Archive for the ‘Podge’ Category

#57 Podge’s Birthday Cruise Around the Canary Islands

Posted: April 9, 2026 in 2025, Another Cruise, Birthday, COPD, COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Cruising, general, OaP, P&O, Podge, Prostate Cancer, Travel, Tubbs
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A short cruise – a short post – a very short post – by Podge’s standards

This time, Podge & Tubbs return to their other favourite ship, The Azura. This was to be a short 7-night break primarily to celebrate Podge’s Birthday, even though Tubbs’s Birthday Cruise was 14 nights long. But let’s not worry too much as Podge has a 42 night cruise at the end of 2026 for his next birthday while this time, it will be Tubbs who has to make do with a 7-night Birthday Cruise. Poor Tubbs.

This cruise starts with a flight to Tenerife after which they visit Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, then back to Tenerife where the main birthday activities will be packing for the flight home the next day 😞. But at least they’ll be on a P&O ship and there’s nowhere they’d rather be.

The flight out was only 4.5 hours but long enough to have a couple of drinks (wee drams for Podge and Fizzy Pop for Tubbs). The silly person asked Podge if he wanted anything with his whisky! Yes please, he answered rather cheekily, another one please 😋. Tubbs was paying so, why not?

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#55 Two Weeks Around Scandinavia

Posted: March 10, 2026 in 2025, Another Cruise, Cruising, general, OaP, P&O, Podge, Prostate Cancer, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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All pictures are the property of Podge and copying them will be considered very naughty.

So, once again Podge & Tubbs return to their second home, The Britannia. This time they would be sailing to Scandinavia and celebrating Tubbs’s Birthday, a 14 night cruise. Later on, Podge was to enjoy his birthday cruise as well but, that would only be a 7-night cruise and NOT on the Britannia- Poor Podge.

Boarding the Britannia was, as always, trouble free with direct access via the priority embarkation lane and priority security checks. Once onboard they checked in at the muster station when who should they meet but Nancy from previous cruises. She seemed overjoyed to see them both and desperate to check on the progress of Podge’s Food_Baby, grabbing hold of him and putting her ear to his tummy to listen for sounds (this kind of bemused some fellow passengers). Eventually, they did manage to check in at the aforementioned muster station after which they went directly to the Meridian Restaurant for their welcome aboard lunch, accompanied by fizzy pop and lots of wine.  

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Podge Gets it Wrong Again

Posted: January 29, 2026 in COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Health, Podge
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Podge saw his GP on Friday (23/01) as part of his long term care plan. At the end of the review she said all looked good but did say that he should try to keep more active. So with that in mind, on the Saturday he decided he really needed to get the garage tidied so that he could get both bike and treadmill operational. Part of this involved upturning a garden chair and putting it up, leaning over his bike to do it, onto a storage box. Naturally, Podge being Podge, he lost his balance, totally, and fell straight to the floor (even his head bounced though that part seemed ok) and ended up trapped under the chair & bike. He couldn’t move: He tried waving to  Tubbs who was in the kitchen who thought he was just waving at her so she waved back while turning up the music to listen to one her favourite songs: Then she realised he was actually waving from help. She came out to find him in a mess on the floor and had to, and managed to, free him and help him to his feet and back indoors and onto a kitchen chair.

The pain was quite bad so he took Ibuprofen and Codeine  which made him drowsy, that was good, and so he called it a day and went to bed. The next day, Podge peed blood but this, he vaguely remembered was possibly due to Ibuprofen reacting with his blood thinners.

So, Podge just rested taking Paracetamol but the pain wasn’t going away and both Podge and Tubbs started to worry that Podge had broken something so, come Monday they dialled 111. The initial contact said that they would get a clinician to call him back within 60 minutes, failing that, they would send an ambulance. This upset Poor Podge – Podge doesn’t like ambulances. Eventually somebody did call back though he didn’t really seem to know what was going on or even what day it was, then his computer ‘crashed’. He told Podge to go straight to A&E and he would send ‘a letter’.

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Podge Gets Cancer – Poor Podge

Posted: November 6, 2025 in 2025, general, Health, OaP, Podge, Prostate Cancer
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It all started around June of last year (2024) when Podge became aware of a lump in his tummy, but he kept putting off seeing anybody about it. Eventually however, Podge’s GP called him in for his annual LTCA (long-term care assessment) for his long running COPD and Heart Issues: Podge then took the opportunity, reluctantly, to mention it. The doctor told Podge to hop on the examination couch so that she could take a look. She laughed and told him straight away that it’s actually a Diastasis recti, a problem normally encountered by pregnant ladies though fat men can get it as well: Podge now refers to his fat tummy as his food baby. She (the doctor) did however suggest that, given his age, Podge had a PSA test: He declined her offer to do the finger up the bum test. So he had the blood test and went home to tell Tubbs how he was now an honorary pregnant person.

Within a couple of days the doctor phoned Podge to say that the PSA results had come back and were quite high and that he really should go to the hospital quite soon – Actually, the results came in at a level of 291, for a man of 70 and above, as Podge is, the level should be less that than 6.5. She then asked how Podge was feeling to which he replied that he had been feeling fine until she phoned!

Podge’s original Monday hospital appointment was cancelled on the Friday as the consultant was ill. It was rescheduled for the Wednesday.

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#54 Yet Another 2-Weeks in the Canaries

Posted: August 15, 2025 in 2025, Another Cruise, Cruising, general, OaP, P&O, Podge, Prostate Cancer, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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The Never Ending Retirement Saga – April 2025

While packing for the cruise, Podge became aware that his holiday clothes had again missed him so much. He tried them on, just to say hi, and they hugged him so tightly that poor Podge couldn’t move. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Again, the cruise started pretty much as any previous cruise for Podge and Tubbs: They drive to the port; They throw their cases through a whole in the wall; They check in (priority of course); They immediately go through security and board the ship (Britannia, as usual); They check in at muster station; They go to the restaurant for welcome lunch and dinner; They meet fellow guests; They drink lots of lovely wine and fizzy pop then; They go to their suite for a brief lie down to wait for their luggage and of course, their butler and cabin steward. Again, they looked at each other and both agreed: Yep, they were home once more.

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