“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” J.R.R. Tolkien Jet lag again ripped us from sleep in the early hours. Icy fresh air floated in the window and took the edge off the central heating. We persevered through the caffeine-free hours of purgatory and presented…
Category: travel
Travel: In Search of Mutton Pie
Oamaru, July 2025 I rise after a night drinking with Michael O’Brien in his cottage. Last time I did so I bore the brunt of a mortal liver the next day, every footstep was a lash of self-flagellation. Today though I am buoyed by the fact that I showed relative self-control the night before. My…
Travel: Crisp And Clean
“Crisp and clean. No caffeine.” RZA , Coffee and Cigarettes Our jetlag wrenched us from sleep at 2am. In an act of cruelty that frankly jeopardizes Canada’s inclusion in the commonwealth there was no coffee or tea making facilities in the hotel room. I took to twitter to voice my anguish and was told that…
Travel: Canadian Nice
“I believe the world needs more Canada”- Bono I think airports say a lot about the country they are verandahs to. In Sydney they call you mate before hauling you off to be swabbed for explosives, at Heathrow there is a resigned down beat air of lost grandeur and milky tea, in Chiang Mai there…
Travel: Beside the Seaside
“the first thing he espied was the wine lodge door stood open invitingly to quench his thirst, he toddled inside and called out for a wine which grew to eight or nine, till his nose began to shine.” John H. Glover-Kind I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside. This was our last full day…
Travel: Rag and Bone Man
“contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony” Krook , Rag and Bone Man in Bleakhouse , Charles Dickens My apologies for the delay in continuing the trip write up. Life got in the way upon my return to NZ….
Travel: Due South – Edinburgh to London
“In Scotland, there is no such thing as bad weather – only the wrong clothes.” Billy Connolly I rose early and wandered around the corner to the Scotmid Co-op supermarket around the corner. I stocked up on sandwiches and pork pies for the train and ordered coffees and Scotch Pies for breakfast. A Scotch Pie…
Travel: Full Scottish – Edinburgh
“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…
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: The North Riding – Yorkshire Day 3
“Every day lasts a year.” James Herriot (Alf Wight) When I was growing up the TV show All Creatures Great and Small played a leading role in our family entertainment. We originally watched it on a huge wood encased black and white tv which weighed as much as a fridge and whose picture slowly retreated…
Raise the Dawn 