“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,Painch, tripe, or thairm:Weel are ye wordy o’ a graceAs lang’s my arm.” Robert Burns I woke early and tried to book tickets to Edinburgh Castle on my phone. The webstore kept crashing, so I gave up and switched to…
Category: food
Travel: The $100 Poo – Yorkshire to Scotland
“The only way of catching a train I ever discovered is to miss the train before.” G K Chesterton We rose early as we were heading to Edinburgh that day. We packed and after a good-natured chat with the jolly guesthouse host, we took an uber to the station . We breakfasted at a Pret…
Travel: Pennines – Yorkshire Day 1
“God, the wind. It peeled the stonesfrom the skull of St Thomas’ church,left its mouth slacked to a yawn or a scream,sounding vowels through the nave, throughthe clock-eye, the altar stones, the flat-backedflat-packed dead in their wedding gowns.” Wendy Pratt – Heptonstall Graveyard Lisa had bought in a bunch of English delicacies for me to…
Travel: Atop the Wall – Cheshire Day 3
“Masclus to Cerialis his king, greeting. Please, my lord, give instructions as to what you want us to have done tomorrow. Are we to return with the standard to the shrine at the crossroads all together or every other one of us … most fortunate and be well-disposed towards me. Farewell. My fellow-soldiers have no…
Travel: Faith – Cheshire Day 2
“Priest: It must be hard to maintain that level of cynicism, Dr. Fitzgerald. Fitz: Not at all, Father. It must be hard to maintain that level of faith.” Cracker “This is Manchester, we do things differently here.” Frank Cottrell-Boyce – in the voice of Tony Wilson I like to joke that one of the faiths…
Travel: Enough about the bloody Beatles – Cheshire Day 1
“If Liverpool did not exist, it would have to be invented” Felicien de Myrbach We woke yet again untouched by the spirits trapped in the purgatory of an over heated over painted brutally lit hotel room. We set out for the Greggs and found some of the same customers there this morning. In particular an…
Travel: Spectre in the UHT Milk – Black Country
“Guest room 217 is rumoured to be haunted by an unnamed spirit. Guests staying in the room have reported to have left in fright, with many refusing to stay in the room due to the paranormal activity. The bed in room 217 has been known to shake and the lights within the room have switched…
Travel: Birds Sing Bass – Devon Day 1
“With a crooked smile and a heart-shaped face, comes from the West Country where the birds sing bass” Nick Cave We breakfasted in a much quieter dining room than the morning before. The W.I. had moved on to pastures new. We then gathered ourselves up and caught a cab to the railway station. Soon we…
Travel: Druv – Sussex Day Trip
“And you may pook and you may shove but a Sussex pig he wunt be druv” old regional saying Today I was to get a day to myself as we had agreed that mum would stay in Tottenham to rest while I ventured out on my own to Lewes in Sussex to tour Harvey’s. We…
Travel: ROAST – London Day 4
“There are thin lines of creamy fat running through the maroon flesh like a road map; a thicker layer wrapped around the outside and here and there oval islands of it, the colour of creme fraiche, set among the meat. This fat is crisp to the touch and plentiful; it is what will baste the…
Raise the Dawn 