More Best Times

Here are some bonus best-time questions and answers that you won’t find in the book:

When is the best time of day to take your vehicle to a car wash?

 First thing in the morning. The machinery is cleaner then, and the employees have more energy to dry and detail your vehicle.

When is the best time of the day and day of the week to take your pet to a veterinarian?

9 a.m. Tuesday. By this time, vets are digging out from the weekend's emergency calls.
The worst time? 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. Pet owners who have just returned home from work discover pet emergencies, some of which don't get resolved until Monday.

When is the best time to see a nutritionist?

Nutritionists say these four times make the most sense: 1) When you’re pregnant or right after you’ve given birth. 2) When you’re caring for an aging loved one and need advice to help them. 3) When you just want to eat better but don’t trust yourself to do the necessary research; and 4) When you’re an athlete and you want to improve your performance.

When is the best time to cook chicken after defrosting it?

Right away. This gives you the best chance to kill harmful bacteria that the chickens pick up after pecking at droppings or drinking contaminated water. Cook the chicken to at least 165 degrees, and refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours after cooking.

When is the best time to take a cruise-ship vacation in Europe?

April to November. The weather is best then, and there are a lot of ships to choose from, though a few cruise lines operate in the Mediterranean throughout the year. June through August is the most popular season for European cruises, but you’ll pay more, and the weather may be too hot for you. Depending on where you want to go, the best time to go probably is the most expensive time to go.
Here’s a summary: 

The Mediterranean: Spring and fall, when it’s not so hot in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Spain.  

Scandinavia and the Baltics: Late May to early September. That’s when cruise lines usually go to northern Europe. (You can take a ferry year-round along the coast of Norway.) The best weather there is in late summer, but mid-June to early July is an interesting time to go because of the midnight sun, which only disappears for three to four hours each night.

Great Britain: Late summer and early fall. It’s the sunniest then, but it’s cooler – with high temperatures in the 60s – than on the European continent.

The largest rivers: Fall. Tours of the largest rivers occur from early spring through November, and summer has the best weather, but the fall colors are incredible, and the temperatures are comfortable then. FYI: “Tulip cruises” operate in the Netherlands from March through mid-May, with tulips at their best in April.

The Atlantic Islands, Portugal, and western France: Fall. Cruise ships often visit Madeira and the Canary Islands and ports in Portugal and western France in the spring and fall. The weather is good throughout most of the year, but it’s more likely to rain in the spring.

When is the best time of the year to prune fruit trees?

Apples and pears -- Late winter.

Apricots -- Late summer.

Plums, peaches and nectarines -- Mid-summer.

Cherries -- Early summer.

Citrus -- After the fruit is picked.

When is the best time to mail or email a query letter to a literary agent?

Bad news for aspiring writers: This, unfortunately, is one of those questions with no satisfying answer. You may have heard or read in Buy Ketchup in May that it’s usually best to send a business-related email at a certain time of day and on a certain day of the week, but that doesn’t apply to literary agents. Many of the most popular agents receive dozens of queries a day, more and more via email, and their assistants cull the pile of queries they receive. Some agents say they wait until the weekend to read queries while others catch up first thing in the morning and yet others, before they go to bed.
The worst time? It turns out it’s a lot easier to answer this question. December generally is bad. Some agents are so swamped with hundreds and hundreds of unread queries they’ve received by the end of November that they don’t accept any in December. Those who do accept queries in December don’t read many of them until January.  

When is the best time to hire computer geeks not associated with your computer’s manufacturer?

There are three times when this might be a good idea: 1) When the source of the problem isn’t obvious. Most manufacturers’ techies examine only pre-installed hardware and software covered by the warranty while independents usually go beyond that. 2) When a virus or spyware is wreaking havoc. In a recent survey, independent techies found the culprits 25 percent of the time, as opposed to only 8 percent for manufacturers’ tech support. 3) When you want easy phone support. In that survey, only 12 percent of users reported problems with the independents, versus 58 percent who spoke with the manufacturers’ staffers.