Grandma eats free

Cruise ships are fully stocked with food to feed thousands of passengers and crew members for the duration of the leisurely sail.

On Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ships, the food supply is good for at least six different restaurants onboard. Diners, however, have to follow a dress code that the passengers did not savor.

In fact, the recent ban on wearing shorts and flip-flops by the onboard restaurants Palomar, Ocean Blue, Onda, Cagney’s, Le Bistro and Haven upset guests, who called it “idiotic” and “seriously dumb,” the New York Post (NYP) reported.

Passengers have also been told they may not wear tank tops, hoodies, robes, baseball caps, and ripped jeans, according to NYP.

“Dressing up for dinner while on vacation in 90-degree heat locations is stupid,” NYP quoted one furious traveler.

Previously, NCL allowed travelers to wear casual attire in certain ship restaurants.

Meanwhile, a woman in her 70s uses different forms of money for food from vendors along a street in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China.

The poorly dressed grandmother often uses her “unique” currency to buy roasted chicken drumsticks, cakes, and steamed stuffed buns, local media outlet Qilu Evening News reported, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

A video posted on a social media platform on 9 February by a barbecue stall owner that showed him handing roasted chicken skewers to the old woman who paid him with “hell” money or joss paper received 600,000 likes, SCMP reported.

“The grandma has come to my stall every day for the past seven years. Sometimes, she uses children’s toy cards or plastic cards, sometimes she uses joss paper,” SCMP quoted the stall owner, Liu Ruize.

Joss paper is burned in Chinese rituals for remembering the dead. The paper looks like money and Chinese belief is that the dead would receive the spirit money and use it for their needs in the afterlife.

“She just wants something to eat. It is fine with me whatever she gives me,” said Liu of the worthless bills, according to SCMP.

The generous food vendor said the granny only uses hell money, toy cards, small coins, and other items she finds on the road to “buy” food when the allowance regularly given to her by her son runs out.