Archive for the ‘random’ Category

Blurry start

Friday, June 23rd, 2023

Somewhat blurry eyed start to the day as we vacated the house in Peel at oh five forty five and steered east for the ferry terminal in Douglas. An uneventful eleven miles although somewhat frustrating that the car in front slowed down for every speed limit. When I was a kid there were hardly any speed restrictions on that route.

It is of course right and proper that we obey these speed limits. They are there for a purpose. Obvs. Normally I stick the cruise control on the speed limit and settle back for the journey. Not really practical in urban areas.

It’s been a fabulous few days in the Isle of Man. Weather amazing. It’s going to rain in Peel today so we got out just at the right time. Now on to the third leg of our trip: camping in Flamborough with the gang. Great place to see puffins apaz.

Sat now in Seat 16 in the Exec Lounge. The lounge is full and has been turning away folk looking for speculative upgrades. There is a lesson there. Apparently flights to and from the Isle of Man have been subject to numerous cancellations due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. Some of the passengers on this boat are those who have had to switch from air transportation.

We are on the way. I have not looked back. We shall return. Were it not for my dislike of the concept of holiday homes we would probably buy a place in Peel. Apart from the philosophical objection and in particular the way that holiday homes destroy communities the place would remain empty for much of the year. A bit of a waste. Cheaper to hire a cottage every now and again.

Peel has not yet been sullied by the scourge of the holiday home. It is a working town, city really as it has a cathedral. There aren’t even many rental cottages and only a few B&Bs. We want it to remain that way.

Listening to a spot of Hermanos Guiterrez. Very relaxing as I’m sure you will know. Meanwhile the windows in the lounge have steamed up. Struggling to grab some kip though could do with it. I never sleep well when I set the alarm and was up shortly after five. Got a long drive once we get to Liverpool. 

The boat moves slowly away from the quay

Thursday, June 15th, 2023

And we’re off. The boat moves slowly away from the quay. The safety video is mildly irritating. Some bloke pretending to be a pirate. It’s almost on a par with that BA safety vid which really used to get on my tits. The one with lots of celebs. That was supposed to be funny. It was funny the first time I saw it. Fortunately BA appears to have stopped using that. Either that or they just don’t show it in first class 😀.

We are sitting in comfort in the Premium Lounge. Table service. Splendid views over the Wirral which is slowly moving to the rear. Actually that could be a misnomer. ‘Splendid views of the Wirral’. I suppose I could say that our viewing position is splendid irrespective of the quality of the actual view.

The sea is very calm. Not quite a mill pond but nearly. This makes for a very comfortable voyage. I almost used the word journey there but voyage seems more appropriate. Earlier I had started using nautical terms such as ‘avast there’ and ‘ahoy’ with members of the crew but they all appear to be Phillipino or simlar and the terminology was lost on them. They are a great crew otherwise 🙂 

Other useful nautical terms include splice the mainbrace, cast off forrard (and aft), land ho and shiver me timbers. I’m sure there are others if I put my mind to it but do feel free to chip in.

Sunday morning and the rain has stopped

Sunday, May 7th, 2023

Sunday morning and the rain has stopped. Looking out into the garden it feels as if the new grass has shot up significantly over the last couple of days. I’ll pop out to inspect the onions in a bit and feel confident of similar progress. Today should be dry but back to normal British summer weather tomorrow.

Had a surprise birthday party for the Head Gardener yesterday round the corner at Eve and Steve’s. THG thought it was a coronation party but that was just the front. Was a wet old afternoon but Steve’s double sized gazebo came in very handy. A good time was had – thanks to our excellent hosts.

It being the sabbath the morning will be spent avoiding work of any kind. I don’t think I could stand being excommunicated if I was found to have broken the law. The shame of it. I sense that time spent in quiet contemplation and introspection would be appropriate. Some focus on my own spirituality. Maybs.

The blackbirds are out hunter-gathering. Plenty of worms in that lawn. Mostly males so I imagine the ladies are sitting on their nests. Were I to take the lid off the compost bin the blackbirds would have a feast. Lots of worm and insect activity turning the waste into fine compost. I prefer to leave this worms to their excellent work.

Strawberries are fruiting, or at least in full flower. The grape vine is coming into leaf. All is well.

Sunday Sunday, feels good to me.

Stan Getz, Girl from Ipanema. Went to Brazil decades ago. I’d visit the Amazon but otherwise feel no compulsion to return.

Halfway through the weekend. Interesting to observe how the BBC toes the royalist line. All wine and roses in the kingdom. The succession reassured.

Alternative guide to coronation day.

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

Alternative guide to coronation day. How to make the most out of Coronation Day. Have a good breakfast then go and play golf. Do not under any circumstances turn on the telly or the wireless set. If you end up in a pub after golf try to make it one that doesn’t have a TV (I realise this will be a hard one to get your brain around if you are from Amurica). Get home around tea time and fire up the barbie.

woman at coop checkout

Sunday, April 30th, 2023

Woman in front of me at the coop checkout. She didn’t quite have enough cash for her shopping so got her card out. The card didn’t work so she asked the cashier to take one item off the shop which meant she could pay with the few coins she had. Makes you realise how lucky some of us are and how hard it is out there.

early start to the day

Wednesday, April 5th, 2023

Up and at an early start to the day, largely occasioned by the arrival of three electricians at eight am. Avin some work done, largely to finish off the cabling to the shed. Calming classics courtesy of Spotify soothing my furrowed brow.

The brow isn’t particularly furrowed mind you although yesterday’s trip to Clearview opticians has made me ever conscious of the size of the onscreen text. I’ve zoomed in on the page this morning to artificially increase the font size.

Although I only have one call in my diary I do appear to have quite a bit of stuff to do. Once I get going I’ll be able to rattle it off quite quickly. It’s just the getting going bit that sometimes takes an effort.

Got the onions and shallots in yesterday. Still a few onion sets left but most are down. My onion crops have been moderately successful although once harvested they are quickly consumed, or pickled. Amazing how many onions you get through. An essential part of most recipes one way or another. Not desserts obvs. I made four batches of pickled onions last year. Will take me years to get through them all. After the first lot I used shop bought onions and shallots. Home pickled onions are miles better than the mass produced branded stuff, if for nothing else than I add chillies to the vinegar in mine.

I was born in sixty one

Sunday, March 19th, 2023

I was born in sixty one and am sixty one years old. I think 🙂. Couple of things spring to mind. I’m a lot stiffer nowadays and I have to scroll a long way down when inserting birth year online. The two are unrelated apart from the age link. 

Just looked and apparently a pint of beer was 2s 1/2d in 1961. That would have been of no interest to me at the time, particularly as my birth month was December as regulars at trefbash will know. Presumably we are talking ordinary bitter here. A pint of beer nowadays is a lot more and is very much dependant on where you are.

A pint of milk was 8d, something a lot more relevant to me at the time, I’d guess although I’m pretty sure I was breast fed.

The scrolling down might be annoying had I not had 61 years to get used to it and it has crept up on me over time. It does however annoy me when I have to scroll down to select ‘United Kingdom’ when the country at the top is ‘United States’.  Tossers. There, you can see I’m annoyed.

The Last Tablet

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

Contemporary crowd once full of purpose. Sole survivor, somehow symbolic, the last tablet.  GONE! Plate purge purist, soil eliminator, grime grabber and cleanser of crockery. Succumbed. Final moments: aged pellet, slow dissolution, dissemination of power. Bare utility, poignant gap, uncertain future.

a good hour

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

The good hour, 
Long enough, for some
Good enough, for others
Not rushed like ten snatched minutes
Or as fleeting as a moment of your time
A generous measure by all accounts

I waited and then left

In truth, a good hour awake
In the darkness
Keeping my dreams at bay

Kisses off the missus

Wednesday, February 8th, 2023

Great to be home natch. Kisses off the missus.  Lovely sunny day out. Everything unpacked. Mostly.

Shed relations reestablished. Posters from NoLA and Miami laid out flat and weighted down to counter the effects of being carried across the sea in tubes.

Spotify not playing through the amp for some reason. Kluged it by playing through the Roku stick which is plugged into the amp. Doesn’t feel optimal. Might setup again. Something tells me this has happened before. I think it fixed itself.

The joy of washing your face in cold water in the morning

Lots of nice places in the world.

Earthquake reminds us of how weak we are in the face of the power of nature.

Great kip last night. Need to power on through today and hopefully be back in the zone by tomorrow, or Friday at the latest. Got lots to do. 

Lovely morning in the shire. Although it is true of all travel, this latest trip really made me think. We went to New Orleans, Mexico and Miami Beach. Three very different although in some respects, due to their exotic nature, very similar locations.

The fantastic apartment above an artisanal bakehouse in New Orleans had a balcony overlooking Washington Square and Frenchmen Street. Position A for the best bars and music clubs in town but far enough away to not be affected by the noise. When we awoke on our last day we were in the middle of a real live movie set as the cameras had moved in to Frenchmen to film an episode of a New York based TV show.

Our villa in Playa Del Carmen had its own pool, also in the shade of coconut palms and was a 50 metre stroll to a fine white sandy beach with the warm waters of the Caribbean. I could stand on the beach letting the warm waters lap around my ankles and imagine Spanish galleons coming up over the horizon.

Before heading to the airport and home, in Miami we luxuriated in the perfect temperature of a pool protected by the dappled shade offered by surrounding palms. We had lunch accompanied by cold beers sat on stools at the poolside bar. Miami had given us her best.

On the trip we ate great food, drank a huge variety of beers and cocktails, watched our first full game of American Football in a Sports Saloon, listened to lots of live music, met interesting people and had good times all round. 

I am lucky enough to be/have been able to travel to lots of different and exciting places in the world whilst also living in a beautiful town with beautiful family and friends around me. I frequently find existence to be quite surreal. I also find it quite amazing the concept that life still goes on after I’ve left places I’ve visited.

Does make you wonder. It is not possible to enjoy everything this world has to offer. How does the brain cope with this? Why not? None of it really matters.

We are surrounded by bad things as well as good. Terrible wars, devastating earthquakes, human suffering, homelessness, criminality, misfortune. I recognise that these things are all there, still, in the streets as I pass by and because it is impossible to avoid media coverage.

All I can do is focus on my own space. This doesn’t mean ignoring all the bad things but I can’t fix everyone else’s problems. Neither can I perpetually be visiting nice places in the world. My waistline (and wallet) would consider this inadvisable.

This morning I washed my face in cold water in the bathroom sink. One of the joys of being alive. That feeling of cold water on your face and drying it off afterwards in a cosy towel.

Life has many joys. The act of existing is one of them. On the radio during breakfast there was news coverage of a family living in a cellar in a bombed out town in the Ukraine under siege by the Russians. Although the conditions were terrible they still seemed to be able to laugh. It is the only option really. There is no real alternative.

Being at home is a joy. It is always great to get home after a trip. Anne didn’t come on this one as it was one of my occasional dad and lad/daughter trips. It was a joy to meet her at Kings Cross station and travel up from London together. I saw her before she saw me and I smiled. Her kiss invigorates me, still sends shivers down my spine, after 36 years of being together. 

Of course life is also mundane but there is comfort in the mundane and really there is no reason why the mundane should not be joyful or at least beautiful. Next time you pass a road sign or a tree, a house or even a brick you should consider how wonderful a thing it is. I am sitting writing this in our kitchen. A wonderful place. Just as wonderful as the beach in the Caribbean. Just different.

I guess at the end of the day it is all about getting the most out of life. How you want to do that is up to you. We are only here once, afaik 🙂 Get on with it 🙂

In a similar vein of thought I followed a Fiat Doblo out of the Waitrose car park this morning. My first thoughts were ‘what a weird looking car’ and ‘what an odd name!’. Someone must have designed it. A team of specialists would have sat in a room deciding what to call it. I can picture it now.

Then I thought hey, it’s part of the rich tapestry. The design will have appealed to the presumably substantial minority of people who bought one. The designer will have had objectives. A spec. It’s part of what makes this a good place to be, along with the road sign, the tree, the brick and the paddling in the warm waters of the Caribbean.

Doesn’t look as if they make the Fiat Doblo anymore. All things come to pass…

waiting for a drink

Tuesday, February 7th, 2023

Froze right to the bone

Green rich village

Sound like a hillbilly

Rob you with a fountain pen

So long new york

In my time of dying

Been airborne for a while. I’ve had my hot flannel but being in the last row in business class the drink is taking a while. I know this would be the case but it was a trade off – best seat versus speed of service. Nomatter.

Listening to a bit of Bob Dylan. Hi early stuff is good. Not sure at what stage that changed.

Checkout

Monday, February 6th, 2023

Checkout in one hour and forty minutes. All packed but there is no rush. A relaxed approach to the day of travel is entirely appropriate. Currently sat on a sofa in the Blues Bar. The bar is shut but it is a pleasant spot to sit.

Sbeen a terrific trip. A combined work and play job. Looking forward now to going home, despite the fact that it is bloomin cold in the UK. The system won’t know what has hit it.

The National Hotel is very comfortable. An appropriate way to finish off the trip. It is in a great spot with access to the beach. Classy decor in keeping with the art deco nature of the building. Miami Beach has done a very good job of keeping its character.

Was chatting to some folk last night who said the city is trying to move away from the spring break image to a more cultural destination. Apart from the fact that you need to remortgage your house every time you come here they would appear to be making good progress.

The hotel is a better spot to hang out than the airport lounge. The last time I was there, only three short weeks ago, the lounge seemed packed. Fortunately on that occasion I was flying in first class and was escorted through to the haven of the first class dining room.  

Not so this time. No availability. Last time I slept seven hours and didn’t bother with the in-flight service. That was a nine thirty pm flight so it made sense to eat before getting on the plane. Today’s flight is at five pm so I will be availing myself of a spot of nosh before hitting the hay.

Observations from Mehico

Saturday, February 4th, 2023

Observations from Mehico.

Didn’t manage to take a pic of the pickup truck carrying workers.

Before the Spanish arrived they didn’t have chickens or pigs

The reef protected the coastline on the east of the yucatan peninsula

The tree of life (not sure that’s the right description) had 13 steps to heaven and 8 to hell. You could go up or down in different lives. Being a human sacrifice guaranteed instant access to heaven.

Friendly lot

Felt a little inadequate with my limited knowledge of Spanish. If I lived somewhere Spanish speaking I’d need to learn the lingo.

Not had a proper cup of tea in a while.

Didn’t notice any fresh milk for sale. Might just be me not knowing where to look.

Beautiful coastline. Real scenes of paradise – soft white sands, coconut palms, azure sea.

Gets v hot in summer – 43 degrees – toohotman

Some great food

cave dwellers of the north

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

Exotica such as this is strange for us cave dwellers of the north. Palm fronds waft gently in the breeze. A bird chirrups unseen. Whitewashed buildings with pan tiled roofs.

Yesterday, at sea, it was possible to imagine the ships of Cortez appearing over the horizon, scanning the shores for signs of civilization amidst the jungle that creeps down to the pristine white beach. A beach that stretches for untold miles to the north and south.

The beach is protected by a coral reef that makes itself known, mostly, by the sign of breakers and the change in sea state on either side.

Mornings are a slow start with a simple breakfast. The days are spent relaxing in the shade, occasionally taking a dip in the pool to cool off. Evenings are a slow start. Couple of beers before heading out to the night. We don’t have late nights. 

Tonight we are having a barbecue so it’s a night in. A simple marinated chick with some salad and mango salsa. We will need to make our way to Walmart for supplies. These include some decent tequila, not for consumption here but to take home. 

Everyday a worker appears outside the villa to rake up the dried leaves that seem to fall constantly from the abundance of roadside trees. A very verdant environment.

I can see the attraction of places like this although I can’t understand how, in this sun, people can lie on the beach for hours. The first thing Robinson Crusoe must have done was to build some shade and make himself a hat.

Lazy days in Old Mehico…

Slightly disappointed to have lost my receipt from this pm’s Walmart shop. It would have been a good souvenir of the daft amount of stuff Joe and I threw into the cart just for tonight’s bbq and a bit of bacon for the next two mornings. Ably bumped up by a couple of bottles of top of the range tequila to take home at £41 each.

Walked there, cab back. Outbound we were treated to local sights not to be seen on the tourist main drag including some great looking bars – simple yet cool.

Hola Marco, hablamos antes sobre ir a visitar las Ruinas de Tulum mañana.

¿Podría recogernos en el número 683 de Villas Jaguar a las 9:00? Playacar Fase1

La villa se encuentra en la esquina de Bahía del Espíritu Santo y Esmedregal de Caleta

necesitaríamos que nos recogieran para el viaje de regreso dos horas después de dejarlo

En el camino de regreso, ¿hay algún cenote conveniente que podamos visitar solo para echar un vistazo? – No queremos hacer snorkel. ¿Sería capaz de hacer esto dentro del precio cotizado de 2000 pesos de devolución?

Trefor Davies

high noon mexico

Tuesday, January 31st, 2023

Noon. 28℃ with a 40% chance of rain. Theyreavinalaff. It is time to consider a siesta. Possibly a stroll down to the sea to get our feet wet.

Although there is a lot to do here I sense that half the point of coming somewhere hot like this is to do nothing. I’m not a lie on the beach type. If you stay in the sun too long it tires you out in anycase and better, methinks, to chill out and be fresh for the evening.

Our decision to hire a villa instead of staying at an all inclusive hotel has been vindicated. Can’t imagine a holiday where we sit there drinking all day in this heat, just because it is all “free”.

Hard to put yourself in the shoes of someone who lives in this part of the world all the time. I suppose you get used to the heat. Called home a while ago and everyone is in winter coats and woolly hats.