Thanks Sanji, Congratulations to you too on reaching this date, or perhaps I should say "Mabrouk" as I was usuallyon the Tunisia forum. I've just heard from someone elsewhere about this as I hadn't realised that today was our 10th anniversary, as it is for shirleyh, but I know that you've always been a tower of strength and an enormous help to everyone, including sorting out my problems with avatars.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in that time and there have been many changes.

I can't remember what brought me here originally but I do know how much I used to enjoy posting, knowing that there would always be someone to give me advice and that in turn I was sometimes able to pass on a few tips. There was always a nice friendly atmosphere and we all cared for one another, as well as trying to make the newbies feel welcome.

I was so sorry to hear about your health problems and very much admire your attitude towards it. There are plenty of us rooting for you and wishing you well.

Keep in touch Sanji and remember the good times.

Aww what lovely posts. Happy Anniversary to you both and ShirleyH
Ps I joined well before 2004

Thanks Glynis. There aren't that many of us old-timers still around but you and some of the mods are still doing a fantastic job

Congratulations to the oldies

You will have been on when it was the Ezee board thingy. I was on that too but when it got shut down (we don't talk about that) for a while I lost my membership and had to re-join under a new name, it makes me look like a newbie compared to the 3 of you

Hi Aslemma
I don't normally look at the information under the avatars, but when we post next to each other, I had noticed that we joined on the same evening.....at one time in the past, the time you joined used to be displayed too....and can you remember the gold star system? People used to get so upset about that if there was a clear-out of posts and they lost a star.

Shirleyh joined before us both, she joined on the 25th September.

I got reminded during the 'deleting posts' thread - usually I can't remember what day it is these days and
Interestingly enough, most of the contributors in that thread, they joined in 2004 or early 2005, so, old-timers indeed.!

I remember how I got here - I was rummaging around the Internet and stumble across HT. - I'd had a bad experience in a 4* hotel in Tenerife and being woken in the night by a huge cockroach crawling on my face.
Jaysuuus almighty, it freaked me out big time and I developed a phobia about them, I didn't go away for nearly 2 years, and whilst I can't say that I ever liked them and I'd walk around them in the street and just shudder......having one crawling on my face just sent me do - dally.

We had a General Chat and a couple of members called Pippy and Shell (not the Shell in Cyprus), they decided to start a thread whereby they bought the members a virtual present for Christmas......When it came to my turn, they bought me a can of cockroach spray.

Funny how I can remember all this as though it happened yesterday, yet I can't remember what I did last week.

I can also remember the fun learning how to post photos in here. Several of us had just got computers and we were as green as rhubarb - Van must have had the patience of a saint trying to teach several of us that night....and as each one of us mastered it, everyone was so supportive... Good times indeed.!

Sanji x

How strange Sanji I was just thinking about your cockroach escapade the other day!! Spiders don't bother me at all & lately, we've had some monsters that you could put a saddle on, scuttling across the carpet.

So, there I was laid on the couch with my fluffy cover over me watching TV when out of the corner of my eye I saw something 'Alien' near my knee......'that's a whopping big spider' I thought. So...whilst trying not to let it know I was on its trail, I quickly I flung it off and managed to pulverise it into the carpet with my slipper before it sneaked off under the couch. But I shuddered. I shuddered because had I dozed off on said couch the tarantula could have crept its sneaky way up towards my nostrils, which then reminded me of you and the cockroach......

You've all got brilliant memories, I can't remember that thread of Pippy's at all..... I do, of course, remember Ezboard, bless it. And I do remember being up all hours of the night 'guarding' the board from the spammers!!

I also remember when Michelle McCarthy and I were the first mods to be chosen by the members & the pair of us sitting refreshing the page waiting for someone to post......we laughed so much in messenger, then laughed again at the pair of us sitting in our houses, by ourselves, howling with laughter at a monitor ....

Don't talk to me about spiders - I remember years ago when I was first married my husband was away at sea and just as I was going up to bed I saw an enormous one in the corner of the dining room. I caught it in the dustpan and rushed through the kitchen and outhouse like a madwoman, finally throwing it and the dustpan out into the garden. I've since learnt the trick of putting a glass over them, sliding a piece of paper between them and the wall and getting them out that way.

I certainly remember Pippy and Shell and sometimes wonder what's happened to them. I'm still in contact with Annette (Briar), the mod on the Tunisia forum. She and her husband stopped travelling overseas some years ago, mainly due to their dogs, and had many holidays in their caravan. She's another one who's going through a bad time just now as Phil has serious health problems.

As they say, "the past is a different country" but they were happy days, even though I got a lot of teasing from certain people (they know who they are!) but I admit to being somewhat accident prone.

I'll be back in my beloved Tunisia in a couple of weeks, then when I get back I've got an operation to look forward to in order to remove the metal plate from my elbow which was put in a couple of years ago, as the screws are moving and look as though they could come through the skin.

I'll never know when I really joined, because somebody accidentally deleted my membership after I'd been here some years, so I had to rejoin in 2005.

Kiltman HT Mod wrote:

Congratulations to the oldies

You will have been on when it was the Ezee board thingy. I was on that too but when it got shut down (we don't talk about that) for a while I lost my membership and had to re-join under a new name, it makes me look like a newbie compared to the 3 of you :cry

A similar thing happened to me - my original user name was just SM - so I 'm not sure exactly when I joined but it was probably around 2004/5 too. It was definitely in the Ezboard days (how could one ever forget them?) and I found it because I had booked a week in Tunisia on the spur of the moment and was looking for a bit of info to convince me that I hadn't made a terrible mistake! I probably wouldn't do it now but I had realised that I would be able to take a week off in February, so had gone to the local independent TA and asked them what they could come up with that was cheap (ie no or low single supplements), warmer than it would be here and less than 4 hours flying time away. They came up with a week HB at the Marhaba Beach on the edge of Sousse and I just booked there and then because it was so cheap that it would have to be an absolute hovel not to be good value for money. I had reckoned that even if the food was terrible and I had to eat out all the time, it would still be a cheap break!

So it was probably info from you Aslemma that gave me the heads up on how to get the best out of that week which I thoroughly enjoyed and I returned to Tunisia for a number of years in either the February or October for a quick blast of warmer weather at the low point in what was always my busiest terms at work. So thanks for that

SM

I think that it was because some of us used to visit certain places fairly regularly (Spain, Goa, Tunisia, etc) that we were able to offer some guidance to others perhaps venturing there for the first time. In doing so we made a lot of friends and got to know some lovely people, at least I certainly did. In those days there seemed to be far less people joining HT, asking a question, getting an answer and then disappearing, often not even indicating whether they had found the information useful.

Do any of you still remember the Daily Express Cruise saga which ran for ages on here and was such an enormous help to so many people?

Oh, yes, I do! At the time I had no personal interest in the topic (because I could never imagine myself ever taking a cruise - how time changes us!) but followed the thread out of curiosity and admired the tenacity of those who were determined to get their cruise under the terms of the offer and doggedly pursued it. I think that I would have given up but all power to the elbow of those who didn't but the really impressive thing was the way the group as a whole was able to help each other by sharing their experiences etc.

SM

One of the best things about that was how we were able to list who had got their cruise, which ship and the date. This meant that many of us already 'knew' our fellow cruisers from here, which made it even more enjoyable.

I'm not sure how my joining date is 18th May 2004 - did I have a time travelling machine around that time?

I think I joined the previous boards in early 2004 - I remember getting a lot of help for our trips to the Gambia and Sri Lanka that year. Time flies eh?

whoohoo congrats to both of you and thanks from all of us for the useful info you provide

Boo!!

How we doing gang? Some fond memories in this thread lol

Van x

How lovely to hear from you Van. You are sadly missed. Do hope you and yours are OK, . xxx

All you "old timers" -I didn't join until November '04

Hi Van - long time , no see.
Hope you're all keeping well

Do you know what I remember about that cruise thread?
Firstly, it was a great support group and people made a lot of friends.
Unfortunately, it was so popular that some people were coming in here and using HT as a platform to vent their anger, and some of them sailed very close to the wind with posts that could be considered libellous.

Sanji x

brewerdave wrote:

All you "old timers" -I didn't join until November '04 :rofl

We'll have to have a party Dave in November for your 10th anniversary.
The drinks are on you.

Sanji x