where art collides philosoperontap

Yeehaw it is a Saturday. We all know what that means don’t we. The Banana Splits will be on the telly. And Champion the Wonder Horse, Swapshop aaand Tiswas. Oh, no, it isn’t 1976 anymore is it. Don’t think I used to watch Tiswas anyway. Defo watched the Banana Splits. I wonder what’s on Saturday mornings these days. Mind you I’m not interested enough to look it up. If someone told me I would nod my head in acknowledgement though.

Spotted a hedgehog ambling by the lake yesterday. Eight minutes past midnight. Fair play. I wasn’t up at that time. The lake cam saw it, said to itself oo that’s a hedgehog, Tref would be interested, I think I’ll make a fifteen second video recording the event for posterity.

Coming back to the Banana Splits, goodness gracious me that was fifty years ago! How can that be? Someone tell me. The meaning of life as you know it 🙂 

THG informs me she used to watch the same programmes. We are sooo compatible. Mind you I don’t often watch the same programmes as her these days. Mostly University Challenge and footy. We will unfortunately miss the Liverpool early kickoff today as we are having lunch at Club Sporting de Lincoln RFC. Wonder what’s on the menu. Usually v good innit. Nowt fancy, just solid Lincolnshire fare. We are playing Southwell. 

There’s a ladies game first. Lincoln Ladies v Broughton Park Women. What’s the difference I wonder. Ladies v women. Perhaps Lincoln are more refined. Doubt it somehow. Aspirational? We will be able to watch most of the first half before taking our seats for lunch. Lincoln Ladies are a strong side. Favourites I expect. League leaders. Two points ahead of Sheffield Tigers women. Broughton Park Women are actually a close third. Should be a good game.

In the meantime I have to decide when to open my tin of spam. Spam fritters for breakfast maybe. Trouble is we are off travelling again in a few days and might not use all the spam before we go. Caernarfon, Liverpool and Peel. Almost certainly a signal for the weather to change! We have much experience of this. There are two solutions. The first is take plenty of layers including a waterproof. Then be prepared to spend a lot of time in cafés and, of course, the pub. The pubs I should have said. There are seven in Peel: The Whitehouse, Creek, Royal, Central, Several, Marine and Millers T’Ale which is relatively new and serves craft beers. Our local was the Whitehouse. The Manx Legion shut down though I never went there. There were a lot more pubs in the heyday of the fishing fleet when there were up to 1,800 fishermen working out of peel. Gawd knows where they all lived.

These are the ones i could find online:

* The Central – Located on Castle Street.
* The Creek Inn – Situated on the Quay at Station Place.
* The Crown – Located on Castle Street.
* The Highwayman – Located on Poortown Road on the outskirts of Peel.
* The Marine Hotel – Situated on Shore Road (historically the corner of Castle Street and Crown Street).
* The Peveril – Located on Crown Street at the Quay.
* The Royal Oak – Located on Castle Street.
* The Royal – Located on Atholl Street.
* The Whitehouse – Located on Tynwald Road.
* Peel Castle – Historically located in the Market Place.
* Caledonian Hotel – Historically recorded in the Market Place.
* Manchester – A historical inn on Love Lane (formerly Cottier’s Lane).
* Black’s – A historical establishment said to be on the Quay or the corner of Queen’s Road and Shore Road.
* Kewin’s – An unidentified establishment mentioned as being opposite the Crown.
* Sloane’s – A historical tavern that also operated as a barber’s shop.
* Sammy Holmes’ Tavern – A historical establishment adjacent to Sloane’s.

When you started reading this post I bet you never knew it would be so educational. Neither did I. Would have been one hell of a pub crawl. All dayer. 

Reminds me of the round the TT Course pub crawl I organised after our ALevels. I found the list of people who went a few years ago – posted it here – historical document. Note the cost. £1.50 each paid for the hire of a coach. In those days beer was 35 pence a pint and two quid got you a night out.

Excellent first round of golf of the season yesterday. Finished just as the sun went down. I had a poor front nine but started to get back in the groove and had a much improved back nine. Woodcocks afterwards for a couple of beers and a burger. It ain’t particularly good but it is on the way back to Lincoln and therefore a convenient place to stop.

This morning I have a meeting and a swim this pm with the potential for an early doors meet wi’t lads in’t bail. THG has a cauliflower mac’n cheese planned. Then a busy weekend ahead with lunch at the club sporting de Lincoln RFC tomorrow and nine of us for lunch on Sunday. That’s the weekend wiped out. I’ve cooked a beef casserole for Sunday so that’s taken the strain away. Just needs another hour or so to hit perfect consistency.

A soft layer of pale pink merged with the pastel blue of the sky above providing a background to the silhouetted trees and bushes lining the garden, motionless. The pink was also splashed on the vapour trails that seem to be an ever present feature of the modern skies.

Five thirty. I had lain in bed for a minute or three but as the early morning light filtered through I decided it was time to get up and get on with the day. Interesting how you naturally wake up with the daylight. I did anyway. It wasn’t so long ago that this was nature’s alarm clock. We didn’t have clock radios. Your body must have told you what time it was. Time to light the fire, time to eat, time to get out and check the farm, milk the cows or go hunting.

I still drink milk. The stuff we buy from the supermarket easily lasts over a week, if you only use the occasional splash in a cup of tea. The unpasturized milk of old would only have lasted two or three days. If you were drinking milk it would have been very fresh. Most of it would have been turned into butter and cheese. No cornflakes or cocopops in those days. Just oatmeal. The good old days!

The pink has already disappeared. It wasn’t a red sky warning. The forecast is for a sunny day ahead. Third or fourth in a row. Wossgoinon? A busy day here. Admin, compost bin building and golf. I’ve got some tedious forms I need to fill in and now the new blades have arrived for the circular saw, there is nothing to stop me from getting on with the compost bin construction.

I quite like the idea of removing all the clocks in the house as an experiment. Some of them wouldn’t need removing as their batteries have already run out and others would just need turning off. This also means no electronic devices that contain a clock, so no phones, iPads or laptops. No radio or TV. Would be interesting wouldn’t it? I’d have to keep a notebook and pen with me as I like to record things, often in real time. I did a Facebook free January once, fwiw.

It was all quiet on the fox front yesterday. We had our hedges trimmed the day before. I wonder whether the temporarily reduced cover has put it off. I doubt it. Seem very brazen when I’ve actually encountered it in the garden.

More vapour trails appearing in the sky. We are obviously on a flight path. Never really thought about it before. Flight DL48 is currently flying by at 39,000ft en route from JFK to AMS. They will be in the middle of serving breakfast. During WW2 German bombers used Lincoln Cathedral as a navigation aid en route to places like Birmingham and Coventry. The Red Arrows are almost a daily sight.

The garden has emerged into full colour, the clock says six thirty and the kettle is on. Time to take THG a pot of tea. 

Ciao amigos.

Oh forgot to mention I have a dental appointment at 10:40. Aaah.

Went to see an excellent lecture yesterday pm given by Andy Gilbert who I used to work with in the old MEDL days.  Long time ago now. How they built the IBCC memorial. Bought his book. We also had Tom the Tree Man’s team around to do some work. Takes two blokes most of the day to trim the hedges. Ready for the growing season now.

First thing I did this morning was to strain the beef stock wot I made yesterday when I came back from the lecture. Picked the bones up at Foster’s when I bought the meat. Worth putting the effort in. We now have a good base for Sunday’s beef casserole which I will probs make this morning and leave in the fridge ready for the weekend. Long slow cook makes for a good casserole. Or stew. Call it what you want.

Tis a sunny Monday morn in March and I am sat sipping tea in the conservatoire listening to birdsong. The singing is having to compete with traffic noise this morning. I don’t normally notice traffic noise so perhaps the wind is coming from a certain direction or summat. My Merlin bird app has seen action since we returned from Italy and has identified the presence of goldfinch and chaffinch in the back garden. Not particularly noticed these before, perhaps occasionally. It’s usually blackbird, wren and robin with some magpie thrown in. Also the everpresent and irritating whoop of the wood pigeon. We aren’t being visited often enough by the peregrine falcons who dine on the pigeons. Maybe they have too many options around the cathedral.

Quite pleased with yesterday’s gardening efforts and may even make a start today on the compost bins. I do have a conference call at nine (yes, gulp, that early!) but it should still leave me with plenty of time to get going. 

Will also be back in the pool today and plan to join the Yarborough Leisure Centre under its new management. £270 a year off peak (9am til 4pm) membership with no joining fee and full access to pool, gym and classes. That is a seriously good deal.£22.50 a month! I ditched my total fitness membership as it was getting v busy even off peak (10am til 4pm), was a five mile drive away and cost £54 a month, albeit on a no contract basis. Looking at their online busyness charts their off peak times were almost as busy as their peak times and more than twice the price of Yarborough. As the weather warms up I’ll be cycling the mile and a half to get there. 7 mins according to google maps. Less if you have an ebike I guess.

The ebike must start seeing some daylight exposure this summer. Not used it for the past couple of  years. This is to a large extent due to the arthritic hips but also because I used to go on occasional cycle rides with my pal Steve who sadly passed away and had given his bike away when he became unable to ride it. The hips are no longer an excuse. If anyone wants join me on the occasional pedal lemme know. Weather permitting obvs. No point in going if it is raining.

The golfing season, I sense, is about to get underway this week. My clubs are positioned near the garage door and ready to rock and roll and I won’t be able to blame my hips for not playing well. I’ll never get back to the heady days of thirteen handicap but feel as if I should be able to string together decent enough rounds if I get enough playing in. I’ll keep you posted obvs.

Gotta go. Need to complete the three esses before my 9am call.

My mam, Eileen, died on 1st May 2015 aged seventy seven. I’ve not written about her since her death. I’ve always felt it to be a very personal thing and didn’t particularly look for sympathy in the way that an announcement on Facebook can engender. We are all different. However seeing as today is Mother’s Day it has made me think about her even though I can’t go and see her.

I guess most of us, though perhaps not all, are lucky enough to have fond memories and feelings about our mothers. It is only with hindsight that you begin to understand everything she did for you. It’s only after she died that I applied for an Irish passport. I wish I had done that whilst she was still with us. Doing so made me feel closer to her, able to identify more with her.

There is a lot of mam in me for which I am very grateful. It’s only after she died I realised how many friends she had. She would chat with the staff at the Shoprite supermarket in Peel and couldn’t walk down the street without seeing someone she knew. When I visited the florist to order the flowers for her coffin the lady in the shop was visibly upset when she found out who they were for. I think mam still holds the record for how long it takes to go shopping in Marks and Spencers in Douglas. It was at least three hours. She bumped into three friends at different times and went for a coffee with each of them in the M&S caff. Mam knew half the people on the Isle of Man as she worked in the blood clinic at Nobles Hospital. They all went through her hands at some time or another.

Her Irish playfulness was also used on my dad. She would occasionally ask him to pass the fork’n knife with a glint in her eye. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for us kids, including coming to pick me up from the pub in Crosby on dark nights when the mile and a half walk home, the second half in pitch darkness in winter, felt unattractive. I remember she would occasionally bash her Citroen 2CV on the gatepost coming home from work. I had to hammer the dent out and push the gatepost back into place. Mam would blame the scratch on “some bastard in the car park at work”. I suspect dad really knew the truth 🙂 

She was a very generous soul and we knew, on visits home, if we went out for a trip to the shops with her there would always be something in it for us 🙂 Some of it came I’m sure as a reaction to her very poor background. She came from a place called Mohill in County Leitrim where her father worked at the local train station. The youngest of 7 children she was one of the few of them to stay in the parental cottage – a 2 room place called Tullybraddan with an acre of land out the back where they would keep a cow. 7 kids would not all fit in the “house” and the older ones were farmed out to relatives as another came along. Mam remembers driving a donkey (might have been a horse) and cart into town to deliver the milk.

I’m not going to give you her whole life story here. Just to tell you that mam was a wonderful woman and I am lucky enough to have been her son. I’m sure my sisters have the same sentiment. I am also lucky to be married to THG. I see a lot of similarities between her and mam. As the mother of 4 children today is also her day.

Hugs to all.

Feels as if it’s a nice day out. Gonna get out and do some gardening. Trellis to put up. Get started on the compost bins. Stuff like that. After sitting in front of the TV from 12.30 till ten yesterday. 4 games only the last of which didn’t go to plan. I either needed France to absolutely slaughter England or lose to them. As it is Wales came bottom and Ireland second. I suppose France were worthy winners of the tourney. 

Feels as if I should also give some real attention to putting in an irrigation system. Something I was thinking about last year but made no progress. Now that I can walk it might happen this year. Also the wildflower meadow needs sorting out. The grass needs properly digging up and the area reseeding. 

Today, as you probably know, is Mothering Sunday. The maid has been given permission to go and see her mother who lives a fair old walk away. Hopefully there will be a bus. It’s the only day off she gets though she has been whinging about being allowed to go on the church picnic. I am a good employer and will of course give her permission. As long as she gets all her jobs done before she goes.

That’ll be sometime in the summer. It’ll be OK as long as it doesn’t clash with the harvest. The runner beans don’t pick themselves yanow. THG said don’t worry she can sort the runner beans but I said hey, why do we employ a maid then. Then she replied that I live in a fantasy world and we don’t have a maid. Well she is spot on. Knows me well. No harm in dreaming. 

THGs phone this morning has been ringing off the hook, so to speak. Mobile phones don’t have a hook per se do they? Offspring calling her to wish her happy mother’s day and apologising they couldn’t make it home. The pressures and pace of life of the modern world. I will have to be the surrogate kid. Already got up and made the tea. What more could a mother ask for?

The Sunday Service has got off to a good start. So far so good. I’ll let you know if it’s thumbs up or down very soon. Takes more than an opening hymn for me to be able to pass judgement. It’s coming from Antrim and has already mentioned St Patrick’s day aaand mothering sunday. I’d listen to it. I am. In the background.

Sat enjoying the sun in the conservatory for the first time this year. THG has gone for a run and I am sipping a nice cuppa char. A simple breakfast of toast and marmalade has set me up for the sporting day ahead. One game of football (imps v stockport) and three games of rugby. Blimey. Every game counts so feels like an exciting day ahead.

The day actually started with a different sort of game, to whit scrabble. THG has been playing it on her phone having been introduced to the app by one of the kids. Exercises the brain apaz. I finally succumbed. I like scrabble though not played it in years. I took my time over word choices but am pleased to say I wallopped Strategic Stella, an advanced bot expert in playing high point words and blocking off opportunities to the opposition, ie me.

I won 344 to 244. Ok you do need the luck of the draw but it is also down to how you play your luck. My dilemma now is whether to call it quits like I did with Wordle. Played that once and got it in two. What’s the fuss all about I said. Stopped after that. Wordle is clearly too easy. THG actually got it in one once with “horse”. She is obviously very good at wordle in the same way that she is better than me at University Challenge. Worrawoman.

We appear to have returned to the disunited kingdom just at the right time for the nice weather. Not looked at the forecast and these things do have a way of coming back to bite me but lets enjoy it while we can. I should take a look at the jobslist really. I said to THG I’d walk down to tesco for some spuds for tomorrow’s dinner. I think there was something else she wanted an all but as you know she has gone running so isn’t around to remind me. Hey ho.

Gee it’s great to be back home, even though it is chucking it down. A tired Tref & THG made it back by about eight last night. Car picked us up at LHR. It’s bit of a tossup really, the travel method. It is more comfortable by train but that is an hour from Heathrow, the connection times never seem to be that great and there’s always the delay factor of when is the plane actually going to arrive.

Being home feels almost surreal. Or was it the being away? I think it is probably the contrast of the two that makes it surreal. We stayed in a really fab hotel in Sorrento but I guess you couldn’t really live there all the time. For one, much as I like Italian food, you don’t want to have to eat it all the time. If you were self catering I suppose it would be just like being at home from an eating perspective. Just imagine eating out every night in Lincoln. Restaurant and pub menus tend not to differ very much do they. Same old same old. Just like being away in Italy.

Up early now seeing as I went to bed at nine. Big pile of washing on the floor of the utility room but that is hidden out of the way and has an amazing habit of gradually getting smaller if I just ignore it.

Now got a great selection of oils and vinegars to play with. Not just from this trip but also from the Spain jaunt in January and the bottle I bought from Waitrose at Christmas that I haven’t opened yet. A tasting session is in prospect.

Quite looking forward to the day ahead. Getting settled back in to the shed, get a few jobs done, catch up on the lake cam action. Today the plan is to build some raised beds. The compost bin will wait until next week.

Ok we can now move on to a couple of different subjects. THG and I have decided I will cook us a chicken curry tonight with perhaps an aloo gobi accompaniment. We like aloo gobi. However it does require cauliflower of which we have none but this can be easily remedied. The obvious thing is for THG to find one in a veg box at Lidl when she goes this morning after her weight training session. Not guaranteed but not out of the question. The point is that we saw caulis on sale in the market in Roma – one euro for two large ones. When I say large, they were whoppers. I was sufficiently impressed that I took a photo and am able to show you here in this post. All I did was search google photos for cauliflower and up it came. Simples.

Then, based on a post by Gordon ElGordeaux McCranor I came up with the idea of having bank notes with your own face on. Surely with modern tech they could easily do this. It would be quite cool. Almost every bank note would be different. People might even collect them. I’m not accepting any comments on the impracticality of this idea. You know nothing.

Anyway, gotta go. There is breakfast to be cooked. I’m not in a hotel now yanow. No bread in but not the end of the world and difficult to match the bread in La Minervetta. Mind you they don’t do sausage and bacon on the continent.

Get yer caulis ere or, as they say in Roma, prendi i tuoi cavolfiori qui

…

I am, btw, in the position of being able to inform you that out of 16k or so BA cabin crew only three of them are named Trevor. I know this because I discussed it with one of them on the flight home yesterday. He is from Manchester and knew very well the derivation of the name.

Sat out on the room’s private terrace this morning rather than heading up to the main hotel area. Vesuvius barely visible through the morning haze. Have ordered a pot of tea for the room.

It is time we headed north for the British spring that will no doubt be emerging, the land wakening, rubbing its eyes after a long winter and stretching out. Spring is the best time to be at home. Looks like it will be raining when we get back to Lincoln. That’s the UK for you. Sorrento will be sunny.

The sea here is dead calm and it is a little early for any boats. I tell a lie. Just noticed a passenger jobbie rounding the headland from the direction of Naples. Our destination this morning is Naples airport. Car picking us up at nine fifteen. Flight is at twelve forty. We should be there in plenty of time. Chill out a bit in the lounge. We are in seats 6A and 6C. Comfortable enough.

Decided last night that if we had to be stranded somewhere this hotel would be one of our top pics. Only 12 bedrooms so I guess we would get to know all the guests. Makes me think of the Agatha Christie novel/movie Evil Under The Sun. Hopefully no murders here. The only downside under those circumstances would be the lack of a kitchen so they don’t provide evening meals. I guess they would have to improvise if everyone was stranded. Mind you we would probably have to sell the house to pay for it. Pah, pish, piffle. Whatever that means.

The hotel’s interior design has given me much inspiration for what I might do with the shed. Nothing specific I can put my finger on but just general ideas.

The Amalfi coast, I can tell you, lives up to its billing. V picturesque. If you are coming here I wouldn’t bother hiring a car. Driving is nightmarish. People ride scooters but even that is a bit dodgy if you ask me. The right way to do it is by sea, nipping in to different ports and beaches whenever you feel like it. All the interesting bits of Positano, for example, are down near the beach and I daresay the same is true for other places on the coast. It is all about marvelling at the architecture from a good viewpoint. Think ahead where you might want to get dropped off for lunch. A long lunch.

…

Talking about food we are now on the terrace for breakfast. The car doesn’t come for an hour and twenty minutes and we are pretty much all packed so there is absolutely no rush. Hey baby, what’s the hurry, relax and don’t you worry. I am wearing my heavy flannel shirt over my Miller’s T’Ale tee shirt from the Isle of Man as there is a slight early morning edge to it but not enough to stop us wanting to sit out and enjoy the alfresco dining.

Church bells going crazy. Maybe it’s the fire brigade or similar. It’s certainly warming up. Vesuvius starting to appear through the haze.

I can see two fishing boats – one small one about 100 yds off the cliff and a slightly bigger one maybe 400yds out. The bigger one has just given up and is heading back in. Looks like the smaller one is using a hand thrown net.

…

Sat in the lounge at Naples Airport. It’s not much cop tbh. No beer that I can see and no spirits. Mind you it is just after 11am so not really an issue. If I was here at 5 or 6pm for an 8 o’clock flight that might be a different thing. They do have plonk. The lounge is pretty full and we ain’t sat anywhere particularly nice. In fact there is nowhere particularly nice to sit and not much natural light. Quite a contrast with the Gatwick lounge where they have a cocktail bar and the club lounge at LHR where you help yerself to the gin. None of these are at the same level as the Concorde Lounge but that is a special case and tbh we may well not get in there again. 

Bought a couple of bots of tanqueray at 21 euros each and a bottle of Tears of Christ or simlar red wine that the driver mentioned as we drove past Vesuvius. Grown on its slopes apaz. Before that I set off the alarm when going through the scanner. Mostly do these days. I quite like telling the staff it’s my hips.

Oh and the flight is delayed.

Bit of a dilemma with the 6 nations this weekend. If Ireland beat Scotland and England beat France then Ireland come top. However it is extremely unlikely that England will beat France and I need them to lose and for Wales to beat Italy with a bonus point for Wales to level with England at the bottom of the table. Even then England will almost certainly have a better points difference unless France wallop them by a hundred which would be very entertaining but unlikely.

…

Dance me to the end of love. I’m on the gin and tonics on BA535 having finally taken off. Feeling mellow and listening to Pink Martini. Two gins in. We have a car picking us up at LHR T3. Gonna go for the beef and ale stew for lunch though we are at the back of business class (row 6) so hopefully they will have some left. Otherwise it is chicken salad or mascarpone and ricotta spinach lasagne. I’ve had enough Italian food for the moment. A good ole British curry would go down well when we get home. Or a sausage sandwich etc.

The dawn chorus happens in Campania just like at home. I got out of bed to look at the lights on Sorrento but they had mostly gone and the silhouettes of the Lattari mountains were already emerging as features against the lightening Neopolitan sky. At this time the remaining town lights looked more industrial than a twinkling romantic backdrop.

This is our last full day in Italy and the plan is to catch the bus to Positano. There is a stop outside the hotel but the manager told us the bus was usually full by then so we are walking into town to board at the station. You can’t buy tickets on board the bus. These have to be purchased at a “tabac”. We tried this yesterday with no success but were directed to one nearer the bus station which was a little further on in the wrong direction so we parked it for the next day.

At six o’clock in the morning sorrento is already getting noisy. Some sort of machinery has just started up. Can’t see what it is but imagine a road sweeper making its way towards you getting louder by the minute. Or some sort of powered saw. Reminds me of the man sanding the decking of his outside restaurant furniture. We passed him on Monday and he was still at it the next day. Getting ready for the busy season ahead. Lots of noises coming now from the harbour. Beeping sounds of a reversing truck. A scaffold being dropped. A man’s voice calls out, the Italian for woah. Twice.

A pastel pink vapour trail reveals itself against the pale blue sky. Don’t think it really came from a plane. A long streaky cloud more like. Certainly going in the wrong direction for the airport. Feels as if a coffee would be appropriate but that would involve waking up THG which would not be right, I’d quite like to pop up to the terrace. In fact I have.

From here I can see an emerging Vesuvius. The furniture is still too dewy to sit on so I’m on an oversized plastic blue chair just inside the doorway. It’s more of ` sculpture than a chair. This hotel is a design marvel. It is like living in an art gallery. Wonderful. Unfortunately the next time we come, in May, we are downgrading to the Hilton as it is the venue of the conference I am organising.. Don’t get me wrong. The Sorrento Hilton is a nice hotel but it isn’t La Minervetta.

Sounds emerge from the kitchen. The rattle of ice. Crockery. The night porter has just delivered me a steaming mug of hot, black coffee, totally unasked. This is what we call service. He also turned over the cushions on an outside armchair so that I can move out onto the terrace. God I’m going to miss this hotel. We still have one more night.

Just noticed an aircraft flying in the same direction as the vapour trails but much higher. Perhaps they were vapour trails. Just ones that have sunk lower with time. Makes a lorra sense to me. Out here everything is now in colour. Except Vesuvius which has kept its sinister dark tone, almost ethereal through the morning haze.

Lively music has appeared. Jolly stuff in keeping with a bright breakfast mood. Abba. Dancing Queen. Not too intrusive. There is nobody else around. Just me, the band and the night porter who has gone back to the kitchen. The food here, they only do breakfast, is stunning. Just picture the absolute best of everything. Makes you realise that the breakfast juices served up at the Rome hotel were just out of a carton which I probably already knew.

My Merlin bird app didn’t recognise any of the birds. It had a stab at a robin but there were others. Perhaps they were too far away. It’s too lake now, what with Abba and a car repeatedly beeping its horn. It’s only six thirty eight for goodness sake. Abba have moved on “Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight”. Must be the night porter’s fave band 🙂 Not me love. I’d be fast asleep by midnight. No use to you whatsoever.

After lunchtime today we are booking our entertainments for Hay on Wye. We joined at some lowly membership level that allows us access to tickets before the great unwashed if you can use that description for the trendy Guardian reading middle class punter that attends the festival. I don’t have a problem with it meself. I’m not really that interested in most of the talks. It’s all about people trying to flog their book. Lots of politics, morals and philosophy.I particularly have no interest in the fiction. How can anyone be interested in someone describing in great detail how they came up with the characters of the main people in their book. Also people ask some really wanky questions designed more to demonstrate their deep knowledge of the subject under discussion than to increase the body of human knowledge.

I do have my eye on a poetry session and a master class in barbecue cooking that includes eating two courses of assorted proteins that you’ve seen cooked in front of you. Fifty five quid but it is dinner and ninety minutes of entertainment. Hopefully there will be beer involved. Seems right with a barbecue.

The terrace is warming up now that the sun is actually visible. THG is awake but has not yet responded to my offer of a pot of tea. There is no rush.

Back on the terrace with a beer and some free crisps. The beer was not free and easily covers the cost of the crisps. It’s cooled down a little so I’m wearing one of my heavy flannel shirts that almost serves as a coat, or certainly a fleece. Had a nice bus day out with THG. We actually made the bus at Sorrento train stayshun with only a minute to spare. There were only a few seats left and the back seat was the only place we could sit two of us together. That suited our rebellious schoolkid natures. 

The ride to Positano was a roller coaster which I enjoyed and was far cheaper than paying to go into a theme park. Really I’ver commented on the trip in video format on Facebook so don’t feel like repeating myself in writing. Sufficed to say you don’t need more than a couple of hours to “do” Positano.

Back in Sorrento I bought three lemons for three euros. It was the right thing to do. The lemons here are whoppers. The area is famous for them. Limoncello and all that. I don’t mind a bit of Limoncello on occasion but it is usually only something you get as a freebie at the end of an Italian meal, or sometimes a curry. Don’t think I’m going to bother buying any. Might well get some duty free gin though. 

The suitcase is laden down with olive oil, vinegar, cheeses, sun dried tomatoes and coffee. Some of the coffees are available in Waitrose but none of the rest. Gotta take advantage of being here. I am mostly already packed. On our recent trip to Spain I added 10kg to the weight of the suitcase by packing simlar local produce and also some brandy. Won’t be buying Italian brandy (grappa) in the duty free. I’m thinking we might plan an olive oil and vinegar tasting session at ours sometime soon. One of the vinegars was 50 years old. Might have been 40. Can’t quite remember from the perspective of the terrace and a bottle of Giulia craft beer – Italian Pale Ale.

For our last night we are off to a restaurant very near by called Taverna Sorrentina. It styles itself as a cocktail bar/gastro pub/taverna. Looks fine. Don’t think it is quite as posh as it likes to make out but tbh we are after simple fare after a week or more on the dining out trail. I might push the boat out on the plonk seeing as it is our last night. Otherwiser it could well be a simple pizza or a burger. I realise pizzas are a classic Italian dish but they don’t do them spicy enough for me. I like a bit of zing in my pizza. Chillies with spicy meats. Lots of spicy meats. They are a bit more circumspect here.

Vesuvius across the bay has maintained its somnambulent  state. Dormant. An evil monster biding its time. Its reawakening will be global news. The sound of children playing on the beach rises up from the port. It isn’t much of a beach. Not one that will attract sunbathers in my mind.

Now playing some Pink Martini on the Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speaker in the room. Just another reflection of the serious quality of this hotel. Amado Mio. This was playing in the cafe in Positano. Just fits the area. Love me forever, and let forever begin tonight.

The mountains this evening are not silhouettes. You can see their stratification in detail. Many houses built into the hills. Great views but not particularly accessible.

Now playing Una Notte in Napoli. What’s not to like?

Incredible view across the Bay of Naples from the panoramic windows of our extremely large room  at La Minervetta. Dawn was particularly lovely and even now, an hour or so later, the mists still linger in the silhouetted valleys of the town. A fisherman stands at the back of his small boat a couple of hundred yards offshore and another sits with his rod, dangling his legs over the side of the jetty. It is looking like a hot day in prospect and I regret not bringing my shorts. Our bedroom is a stunner. The owner of this hotel is an interior designer and this hotel really showcases his skills.

A lone cloud at the top of Mount Vesuvius makes it looks as if a gentle volcanic eruption is taking place. A show put on for the tourists no doubt. Clever lot the Italians. A passenger boat sets off in the direction of Capri. The hotel manager suggested we leave that visit until our next trip as much of the Island is closed at this time of year.

Our thinking is to check out Sorrento today and Positano tomorrow. There is a bus that gets you there in 25 mins, if you catch the right one. Otherwise it takes twice as long. No rush I guess.

The green fishing boat with a blue topped white cabin at the front has just returned to the quayside to pick up its net. We saw them unloading the net yesterday but didn’t spot anything that looked like a catch. Maybe they unloaded it elsewhere. One thing that did interest us last night at dinner was the discovery that they catch tuna and swordfish in these waters. I had a mixed seafood grill that included those meats. Fish and chips Sorrento style. THG had salmon in a vodka sauce. There were no greens on offer. You have to get used to the different menus here. Yesterday we went on the hunt for a sandwich but again there was none to be found.

Agonisingly beautiful morning on the terrace at the top of the hotel. Breakfast was amazing. V high quality everything. I rate hotels by a number of KPIs and breakfast represents a high percentage of the points. I haven’t experienced a better hotel breakfast than this.

There are only two negatives. One is that it is three hundred steps down to the marina below. That in itself is not a negative. It’s the fact that it is three hundred steps back up. Last night we forked out for a taxi. The meter said 18.50. I gave him 20. He said it was 25 due to some add on. I didn’t argue. Just remember the 300 steps. The other negative is that whilst my droid can access tinterweb using the hotel wifi my macbook and THG’s iPhone cannot (except I could get on the BBC website for a while but now I can’t!). I have to swing by recepzione and talk to their techie over the phone apaz, which I will do.

The plume above Vesuvius has grown. Nowt we can do about this. The airport is just below and the roads get gridlocked at the best of times. The population of Naples and its surrounding area will at some stage in the future be doing another Pompeii. Up Pompeii.

The Capri ferry has returned. I was going to say empty but I have no idea really. I would have said that just for effect. But I didn’t.

The other thing that not everyone is happy with is the fact that there is no kettle in the room. They like to deliver the tea. This is a cross you just have to bear. It’s called service levels. Service levels do come at a price but that is the same in any game. Want five nines reliability with 15 minute time to fix? In yer dreams.

We are shortly off to discover the delights of Sorrento at a leisurely pace. It must be at least 17 degrees. Gotta take it easy.

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Things remembered or noticed this morning. I was in a bar in Rome and went to the loo. The gents was occupied so I tried the ladies. That too was engaged. I waited and eventually a girl (woman) came out of the gents. The temerity of it!

Amerigo Vespucci set off on his big trip from Sorrento apaz. According to yesterday’s driver. We had a nice Merc to bring us here from Napoli Centrale. This morning I saw a small girl with pink specs get out of her pushchair and ask her mum to take some photos. She adopted some classic model poses before getting back in the buggy.

Bought a couple bots of vinegar and an olive oil from a specialist shop called Salumiere or similar. I asked if they had any of last year’s harvest but was told it wasn’t ready yet. I believed the guy in the shop more than Gemini which said now was a good time to buy. Settled for their best drop as pointed out by the gaffer. Also bought a nice white vinegar. Find it difficult to get much in way of choice in Lincoln. Also the same balsamico the man in the shop used himself.

When it got to paying he asked if I could do cash. Cash is king. He wasn’t offering much of a discount. Couple of bucks. The cheese seller in the market in Rome knocked a fiver off for cash without me even asking. Not many tourists in that market unlike today’s shop which was tourist central. Almost as if they had just got off a cruise.

As we walked down the main drag a few things grabbed my attention. First  a truck picking up cardboard. Every shop had left a pile of cardboard packaging outside. Monday is obviously recycling day. Then a currency shop quoting identical exchange rates for  GB pounds, Scottish pounds and Northern Irish pounds. Parity at last!

Then there was the legal cannabis store.

We walked past an Irish bar advertising that it was showing the Liverpool game tonight so that’s this evening’s entertainment sorted. Won’t want much in the way of eats as we can fill up on the amazing buffet of hors d’oeuvres, or whatever they call them in Itly, in the hotel. Really high quality nosh fair play. 

And then finally, unless I can think of something else, we  passed a statue of John Paul 2, or San Giovanni Paolo II as he is known around ere. Took me a second or three to click that’s who he was. Thought I recognised him. The San bit = lots of politics going on I’m sure. We popped into three or four churches on the way. Really noticeable how much more elaborate Italian/Catholic churches are compared with those back home. Ole Henry VIII has a lot to answer for.

Bags are packed and we are pretty much ready to move on to our next port of call Sorrento. 10:25 Frecciarossa to Napoli where a driver is picking us up to take us to La Minervetta, our bijou home from home for the next three nights. Not worth messing about with local trains from Napoli and then a 1km hike with bags at the other end. One of my fave songs is Pink Martini’s version of Una Notta in Napoli but don’t think we will see much of the city. Certainly not this trip. Rome has been full on but Sorrento should be a little quieter with just the two of us. 

I am quite satisfied with the weekend’s sporting results and we are already looking forward to the imps’ next game which is away at Exeter tomorrow night. Another long trip for the faithful. I wonder if it will be shown in a bar in Sorrento. Lincoln are top of division 3 after all 🙂 If they have chromecast I could share it from my phone. I’m that kind of guy. I’m sure the locals will be interested.

“Oo Lincoln, si that would be bene. We can’t get enough of British third division action in Sorrento but they keep showing AC Milan and Napoli.” Well they should complain if they feel that strongly about it. I would. That’s what social media is for.

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Seamless transition from hotel to train. Good facilities at Roma Termini but all we did was occupy a table in a caff for 15 mins or so before heading down to the platform. The business class coach on the Frecciarossa is v comfortable fair play. Tis said that they bring food and drink offerings as was the way in the Rome of old but I can’t see us wanting any nosh. 

A whistle has just signalled the off. No different to the platform at Lincoln Central I’m sure. Lincoln is not as grand a station as Termini despite its clear association with Rome. Our ruins are not quite as grand. What would Julius Caesar have thought when setting off on his six week or more journey to Albion, or Brittania depending on your timing. Not a good time to be alive although I daresay they made the most of what they had. Grapes are grapes innit.

It is supposed to be blazing sunshine in Sorrento and I am optimistic we might have a clear view of Vesuvius from our hotel room. When I was there last summer you could barely see it due to the smog. It might have been a good spot to watch the eruption as long as I was sure it was safe. Gemini suggests not. Not even Capri would be safe. If yer in Naples you are toast. Burnt toast and don’t even think about marmalade.

Meanwhile we are racing through the Abruzzan countryside having gorged ourselves on an espresso and two biscotti. Cloudy ere mind you.