the actual turning much easier.