“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…
Travel: The West Riding – Yorkshire Day 2
“I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading: It vexes me to choose another guide: Where the gray flocks in ferny glens are feeding; Where the wild wind blows on the mountain side.” The Brontë Sisters At 8am I presented myself at mum’s room where scrambled eggs, toast, tea, coffee and orange juice had…
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…
Raise the Dawn 