Smurfie Live on A626

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qbman1
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#51

Post by qbman1 »

You don't need to book so it wouldn't be an option on the Personaliser.

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Stephen
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#52

Post by Stephen »

Fair comment qb, but you would think they would still list/advertise it as one of a choice of dining options.

But nothing, not a mention.

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#53

Post by david63 »

Friday 23rd September 2016

Today was another sea day so most of the day was spent lying and/or sleeping on the sunbeds. As the sun was on our balcony this afternoon then so were we.

Tonight was the second formal night and we had our first outing for dinner in Epicurean (a.k.a, Seventeen) – this was as good as ever.

The dress code seems a bit (no make that a lot) varied with the majority conforming, although some do stretch the definition somewhat but there are quite a lot who prefer to have their own interpretation. If fact on “evening casual” nights there seems to be more “overdressed” as in semi-formal.

Another “instruction” that I have not encountered before is with charging ones devices. The rule now is that you cannot leave anything left charging when you are not in your cabin or at night – nobody actually says when you can charge your devices if you do not spend much time in your cabin.

To be continued …

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Raybosailor
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#54

Post by Raybosailor »

david63 wrote:
Thursday 22nd January 2016


As we were not leaving port until 19:00 we were, unfortunately, liable to the dreaded Spanish Tourist Tax of 10% on bar purchases which meant that the ship was like the Marie Celeste in the early evening.It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend thousands of pounds on a holiday but will refuse to pay a couple of extra pounds on a couple of drinks.

It's probably a matter of principle David, the port authority have made a euro or two out of the cruise company, the shuttle bus companies don't do it for nowt and the shops, restaurants and other business's all gain from cruise tourists.

So why should we pay the Spanish Government tax on something we have brought with us ?, does anyone know if British ports charge VAT on visiting ships onboard purchases ?.

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barney
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#55

Post by barney »

Frank Manning wrote:
I used to travel to Cartagena regularly in the 1990's when we were fitting a data acquisition system at the local Repsol refinery. I remember fabulous Spanish seafood restaurants in the back streets, and the local yacht club had a superb menu too. Happy days.
We've only been to Cartagena on a cruise Frank, but loved the place.

We have a bit of advantage due to the fact that we both speak reasonable Spanish.

Our dining companions on that cruise really disliked it because it was 'too Spanish'

I kind of thought that was the point. :lol:
Empty vessels .. and all that

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Raybosailor
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#56

Post by Raybosailor »

My dad bless him travelled to to many foreign ports in the navy but on his return never left the UK again until we took him to Spain a few years ago. As we sat outside a bar on the first night he said "this place is full of foreigners", I had a hard time trying to explain to him that he was the foreigner.

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Stephen
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#57

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Raybosailor wrote:
My dad bless him travelled to to many foreign ports in the navy but on his return never left the UK again until we took him to Spain a few years ago. As we sat outside a bar on the first night he said "this place is full of foreigners", I had a hard time trying to explain to him that he was the foreigner.
He could have stayed at home Ray and said the same thing :D

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#58

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

david63 wrote:
Another “instruction” that I have not encountered before is with charging ones devices. The rule now is that you cannot leave anything left charging when you are not in your cabin or at night – nobody actually says when you can charge your devices if you do not spend much time in your cabin …
We came across that for the first time this year too. I presume it's related to the fires that start occasionally when cheap imitation chargers aren't as good as they should be. But it's a good question. When do you do it? We almost always charge phones and tablets overnight at home.

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#59

Post by Raybosailor »

I can understand why they do it, even some of the top brand laptops have had faulty batteries in the past resulting in the units bursting into flames.

On the subject of batteries did anyone see the article on button batteries a few nights ago ?, there was this child who swallowed one and the reaction of her saliva and the acid in the battery burned a hole in the childs throat and it took months of surgery and treatment to save her.

In a laboratory test they put a button battery between two pieces of ham and poured a drop of water on them, the results were alarming and in seconds there was a green bubbling froth coming through the ham.

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#60

Post by qbman1 »

Not sure what green, bubbling froth has to do with the Smurfmeister's latest adventure - but I look forward to the next instalment !

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#61

Post by david63 »

Time to catch up after a couple of busy days.

Saturday 24th September 2016

Today our port was Civitavecchia which is better known as the port of Rome. Now you know for a fact that when your ship is entering port and there are already five other cruise ships berthed that it is going to be a busy day.

Obviously Rome is the main attraction here, and is probably the main reason that many have come on this cruise so it is going to be pretty busy with excursions and had all the makings of being an uncomfortable day as the temperature was forecast to be in the upper twenties.

As we have, strangely, never been to Rome before we decided that we would do the Roam Around Rome excursion as we are not that keen on sitting on coached for hours being driven round and jumping off and on the coach.

The journey from Civitavecchia to Rome was about an hour and a half and once we reached Rome we picked up the local guide and proceeded to have a short drive around taking in mainly the area around the Coliseum. We then left the coach and started our walking tour with sights such as the Spanish Steps (which was a bit disappointing), the Trivoli Fountain (really impressive), the Parthenon and several others. After a lunch break it was then back to the coach to cross the river for our (brief) visit to the Vatican & St Peter’s. St Peter’s Square is nothing like we imagined it to be from having seen it on the television – it seems a lot bigger on the TV. We joined the queue (apparently it was quite a short queue today as it was only half an hour!) to enter the Basilica, which originally we did not think we were doing and were not that keen on doing – how wrong we were, this place is just magnificent and requires several hours to take it all in – not the 30 minutes that we had. It was then back on the coach for the drive back to Civitavecchia.

This visit to Rome has certainly whetted our appetite for a longer visit at some point in the future.

Tonight we tried the MDR again – this time we walked in and got a table for two without any problem. The meals was also excellent, but as I have said before, lacked atmosphere, Whilst talking MDR the menus have changed since we were on Arcadia at Christmas and whilst there is nothing wrong with the menus many of the items on the menu are not to my taste.

Incidentally as point of [perhaps] interest photos are now £11.80.

Sunday 25th September 2016

Today we are in Cannes which is a tender port. Despite all the reports that there have been in the past with tendering on Azura this all seemed a very smooth and efficient operation – although many passengers were not keen on being told what to do and where to sit.

We chose to go on the Monaco and Monte Carlo on your own tour as this is another area that we have never been to before.

So once off the tender it was on to the obligatory coach for the journey into Monaco. This took just over an hour and if it had not been for the dozens of traffic lights could have been done in half the time – I dread to think how long it would take on a weekday.

Once we arrived in Monaco we had a new experience – parking the coach in a multi-story car/coach park. We later realised that due the small size of the Principality it would become too congested parking on the streets – perhaps this should be adopted in other tourist centres.

For anyone who has never been to Monaco it is on two levels – the upper level (the rock) where the Cathedral and Palace are, and the lower level where the marina and GP circuit are. There are lifts between the two levels but they are not the easiest of thigs to find as they are in car parks.

Now one thing that was not mentions anywhere was that it was the Monaco Yacht Show this week (we are not talking little 30 foot things with two sails here but mega million pound have your own helipad yachts) which meant that moving around Monaco was not particularly easy.

We took in the changing of the guard at the Place (the Queen has nothing to worry about). This, apparently is one of (no is the only) attraction and large crowds gather to watch it. We did of course have to contend with the rude French who thought that they had some divine right to push to the front – not a chance where I am concerned!

This is then where this excursion went a bit “pear shaped”. We were supposed to have the whole time to ourselves in Monaco and Monte Carlo but the guide decided that we all should meet up and drive over to Mote Carlo – which I am led to believe is about a twenty minute walk around the marina. So off we go to another underground coach park to then be led up to the Casino. The Casino in Monte Carlo is an impressive building and looking at the cars outside even with a Lottery win is out of my reach. We were then left to our own devices for the next hour or so but by then the temperature was up around the 30F mark and it was getting a bit uncomfortable.

Our overall impression of Monaco and Mote Carlo is that the area is over developed with too much “high rise” construction.

Tonight we had our second visit to Shindu and whilst the meal was as good as ever we found that the staff to be a bit “robotic”.

To be continued …

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#62

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Monday 26th September 2016

Today was the first of our two days in Barcelona and the weather, although very pleasant, was not was hot as it has been for the last few days. The Deputy Captain did promise that it will be better, and hotter, tomorrow but then again he said it would rain later today – and it didn’t!

As we have had a couple of hectic days we decided that today would be a leisurely amble into the Ramblas and back. Now it is some time since I was last in Barcelona and I do not really remember the port area that well but from where we were docked (terminal C) it was about a 40 minute walk each way. What it will be like when Carnival have their own terminal some way further out of town I cannot imagine.

Anyway we walked to the Ramblas as Mrs Smurf needed a traditional rustic Spanish jug – don’t ask as it is a long story! Eventually we found a shop, chose jug, paid for jug and then walked back to the ship.

The rest of the day was used as recovery period from the last two days (a.k.a. – sleeping)

Tonight we used the MDR again and, unfortunately our view of Freedom Dining has not changed.

My cruise is now complete as I have today encounter the obligatory “serial whinger”. At reception this morning was a woman complaining that her whole cruise had been ruined, was demanding a refund and would never travel with P&O again as when she went onto her balcony there was an unpleasant smell from the port – excuse me this is a working port.

To be continued …

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#63

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Tuesday 27th September 2016

Today is our second (and last) day in Barcelona and as the Deputy Captain promised it is warmer, and sunnier, than yesterday.

We have booked an excursion to Montserrat by Train but this does not leave until 10:30. Now the instructions for meeting for excursions clearly state meet 15 minutes before the departure time and no earlier. So we arrive at the coach just about 10:15 to find that we are the last ones to arrive!

The dive out to Montserrat is about an hour and it is interesting to see the changes in the landscape from being quite flat and industrial to quite mountainous and barren. Upon arriving at the train station to go up to monastery we were one of about 50 coaches but the trains ran regularly and held probably a couple of hundred passengers at a time. Once on the train the seats were in blocks of four and as we were with other cruise passengers they obviously thought that they were back in the buffet as they had to sit facing each other both in a window seat.

The journey up the mountain on the train was quite impressive and you can only marvel at how this was built over 100 years ago. Once we were at the top (well actually half way) where the monastery is we were then told by the guide what there was to see and do – being more precise we were told what we would not have time to do, like take the funicular railway to the top. Why do P&O make the excursions so short? This excursion left at 10:30 and arrived back at 15:00 so it could easily have been an hour, or even two hours, longer giving time to see things properly.

In the leaflet we were given when we arrived it clearly said do not use flash when taking photos in the Basilica and no not take photos when there is a service in progress. As we arrive at the Basilica there is a “special” service taking place so what is everyone doing – you’ve got it in one, taking flash photos!!!

The Monastery is a fascinating place – to call it a monastery in probably a bit of a misnomer, it is more like a small village but it is very commercialised (monks have never been backward at exploiting a commercial opportunity!)

At out appointed time we all met up again and set off to find the coach for the drive down the mountain – you have to have respect for these coach drivers as I would not particularly fancy driving a car down that mountain.

Once all back on board we set sail for Gibraltar (deep joy – but at least it saves having to pay tax!) and as we sailed out of Barcelona you could see that work has started on the new Carnival cruise terminal. My guess is that at some point in the future Barcelona will become a turn round port for P&O – there are several cruise lines already busing it.

Tonight was another excellent meal in the Glasshouse. One thing that I have noticed is that the alternate dining venues (by which I mean paid venues) appear to be less busy than in the past. Whether this is just this passenger demographic, or people are resenting paying the extra, or they have been before and do not see the point in going again I don’t know but at the current rate I cannot see then continuing as they are.

To be continued …

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#64

Post by Meg 50 »

P&O used to turn round at Barcelona - we did a fly cruise from there in 2000 (ish)
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#65

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I love the complaint about the smell. Not going to cruise with P&O again. Fantastic. I think the reception should have given her a ticket for a flight home and said Bye Bye as they escorted her off the ship.

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#66

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david63 wrote:
Tuesday 27th September 2016

Tonight was another excellent meal in the Glasshouse. One thing that I have noticed is that the alternate dining venues (by which I mean paid venues) appear to be less busy than in the past. Whether this is just this passenger demographic, or people are resenting paying the extra, or they have been before and do not see the point in going again I don’t know but at the current rate I cannot see then continuing as they are.
In my experience, Sindhu has always been pretty heavily subscribed but Marco's and the Beach House usually pretty sparsely populated. From a personal point of view, I wouldn't shed a tear if they said "bye bye" to Marco and the Beach House has never appealed to us - just a glorified extension to the buffet. Seventeen (isn't it now Epicurean?) on Azura was pretty busy when we were on board a few years back but I cannot comment on recent trends there. I am always surprised that the Glass House is never better patronised - one of our favourites, although usually for lunch and not dinner.

Personally, I would miss it if there were no "speciality" alternative choices at all

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#67

Post by qbman1 »

daib GC wrote:
I love the complaint about the smell. Not going to cruise with P&O again. Fantastic. I think the reception should have given her a ticket for a flight home and said Bye Bye as they escorted her off the ship.
Having seen quite a few mindless rants like that at reception, I often wonder how or why anyone wants to go into that line of work. I wouldn't last 2 minutes before bopping someone the nose !


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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#68

Post by daib GC »

qbman1 wrote:
david63 wrote:
Tuesday 27th September 2016

Tonight was another excellent meal in the Glasshouse. One thing that I have noticed is that the alternate dining venues (by which I mean paid venues) appear to be less busy than in the past. Whether this is just this passenger demographic, or people are resenting paying the extra, or they have been before and do not see the point in going again I don’t know but at the current rate I cannot see then continuing as they are.
In my experience, Sindhu has always been pretty heavily subscribed but Marco's and the Beach House usually pretty sparsely populated. From a personal point of view, I wouldn't shed a tear if they said "bye bye" to Marco and the Beach House has never appealed to us - just a glorified extension to the buffet. Seventeen (isn't it now Epicurean?) on Azura was pretty busy when we were on board a few years back but I cannot comment on recent trends there. I am always surprised that the Glass House is never better patronised - one of our favourites, although usually for lunch and not dinner.

Personally, I would miss it if there were no "speciality" alternative choices at all

The Beach house has always been busy on the crusies we have done. Often very difficult to get into. The food is excellent.

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#69

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

I agree Marco has never been special enough for us for a paid select venue. But they do seem to be phasing him out of those with just Marco's menus in the MDR on gala nights.


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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#70

Post by daib GC »

Mervyn and Trish wrote:
I agree Marco has never been special enough for us for a paid select venue. But they do seem to be phasing him out of those with just Marco's menus in the MDR on gala nights.

The Eppwatsit, on Ventura is not a MPW restaurant now . It wasn't in January and has not been for a while.

It is very nice however.

Very good for breakfast
8-) :) 8-)

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#71

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

We like Eppwatsit, at least we did on Britannia. However, sadly, we can't afford the suite to let us in for breakfast!

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#72

Post by david63 »

Mervyn and Trish wrote:
However, sadly, we can't afford the suite to let us in for breakfast!
Oh dear, what a shame :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#73

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Right then where are we …

Wednesday 28th September 2016

Today was a well-deserved sea day after the last few hectic days. As the sun was “cracking the flags” (or should that be decks?) sun beds were the order of the day – mostly for sleeping on.

Rant number one for today. It clearly states in the Horizon that sun-beds should not be reserved and doing so renders the personal items used to do so being removed (not that I have seen this done) – so Mr & Mrs Sunbed hogger come up on deck where I estimated that there were at least 200 sunbeds free and move two sunbeds into a passageway blocking people from walking along, put their towels and books on the sunbeds and then walk off returning some 30 minutes later when there were still 180+ sunbeds still vacant.

The Captain, on his six o’clock announcement warned us that entering Gibraltar was going to be a bit rough – and he was not wrong.

Tonight was Black & White night which was really a mixture of some doing B&W and others not – however overall the dress code was reasonably well adhered to. One interesting thing that happened was when we were in The Planet Bar (where dress code is required) a gentleman who came in with a short sleeved shirt, no tie, no jacket was asked to leave.

Tonight we ate in Epicurean which was as good as ever.

After our meal we went to the theatre to watch the Opera Boys who we thought were very good. This was our first visit to the theatre mainly due to the fact that the shows have not tied in with our dining arrangements.

Rant number two for today. In the theatre of all P&O ships there are, at the back, seats with spaces between then for wheelchair users and their companions. As we were a bit late going to the theatre we were standing at the back and all of the “companion” seats were occupied with no sign of ant wheelchairs. A woman, along with her companion, enters the theatre and takes up a place between the companion seats but did anyone give up their seat for the companion? The answer is a two letter word!!

Thursday 29th September 2016


Today we were awoken to strong vibrations from the engines as we docked in Gibraltar due to the strong crosswinds which, at times were gusting at over 30 mph. proved so strong that three of Azura’s aft lines snapped – something I have never seen happen, or heard of, before

Once breakfast was out of the way we went ashore with the intent of going up the Rock in the cable car and walking down – we had pre-booked, and paid for this. When we got to the cable car it was still quite windy and the lady at the kiosk told us it would take about three hours to walk down – time we did not have. So we went up to the top with the intention of doing the caves and coming back down but because of the high winds decided that it would be prudent to come back down straight away, rather than getting stranded at the top of the rock as Azura sailed away in the distance.

I must say that Gibraltar does not get any better and on any future visits it will probably mean that we stay on-board.

Tonight was the Peninsular Club party – something that has, in the past, been held on Black- Tie night – not sure if this is a new practice or not.

We ate in the Beach Hose which was 10 times better than our previous experience there.

To be continued …


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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#74

Post by daib GC »

david63 wrote:
Right then where are we …

Wednesday 28th September 2016

Today was a well-deserved sea day after the last few hectic days. As the sun was “cracking the flags” (or should that be decks?) sun beds were the order of the day – mostly for sleeping on.

Rant number one for today. It clearly states in the Horizon that sun-beds should not be reserved and doing so renders the personal items used to do so being removed (not that I have seen this done) – so Mr & Mrs Sunbed hogger come up on deck where I estimated that there were at least 200 sunbeds free and move two sunbeds into a passageway blocking people from walking along, put their towels and books on the sunbeds and then walk off returning some 30 minutes later when there were still 180+ sunbeds still vacant.

The Captain, on his six o’clock announcement warned us that entering Gibraltar was going to be a bit rough – and he was not wrong.

Tonight was Black & White night which was really a mixture of some doing B&W and others not – however overall the dress code was reasonably well adhered to. One interesting thing that happened was when we were in The Planet Bar (where dress code is required) a gentleman who came in with a short sleeved shirt, no tie, no jacket was asked to leave.

Tonight we ate in Epicurean which was as good as ever.

After our meal we went to the theatre to watch the Opera Boys who we thought were very good. This was our first visit to the theatre mainly due to the fact that the shows have not tied in with our dining arrangements.

Rant number two for today. In the theatre of all P&O ships there are, at the back, seats with spaces between then for wheelchair users and their companions. As we were a bit late going to the theatre we were standing at the back and all of the “companion” seats were occupied with no sign of ant wheelchairs. A woman, along with her companion, enters the theatre and takes up a place between the companion seats but did anyone give up their seat for the companion? The answer is a two letter word!!

Thursday 29th September 2016


Today we were awoken to strong vibrations from the engines as we docked in Gibraltar due to the strong crosswinds which, at times were gusting at over 30 mph. proved so strong that three of Azura’s aft lines snapped – something I have never seen happen, or heard of, before

Once breakfast was out of the way we went ashore with the intent of going up the Rock in the cable car and walking down – we had pre-booked, and paid for this. When we got to the cable car it was still quite windy and the lady at the kiosk told us it would take about three hours to walk down – time we did not have. So we went up to the top with the intention of doing the caves and coming back down but because of the high winds decided that it would be prudent to come back down straight away, rather than getting stranded at the top of the rock as Azura sailed away in the distance.

I must say that Gibraltar does not get any better and on any future visits it will probably mean that we stay on-board.

Tonight was the Peninsular Club party – something that has, in the past, been held on Black- Tie night – not sure if this is a new practice or not.

We ate in the Beach Hose which was 10 times better than our previous experience there.

To be continued …

N our last few cruises we have had the Peninsular do on a casual night. Clearly linked to the number of sea days.

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Re: Smurfie Live on A626

#75

Post by qbman1 »

I cannot remember that we have ever had the Peninsular bunfight on anything other than a formal night

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