Please pass on our very best wishes to Alan and his family.
We were on the same cruise as Alan in August and enjoyed some fun at his expense on your shows, especially the picture competition.
I am sure he had a great cruise because I know you looked after him real well.
My over riding memory from the cruise is 12 days of blue skies-bliss after the lousy UK weather in June and July, so I am sure sure this was appreciated too by Alan.
In addition the stops were just fabulous but best of all for us were Istanbul and Stromboli-just awesome.
We will be keeping you all in our thoughts these coming weeks and months.
Please pass our very best regards on to Heidi also.
Yours,
Declan and Karen Wade.

Inez

I think, just like me, you have until November 5 to make any changes without penalty. Just call your TA or CARNIVAL.

“BIG” ED

Thanks Sis & Inez

Dear John,
Don’t know if you noticed that I haven’t had a posting in a little while.
I too write this with a saddened heart and many tears down my face, I am truly saddened to hear about Alan. You are truly a good friend and it is very rare to find friends like you. It’s great that you have made the decision to be there for Alan and his family.
In the last week or so I have been trying to deal with the news that my Mom, (my best friend), who about 7 years ago was diagnosed with early stage colon cancer, now 7 years later she’s been told she has Metastatic Stage 4 recurring cancer in her liver. I am really worried & scared, and I know I have to keep positive but according to the doctors it’s not in a good place, So we can only pray and hope it turns out OK. I’m not ready too let go yet. Kinda selfish but I’m sorry. I have been having a really hard time with this especially with me living in NC and her living in NJ.
I will probably be off to NJ in the next few weeks so I can be with her. Right now I’m just waiting to finish up my own 6 month check-ups with one more doctor to go. So far I’m doing well, (with my check-ups).
I’m so glad that you and Heidi will finally be taking a much needed vacation! Please don’t think of it as letting us down, we all definitely understand your situation. John you have such a big heart and a kind soul. Please John just concentrate on yourself, Heidi, Alan and his family. My prayers and thoughts go out to Alan and his family. I wish him a quick and speedy recovery.
Best to you and Heidi,
Inez and Dean

I was with the KZST (remember us 600+) group on the Freedom sailing 09/10/07. I asked you about the two giant towers across the Massina strait. Well I think I have the answer to what they were.

The Pylons of Messina are the pylons of the former overhead 220 kV powerline between Rizziconi substation (Calabria) and Sorgente substation (Sicily) used for crossing Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily.

The pylons are two 232 metre high freestanding steel towers, one on Sicily and the other on the Italian mainland. Each pylon stands on a 8 metre tall cross-shaped basement and is equipped with a crossbar or 4 conductors in a height of 212 metres. The two remaining conductors were fixed under the tops, which carried also the ground conductors. In contrast to usual practice, the corners of the pylons are arranged diagonally along the direction of the course of the line. The pylons of Messina were the model for the pylons of Elbe Crossing 1 in Germany and were until the completion of Elbe Crossing 2, the tallest pylons of the world.

After their completion, the period of the oscillation of the structures and their maximum deflections were determined in a very unusual manner: engineers mounted three rockets with a thrust of 9800 kilonewtons on the tops of the pylons and ignited them [1].

Because the overhead power line over the Strait of Messina has a very large span width (more than 3 kilometres), and because of the maritime traffic in the strait below, the conductors must have a great minimum height above ground, and had to be constructed to have great tensile strength. This required the use of steel cables as conductors even though steel has the disadvantage of less electrical conductivity than normal overhead power lines. The danger of oscillations caused by wind did not allow the usage of bundled conductors. Thus, the original overhead line across the strait did not meet modern operational standards and the entire power line was replaced in 1994 by a submarine cable.

The now-unused pylons remain, with protected status as historical monuments and are used for meteorological measurements, high altitude rescue training and telecommunication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pylons_of_Messina

http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0012110