where art collides philosoperontap

Mannanana, do doo do doo doo. On the good ship Manannan of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. That’s a good name for a shipping line. Evokes visions of travel from the Victorian era. Port out starboard home. Not that it makes any difference on the Isle of Man ferry. Here it is more about ensuring you have a seat reserved in the Premium Lounge or, on the Manxman, a cabin. Unfortunately because we booked at the last minute we couldn’t get seats together. We will survive.

As we were boarding I noticed that the RNLB Betty Huntbatch moored in Douglas harbour. It’s a huge boat as lifeboats go. Betty was the person who paid for the boat through a £1.2 million bequest in her will, fair play. Her husband had been in the Royal Navy. Also as dawn came the sky turned a vivid pink. It lasted no more than five minutes. We are parked at the pointy end of the ship up the winding deck in the open. I don’t really like parking there. You are the last to get off. In the days of the Land Rover Defender they always put us near the front for a quick getaway because of the height of the car.

The sea looks pretty calm with a force 3 wind but the boat is still rolling a bit. Should be ok. I have a bacon roll coming.

Good news. The Robert Blane party is a no show leaving 4 free seats at the front of the cabin. THG and I are now sat together yay. Mind you there isn’t much dialogue going on. It’s still a bit early. I wonder what Robert Blane’s story is. Why did he not show up? I looked him up. There are loads of Robert Blanes. One of them is a horse trainer. Wonder if it was him. Thanks anyway Bob.

The bacon roll is taking its time.

…

An uneventful sailing, which is good, a family visit on the Wirral and now the silver bullet is headed east with THG at the wheel. We traditionally stop at Heartshead Moor services to change over drivers. In the passenger I can now focus on ritin, social media and perhaps the build up to the Imps game at Reading. You will all undoubtedly be aware that we only need a point from this game to secure promotion to the lofty reaches of the second division. Reading will not be a walkover. They are in a very much insecure sixth place with Stevenage only a point behind them and with two games in hand. Reading will be desperate to take a point or three out of this game. Huh! Our in car guidance system tells us we arrive home six minutes after kickoff. There will be stuff to unload before I can settle in front of the big screen in the shed to watch the game.

Tis a bootiful day out there. I had to ditch the flannel shirt as it was too warm. This is the week I switch to summer attire. My shorts are all in a storage box under a bed in one of the spare rooms. Will need to dig em out. Although a few blokes were walking around in them the Isle of Man was very much not shorts weather. We have the AC on in the car.

Yesterday turned out to be a good Friday, ably assisted by a win for the Imps with a goal in the 88th minute. 23 games unbeaten, ten points clear of Cardiff at the top and eighteen points clear of Bolton in third place. We watched it in the cottage as the Marine turned out not to have sky sports despite the  sticker in the window.

I expect today will be a good Saturday. Gonna nip to the butcher’s first thing to source some bacon to take home. Seriously good stuff. I’ll have a couple of slices for breakfast this morning with a sausage, an egg and sourdough toast.

Meet THG for a cawfee at the breakwater caff after her swim and then a general amble around Peel. Again. FA cup action between Liverpool and Man City at the Etihad. We shall have to see how that goes. I remain hopeful. May watch that in the back room of the Creek. See how it goze. Then it’s the annual running race up Peel Hill. Tough lot those runners. Part of me thinks it may  get cancelled as we are expecting force 10 winds. 

Our boat did go this morning but everything else is cancelled. We are happy to have delayed our departure until Monday and are now going back to Liverpool. A two day holiday bonus that will hopefully include some spectacular wave action at Fenella Beach and definitely dinner at the Boatyard later on. By the time we go on Monday we (I) will have sampled all our regular eating and drinking spots: the Whitehouse, the Creek, the Peveril, the Marine,  Miller’s T’Ale, the Royal, Royal India and the Boatyard. The only place not visited will have been the Central but we don’t often go there anyway. Not bad going.

In assessing the pros of cons of staying an extra two nights I did take into consideration the remaining supplies of clean clothes. You will be pleased, nay thrilled to know that I have plenty of underwear and just the right number of shirts left. Of course we could have put a wash on but that doesn’t look like being necessary and we would in any event have had the issue of drying the clothes, remembering that the reason for our delayed departure being Storm Dave.

…

Picked up the bacon and brought it home, as they say. Bought four varieties, as we might say. Unsmoked back and streaky, smoked back and black treacle cured. At least I think she said it was black treacle. Said it was da dogz. Been thinking about curing my own bacon and might well have a go when this batch has been consumed. Just like in the (very) old days.

So now I’m back in the cottage waiting for the right time to break the fast. There is no rush. We don’t need to hurry through life. Initially when I stepped outside I was wearing my love and peace suede leather jacket but realised it was drizzly so turned around and swapped it for my waterproof. Feels as if waterproof will be the order of the day.

Been trying to get hold of someone from the Ventosus winery in Peel. Noone answering the mobile phone and the shop has been closed all the time we’ve been here. The notice in the window says “we are probably out on deliveries”. Hmm. My backup plan is to swing by the deli at Tynwald Mills but they aren’t answering the phone either.

Tharrldofornow.

…

Called in at the Ventosus wine shop. The owner of the bookshop over the road told me they opened nearer lunchtime most days and after visiting the Kissacks I swung by again and lo it was open. The owner told me the story of the building. It had apparently, during the heyday of the smuggling industry in the Isle of Man, been used as a store for booze. It would be brought in to the building through the solid oak front doors and taken to the cellar from where it would leave via side exits in the possession of said smugglers for dispatch to various places in the UK.

Bought a mixed case of tempranillo and cabernet/shiraz. With a housefull of visitors next weekend it will come in handy. Mind you some of them will be running the 10k on Sunday morning so they are likely to be fairly abstemious.

Good Friday, hopefully :).  Many of you will be familiar with the saying “it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive” but I am here to tell you that “no, it is good to have arrived at Friday”. Whether this Friday turns out to be a great one remains to be seen but we are optimistic,  hopeful. 

There is much about the day to look forward to. In anticipation of a Saturday morning departure from the island I’ve been running down the stores and had planned to finish off the bacon and the one remaining bread roll for today’s breakfast. This is still my plan though having pushed back our departure to Easter Monday the fridge stocks sitch will need to be revisited. 

We had always planned to pick up a couple of sourdough loaves, one white and one brown, ordered a couple of days ago from GG Bakery on Michael Street. Sourdough lasts, particularly as we mostly toast it, so we figured we would take it home with us. Now it will come in handy for our extra days. I am optimistic re this bread.  GG Bakery only opened last summer but our first foray, in which the bread was ordered and a sausage roll and two bread rolls were purchaysed was a successful one. The pastry was excellent and the rolls, or baps as they are called in these parts, were large meaning I only used one of them for our picnic lunch thereby leaving the other for today’s breakfast.

Plans for the day include watching the Imps at 3pm. I’m going to ask The Marine if they can show the game. No premiership matches on today so I am optimistic that they will agree. Dunno really. You will  note that optimism is part of a theme running through today’s post. The Imps could well secure promotion today. Proportion to the Championship as that league is known as today but in reality Division Two. The Imps’ highest ever league position was fifth in Division Two in 1902. In those days there were only two divisions. Now I’ve lost count how many there are. Fingers crossed re The Marine agreeing to put it on eh? 

Before the game we are planning to walk up Peel Hill. This won’t be a first but it will be the first time in years as the state of my hip joints have got in the way for a while now. I am excited about the challenge but realistic that it won’t be an easy one. Hopefully the wind and rain will stay away as it won’t be particularly sensible to go up there if the weather is too bad and we want the view to be there anyway.

To round off the day we are meeting @Richard and Jacqui in the Royal at 6pm before hitting the Royal India around the corner. No connection between the two joints. That was going to be our last day in town but now that it isn’t we have already booked The Boatyard for Saturday night which is a bonus.

So Good Friday, a day of optimism and hope should be a good one, at least in my good book 🙂 

…

THG has returned from her morning run around Peel and reports that it is somewhat dank and drizzly out there. I think the outlook improves this pm but we vill wait and c. As Storm Dave approaches these isles we must expect the weather to be even more variable than is usual. Or is this our normal state anyway. What I quite like about Storm Dave is the name. I’ve often asked myself why on earth they come up with exotic names. Ok in the interest of accuracy and/or research I hereby present all the storm names for 2026: Amy, Bram, Chandra, Dave, Eddie, Fionnuala, Gerad, Hannah, Isla, Janna, Kasia, Lilith, Marty, Nico, Oscar, Patrick, Ruby, Steve, Tadhg, Violet and Wubbo. Hmm okay. A few outlandish ones in there but perhaps I’m looking at it from an old fogey perspective. Wubbo is certainly unusual so maybs I should hang my argument around that one. Dave meet Wubbo. You both have much in common. A bit windy around ere innit!

Good night’s kip, although some pesky gulls chose to have a chat at some point in the night, and then a good breakfast. The local butcher’s smoked bacon is seriously good and I added fried leftover spuds and an egg on top of avocado on toast. THG did an excellent of smashing the avo and left me some for my own use. Won’t need lunch now and I can save the remaining bread roll for a bacon butty tomorrow morning.

We are off on a steam excursion to Port Erin today. Train leaves Douglas at eleven fifty arriving an hour later. There is a nice little museum at Port Erin Station and a caff situated in the waiting room. Olde worlde railway vibe to it. On our last visit THG and I were sat in said caff having driven there from Peel. When the train arrived the place filled with passengers looking for the loo and some sustenance, probably in that order. The upshot was a long queue for the bogs. Knowing this I suspect we will go to the museum first and then do the caff before the return let at 2pm. I like steam trains.

Sat now sipping a cuppa whilst THG gets ready to hit the road. She is going on the bus as she likes to “do the shops” in Douglas. The place holds nothing of interest for me so I am following on in her car which does allow us to swing by Paul and Wendy on the way back to Peel. Assuming they are in obvs.

Interesting conversation in Greens caff in St John’s yesterday pm where we met Mike for a cuppa. I asked the woman at the till whether they took Amex to which the answer was no. I mentioned it was my preferred method of payment as we use the points for trips, quoting our visit to Malta in September as an example. Would you believe it she, the woman at the till, is also going to the same hotel for the first two weeks. They will be leaving as we arrive 🙂 Obvs running the caff must be good business, spending the profits on two weeks in a 5* hotel in Malta.

…

Set off earlier in the car than I needed to with the expressed purpose of spending some time at Fenella Beach. A fair number of cars in the car park but they are parked near the mobile sauna that has appeared overnight so I guess they are punters of that gaff. A few people stood outside in those warm towelling coveralls that swimmers wear when they come out of the water on a cold day. Not really my thang. Cerainly not at this time of year.

The sea is pretty calm today (5mph West/Souwesterly) and the sun is making an effort to shine through. A woman walks her dog on the beach and a man runs around the outside of the castle. One ship visible on the horizon. Marine Traffic tells me it’s the Stena Forwarder sailing from Birkhenhead to Belfast. Must be nearly there. A bit cross I forgot my binocs on this trip. They are very hady things around the Peel Castle and Breakwater area. There is fishing boat just down the coast but I can’t see it from here. Tayrin, PL175.

Merry laughter coming from the sea down below. Four brave/mad/you choose lady swimmers of uncertain ages have entered the water. Eight minutes later they are wading slowly out. It’s just an ordinary day in Peel. An ordinary day. A totally gorgeous day now that the sun is fully out.

A Ferrari has just pulled up next to me. I heard it before I saw it. Throaty engine roar. Young bloke driving it. A few smaller boats are also now starting to appear.

I’ve moved to the breakwater. PL9 – Liam Joseph bobs gently up and down. Herring gulls announce their presence.

…

What an exciting day it’s been. The train journey to Port Erin was uneventful apart from the fact that whilst sat in the station in Douglas I received an sms from the steam packet company saying our sailing on Saturday was at risk of cancellation due to high winds. Turns out Storm Dave is rolling in with Gale Force 10 winds. Hmm okay. I checked and our cottage, #1 Charles Street was not rented out after us so there was the potential to extend the booking. I parked the issue until our return to Douglas when we could chat to the steam packet at the Sea Terminus.

Nice stopover at Port Erin where I bought two mugs: steam train and electric railway. I worked on the latter as a summer job before going to uni. Plum job. The station in Port Erin was v cosy with a coal fire burning in the grate of the waiting room. How often do you see that in the UK? 

The drama happened on our return journey. We stopped at Castletown but then stood there for ages. Took quite a while for the staff to tell us that the southbound train had broken down in Ballasala. Problems with the brakes. The engineer was on his way from Douglas but it would be a good half hour before we were on our way. Most of the line is single line working so we couldn’t overtake the broken down train.

We stopped for a total of around three quarters of an hour in Castletown but did eventually get going. The driver was obviously pushing the engine as hard as he could to try and make up time as the return journey thenceforth was quite bumpy. Made it back about 40 mins late but hey, it was an adventure. We could always have got off in Castletown and found alternative transportation home.

Back at the Sea Terminus we changed our sailing until Monday and have now extended the cottage booking until then as well. I am ok with this. We now have a table at The Boatyard restaurant for Saturday night and might well be doing something with Paul and Wendy on Sunday. Moreover we should be able to watch the Liverpool v  Man City FA Cup quarter final match on Saturday. I daresay we will find a pub showing it.

Gulls are a natural alarm clock when you come to peel. A constant cacophony as a backdrop to the trip. I tried the Merlin app to see if I could identify the bird types. It recognised the presence of birds but couldn’t decide what sort. You could almost hear its thought processes “hmm it’s a seagull but that’s too generic”. It kept stum.

Vicious things these gulls. They will swoop down and steal the ice cream cone out of your hand like one once did to our @hannah. Just stay alert :).

Loads of different types of birds around Peel and if you are lucky you will get to see some diving. They circle about 40m above the waves and then suddenly tilt and plummet. Plunge. It’s more common to see birds swimming and then suddenly dive, surfacing a few metres away. I’m not sure I’ve seen one come up with a fish in its mouth. Not v often anyway.

…

THG has gone out for a run and I’ve just polished off a bacon and mushroom sandwich. Yanow it isn’t worth buying supermarket bacon if you can get the real stuff from a butcher. Yesterday on the way back from our swim I stopped by Tate’s on Michael Street and picked up some bacon (smoked and streaky) and sausages (cumberland). Just eaten some of the bacon now. Really top notch. Having the sausages tonight. The beauty of hiring a cottage is that you can sometimes eat in instead of having to do pubs and restaurants every night.

Anyway I’d originally stopped by the butch for some ham for lunch but the ham wasn’t going to be available until today. Now some of you might think that isn’t very good stock planning but Peel is a small place and folk will get used to when certain things are available. For example he was making more sausages today but had enough for our needs in the fridge. So presumably the ham comes in today. I was happy enough to wait another day. I figured the ham would be far superior sourced from the butcher. I’m going to nip out in a bit to buy some to go with our picnic on Glen Maye beach today. It’s a beautiful walk down to Glen Maye beach. If you’ve never been, get on down there. Been going there for years.

The butcher was in the throes of making burgers to service his contract with the Glen Helen Hotel. Mincing the beef and mixing it up with seasoning. Everything prepared in front of you. His shop was nothing fancy but you just felt right about buying from him. The bacon was wrapped in greaseproof paper and then put in a paper bag. No plastic in sight. Had a nice chat with him.

There’s also a new bakery on Michael Street. We will have to call in. Quite a few empty shop premises though. You don’t get quite the same sense of prosperity here as you do in Jersey where the high street of St Helier is rammed with stores.

It’s Wednesday so almost half way through our visit already. Still three action packed days to go. Stay tuned for updates. You’ll be the first to hear.

Number one Albert Street. A bijou little gaff. We had planned for our Tom to come with us but he couldn’t make it in the end. TBH the space is handy as I now have my case on the bed in the other bedroom. It is small but don’t get me wrong, we really like it and it is perfect for the two of us. No parking but I left the car in the car park around the corner and it is just yards from the sea front and the Marine public house.

We arrived at around six pm last night. I dumped the bags and popped to Tesco to get the ingreds for a steak dinner. It ain’t as good as the old Shoprite but at least the trolleys didn’t need a pound coin. Then we watched University Challenge and hit the hay.

Today is a Peel day. Stroll around to the breakwater, cup of tea in the caff there, walk around the outside of the castle. That kind of stuff. Same as we always do. I usually stop by the second hand bookshop but don’t always find anything of interest.

At around eleven we are going for a swim, indoors, then I might stop by the caff at the end of Michael Street for a bacon roll. See how it goes.

Tonight we are meeting the gang for dinner in the Creek. @Richard, @Wendy and @Mike and Jacqui and Paul. Might see if they have queenies on the menu. They usually do although we are not in queenie season right now.

The perfect day in Peel. There is a great ice cream parlour, Davisons, on the prom. You need to go there. The only question is how many times 🙂 We have until Saturday at which point we catch the eight o’clock in the morning boat back to Heysham. That points to a quiet Friday night. Maybe the Royal India. See how it goes. 

We have plenty of things in mind to do during our stay and I will keep you posted, obvs.

Our room at the Liverpool Hilton has a great view over the Albert Dock, this morning accompanied by a lively soundtrack as the wind beats down the Mersey. This wind has no name. No storm here even if it sounds like it. The IoMSPCo says its 13:45 sailing from the Port of Heysham is still scheduled to go. We have a large cabin with a balcony which I can’t see us using.

Bicycles and scooters roll by. Runners run. Not much pedestrian action really. One or two people walking to work in the dock. Buses draw to a halt at the lights but suddenly pick up speed as they change from red to green. Ripples on the surface of the dock. Merchant navy flag flaps stiffly. Eight ey em.

…

Nice enough breakfast at the Hilton. Good coffee, which isn’t usual, and good freshly baked sourdough. We went for a corner table in the window and only realised our mistake when the loud American woman on the next table opened her mouth. Corporate bollocks. I immediately regretted sitting there but on reflection decided you could hear her from anywhere in the breakfast room. It’s just that we were sat in Ground Zero! Fortunately her softly spoken local companion excused herself to go to “set up the meeting”. The American was left with no target for her utterings and shut the f*** up. Now back in room waiting for a meeting to start. We don’t really call them conference calls any more do we?

We are off on a jaunt to Beddgelert today. Looked at the steam train timetable for options. Bloody typical. They don’t start running until tomorrow. Tomorrow we are in liverpeul. Ah well. At least we are off out for a curry tonight with Rhys and Eirian. Bengal Spice which has apparently improved. The last time we were there,  Iolo from Springwatch was in with what looked like a couple of his film crew. Someone from the next table started chatting with him about stuff. Wildlife presumably. We left him alone. People need their space. I guess it’s a problem that comes with celebrity. 

So because we are going for a curry, breakfast will very much get pared down to a simple bacon sandwich . Brechdan bacwn, or cig moch, you choose, they both mean the same thing. Good quality bacon here. With HP sauce natch. And a glass of milk.

There’s a nice walk along the river in Beddgelert. It’s a regular of ours. Places you can stop to skim stones and shouldn’t be too crowded being just before the Easter holidays. Everywhere will be rammed next week. We will be away from it all in Peel. Fenella Beach, far away in time. 

Heard on the wireless that today is the spring equinox. Of course I knew that but it was useful to be reminded, I suppose. Dunno why they bother changing the clocks though. I’d be tempted to leave ours as is but expect there would be pushback from other members of the household. Also my pesky devices will automatically change the time anyway. They like to conform. Sheep.  Plenty of sheep around Beddgelert. Baaaah.

Back in the room I have to report that as well as the aforementioned simple bacon sandwich I also had a weetabix and a raspberry yoghurt together with a glass of milk (well two actually), an OJ and two cawfees. See vid in previous Facebook post on how to apply HP Sauce to a bacon sandwich. Of its time. I have a post on philosopherontap on how to make the perfect bacon sandwich. Google it if you are interested. This particular sarnie was not perfect as the bread wasn’t quite right but the bacon was good quality. I’m not complaining but I am unlikely to leave a review. I usually only leave a review if the experience was good or if it was particularly bad. Something like a bacon sandwich is very objective anyway.

We need to think about timing for leaving for Beddgelert. No point in getting there too early. Beddglelert will be part of a circular route that takes us around Y Wyddfa to Llanberis and back to Caernarfon. A well trodden path stopping at the occasional scenic view point to take photos. We have quite a few of them from over the years. Same scenic viewpoints. The shame nowadays is that it is virtually impossible to park at Pen y Pass. The car park is always rammed and I think they may even charge. Might get lucky. Seehowitgoze.

…

Noted a few things seen on the way today, or in the case of Waunfawr not seen. The sweetshop I used to go to of a weekend and ask for 2oz wine gums was no longer a sweet shop. Had reverted to being a cottage. Happened a long time ago I think. Then the village hall across the road from our house appeared to no longer be there and the Whiteways bus garage was now just a pile of rubble. Used to catch the double decker bus to school in Caernarfon from there. It’s amazing to think that in the school summer holidays I used to walk from Waunfawr to the Golf Club in Caernarfon and back. Must have been around 12 years old. 4 miles. I’d carry a seven iron or similar and people used to occasionally stop and give me a lift. You don’t see that these days.

There was very little traffic on the road and on a couple of occasions I pulled in to let a car past. 25mph seemed plenty fast to me. No vehicles came in the opposite direction. We noticed an ewe suckling her lamb. There may have been a second lamb around the other side. Then in a field near Bettws Garmon we saw a cow with a calf suckling away. Not sure of the breed but there was a mix of black and brown horned cattle in the field with quite a shaggy coat.

Then as we passed Llyn y Gadair, just after Llyn Cwellyn, I noticed a sign that was at an angle. It didn’t feel as if it would take much for it to topple over. Both THG and I thought it probably read “Danger Deep Water” just like the sign at the lake back home.

The car park at Beddgelert was by no means full. Next weekend it will be rammed. We set off on a lovely little walk along the afon Glasslyn riverbank. Got as far as was sensible. It gets quite rocky and we pulled up just before the “footpath” turned to go up the mountain. There are old mine workings up there that Joe and I passed a few years back when I was training for the Coast to Coast. Copper red colour was evident in the rocks.

Returning to Beddgelert we had one of those nice little life experiences. Caffi Colwyn was a warm and attractive gaff that gave our weatherbeaten faces a rest from the wind. I had hot chocolate with cream and THG had a pot of tea. We shared a bara brith with butter – can’t each much lunch when you are having hotel breakfasts and out to dinner every night. I’ve got to tell you it was the best bara brith I’ve ever had. A nice thick and moist slice. Didn’t last long. I went to pay and complemented the girl at the till. Turns out it was made by her dad. I asked her to let him know I thought it was great but she laughingly said it would make him big headed 🙂 The next moment a man appeared behind the till who turned out to be dad. I gave him the compliment myself and he offered to show me how it was made. We went through into the kitchen and he got a large metal bowl and proceeded to add all the ingredients and explain the process.

Wow. This is seriously good customer service. What a great experience. Caffi Colwyn probably doesn’t need the publicity as it was pretty full though the turnover of people meant that there always seemed to be somewhere free for new people to sit at. This is a well run, high quality caff with nice friendly people and great food. Go there if you are in the area.

Should have taken a pic but I didn’t.

btw the trains were running after all!

Goodbye Lincoln we must leave you. Again. This time the delights of Caernarfon and Peel beckon. A two centre break designed to blow away the cobwebs and freshen up the soul. Can you freshen up a soul? They can be saved, I know that. Maybe a spot of spring cleaning. An airing. Anyway, suitable attention will be devoted to the soul even if it is simply done by taking in the airs of my spiritual homeland and frequenting establishments known to offer refreshment designed to individual tastes.

I say two centre but we have found it convenient to break our journey to the Island with a stop in Liverpool where a reservation has been made at the Hilton opposite the Albert Dock. Family visits beckon plus perhaps a suitable detour to the Bridewell, now a tavern but formerly a police lockup. Funnily enough we met a chap in Gibraltar named Brian Wilson who had once, in the folly of his youth, been thrown in the cells there after a very boozy night out on the town that ended up in a brawl.

Sunday night will see my last stay in the Hilton as a Diamond member of their loyalty scheme. As of the 1st of April I am being downgraded to Gold. A further decline in status. A status that really doesn’t matter anymore. It is almost a release. A release from the shackles of the corporate system where status was more relevant. The reality is that if you spend half your time jetting around the globe then having the ability to jump queues, relax in the comfortable surroundings of airport and hotel lounges and generally make life easier does matter. Now I just pay for these conveniences anyway and am able to take a more leisurely approach to it all.

Anyway I leave you with a little AI generated ditty. It’s not bad fair play and took nanoseconds to generate. It’s still pretty cardboardy but if all you want is something that rhymes then it is fine. The danger is of course that a lazy society will change to reflect the capabilities of AI rather than the other way around.

(Verse 1)

Goodbye Lincoln, we must leave you,
The cathedral fades into the grey.
Though the cobblestones might grieve you,
The road is calling us away.

(Chorus)
Oh, the hill is steep and the wind is cold,
With stories new and stories old.
We’re trading the towers for the open sky,
With a heavy heart and a last goodbye.

(Verse 2)
We walked the path of the Roman wall,
And lingered where the shadows sleep.
We saw the Imp within the hall,
And parchment secrets we will keep.

(Verse 3)
So keep your lanterns burning bright,
Above the Brayford and the Bail.
We’ll carry memories through the night,
Until we reach the end of the trail.

(Chorus)
Oh, the hill is steep and the wind is cold,
With stories new and stories old.
We’re trading the towers for the open sky,
With a heavy heart and a last goodbye.

(Verse 4)
But the Stonebow stands and waits for us,
To welcome back the wandering feet.
Through the winter rain and summer dust,
Again one day we’ll walk your street.

(Chorus)
Oh, the hill is steep and the wind is cold,
With stories new and stories old.
We’re trading the towers for the open sky,
With a heavy heart and a last goodbye.

Use these chords. I leave the actual tune to you though I could help if you really wanted.

Verse:
G – D – Em – C

Chorus:
Em – C – G – D
Em – C – G – D

Not a patch on
Goodbye-ee! Goodbye-ee!
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee
Though it’s hard to part I know, (I know)
I’ll be tickled to death to go!
Don’t cry-ee, don’t sigh-ee
There’s a silver lining in the sky-ee!
Bonsoir old thing, cheerio, chin-chin
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, goodbye-ee!

Written when AI wan’t even a figment of the imagination. Shows you the difference doesn’t it?

Up early to set the fire. Just like in the (good) old days. Our flippin remote control boiler thermostat is knackered.What did we do before central heating? We lit the fire that’s what.

Now much later and the fire is lit. Crackling away in the hearth. Just like the old days. I wonder whether people used to gaze into the flames thinking primordial thoughts. Probs. They would probably be huddled near the fire trying to catch its warmth. I’m sat on the nearest bit of settee but that is partly because I can then put my can of beer down on the radiator shelf. 

Hazy Jaipur from Thornbridge. V good. I bought two cans. Now that I am officially on holiday again it’s ok. Feeling quite windswept after the golf. Bloody freezing and bloody windy. You had to adapt your game to the conditions but that was ok. It was ever thus. Keep it low into the wind.

I took the money. Longest drive and best front nine. To call it a drive is taking a bit of a liberty. Mine was the only ball on the fairway. I was a gnat’s crotchet off the green with my second but managed to four put. The greens at Laughterton are not normal greens.

The bypass was totes rammed on the way home. Going in the other direction fortunately. Ya gotta have some luck in life.

I herewith offer two photos proving the existence of spring.

Something caught my eye on Facebook. A new bus timetable for the number 56 Lincoln to Skegness service. I drilled down. Three quid each way. That’s totes ridiculous. The downside is that it takes two hours with a stopover in Horncastle. If yer going to Skeggy for a day out on the bus it seems natural that you would want a few beers. That makes for an awkward return journey. Makes more sense to me to catch a train which is 25 mins quicker and has an on board loo. A lot more expensive though at £31 return with a senior railcard. Lincoln to Cleethorpes return is even better at an hour and seven minutes and £16 return. That’s that sorted then. Mind you there is more to do in Skeggy. Hmm. This needs some careful consideration.

I’ve been wanting to go on a day out to the coast by public transport for ages. Can’t get anyone to come with me. It’s just over an hour by car so that would be an option if someone else was willing to drive. I suppose I could drive if push came to a shove. We did go to Skegness in campervan Betty once. Just for the day. Not far off the time we will be getting her out of storage and taking her for a spin. I guess.

Usually we have fish and chips in the clocktower chippy. I have a small haddock and chips with mushy peas, tartare sauce and bread and butter washed down with a cup of tea or two. If we have a chippy tea at home I am more likely to have a jumbo battered sausage with curry sauce,  and chips obvs. No vinegar. I don’t do vinegar on my chips. Only salt. I do like decent olive oil and vinegar, balsamic. Not with chips though. Nice bread. If im making a vinaigrette I use white wine vinegar not balsamic. They seem to call it white condiment these days. Use the best quality oil and vinegar you can. Makes a big difference.

Listening to the wireless right now. About the rising cost of taking your pet to the vet. We don’t have a pet. I quite like the concept of having a dog.  Man’s best friend an all that. It’s the practicalities that don’t do it for me. Add in big vets bills and it’s a wrap.

On a separate subject I casually glanced at BA long haul flight options for next year. A business class return to Cancun is £500 plus 200k Avios. So that would be £1,000 for two people plus 200k Avios and using a companion voucher. Long haul used to be the sensible way of spending Avios and vouchers but it is rapidly becoming less interesting. Am starting to think we should be spending them on European flights. The Algarve maybe or Greece. Organising these trips isn’t helped by the fact that the BA website is useless.

This page isn’t working

www.britishairways.com redirected you too many times.

• Try deleting your cookies.

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Well I deleted the cookies but it made no difference whatsoever.

Anyway tharrldofornow. Got a trip to pack for.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Bit of a boring hymn mind you. Only just noticed the wireless was still on. Sunday Service. Repetitive blurb. Time for a bacon sarnie methinks. Mind you I had a chippy tea last night on the way back from the Club Sporting de Lincoln RFC. Still a bit full and we are doing lunch today. Seehowitgoze. Some choral piece on now. It’s okay but not massively memorable. The wireless has been switched off and I have removed to da kitch.  A dull outlook to the morning, observed from the vantage point of the butcher’s block. Dull as in no sun rather than dull as in a boring conversation. All is calm in the house of Davies.

I quite like the relaxing nature of Sunday mornings. Most mornings are thus but Sundays particularly so. Bearing in mind we are not supposed to do anything on the Sabbath, lest we rot in hell. Eternal damnation. Not fair really. Someone has to do the washing up. Can’t just let it stack up in the sink just because it is a Sunday. In our house we got around that problem by installing a dishwasher, something I can heartily recommend. In fact I’d prioritise a dishwasher ahead of a cement mixer even. You can always hire a cement mixer if you ever need one. Tbh if we are ever in that sitch, which we have been on occasion, I usually pay a builder to come and do the work in which case he brings his own mixer. Obvs really innit. 

Blessed are the cement mixers, for they shall never be set in their ways. Blessed are the dishwashers, for they are always in hot water. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

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.