Sunday, 24 November 2024

Flooding risk and how to respond, or Bert bashing at the window.

 Whilst I was in America, Hurricane Helene raged,  and someone I know was caught up with it.  She said for several days before they had to evacuate as the sound was horrendous, but they are used to living in Florida and so mostly know how to deal with these things.  However, they were a bit caught out when it came to the evacuation and the getting the wood to board up the property as they had not got any in ahead of the storm.  It was only because there were several people in the house, that it was possible to nail the property as tight as possible before leaving the home. The other thing about the evacuation was thinking about everything they needed to take with them including the hamster.  Again this is a family used to these things, and used to getting text messages telling them what to do, a family that already has a grab bag ready for such events, but even they had a few difficulties and if they had not got a car or the $1000 dollars the hotel away from home cost them, how would they have managed.  Would they have been like the people of Valencia, literally swept up in the disaster and dead, for the want of sufficient warning and useful messages of advice.  

Every since my sister's neighbourhood got cut off in the snow, I have wondered how I and others in my situation would manage.  Some of the residents of Weardale were cut off in the snow wihtout any heating, so the carers, who knew their clients, found themselves helping with solultions, rather than the Council.   Since then, the locals in Weardale have tried to build their resilience e.g. learning where power operates, where power doesn't, who has a spare generator, who is totally isolated. However, when they tried to work with the Council on this, the volunteers found them got bogged down in the Council systems, so no permanent way forward was found as far as I know.  

A wet and windswept Broxbourne. 

This weekend I was supposed to be travelling to Basildon, but I decided in view of Bert's activities to give it a miss. Bert is the second named storm is it of the season?  And at present there are about a 100 flooding warnings out and 20000 in the UK without power.    How many of us know how to prepare for such a situation?  There is this Government website Prepare for a flood,  and that on a personal level is definitely a good starting point, and I know that various organisations locally have a plan, but us individuals who they are planning for, have not been let into the plan.  Some years ago I approached the local Council asking for greater coordination between them and us, and they replied thoughtfully but said that there was no such a mechanism.   Since then the number of floodings and the seriousness of floods has only increased, so a reminder for myself, be prepared, a reminder to dear reader/s be prepared, but also I need to go back to the Council and see if more can be done.  


Also remember there are plus sides from not being able to travel three hours in the wind and rain as yesterday I managed to go to a music concert by harpist,


Harriet Adie,  which was really lovely and I also dropped in on the WTBL Christmas do, however, I feel really sorry for those like Love Hoddesdon putting events on today as the wind and the rain will put most people off, it certainly has me, which is why I am at home writing this.  I finally have a bit more work as I have done my training to update my sklls, but I am still not very adept at the new system so am taking it gently. 



Monday, 4 November 2024

Small work crisis.

 One of the thing facing many older people is how and when to give up work and how much money is needed to do so.    In my head I had thought keep going to 70.  I am only doing about 10 hours a week, so that is manageable till then,  maybe even May.... July etc. Always extending it (a third goes in taxes now) , not just because of the money but because I have always worked.   But I had a real shock today, apparently I am not going to be offered any more private work and as that is 98% of what I do that is in effect it unless I retrain.    So now I am in the midst of an internal debate as to whether to give up or try to go on.  Many friends are still working part time.  Most of them have better pensions than me but value the intellectual stimulation. Others say don't be daft stop working.   J's kindness means I am not the impoverished soul I once was or felt myself to be, but having been told how much it will cost to do up my place.... etc etc and really what I was earning was pin money.  So I do not know.    I may not have a choice in the matter.  And now it looks like my last ever student is not going to turn up!. 


And to make things work,  America voted Trump back in.  

Tuesday, 22 October 2024

Washington part 2 and the end of the holiday.

 I went from a huge house on the outskirts of Washington, to a little space, a pod, the bottom one of three in a 6 person room. Both were lovely.  I was in the Adams Morgan district and I don't know what it is like the rest of the year, but the two nights I stayed were like one big infectious party.  It is perhaps very annoying if you want to sleep, but I just wanted to stay out on the street as much as possible to take in the variety of people, the music blaring out from the speakers set up outside the bars, and the variety of eating places.  There were even eccentric pimped up cars, slowly parading the streets, like something out of a film. but that is America, all of it is something I have only seen before on films (or my history books) and yet it is real. 

Lincoln's View. 


Saturday,  I went back downtown to the Washington that is so familiar, yet none less moving for that - LIncoln Memorial but I approached from the reverse side, from the Potomac, with the runners, and the boats and people playing beach volley ball. And then there is was that view down The Mall, people climbing the steps and one little muddled boy saying it was the White House.  He was not the only one to get his locations confused another parents was telling their child the State Capital was the White House! So both very familiar and yet unfamiliar  Things we see but do not quite understand or absorb.  In fact, the White House was so distant when I got even remotely close to it,  it was hard to conceive that this was such a significant place.

 I hope another time, if I ever get the chance, to go more into the musuems that explain these sights, but I headed to the African American Museum. It was packed and for some reasons the busiest parts were at the bottom of a small dark space,  I wondered if they were trying to get us to understand something visceral about the experience of slavery, in addition to the information that spiralled from bottom  through the history of civil rights to the point of Obama's unprecedented and at one time inconceivable achievement.    I was there a good couple of hours and could have stayed longer but needed sunshine and food.   

Salem


Then the following day,  it really did feel like the holiday was virtually over,  the 8 hour Amtrak journey back to Boston along stunning coastline,sped past and then I was back in Boston.  The weather turned on a dime, it was soaking wet when I finally boarded the boat to Salem and I dripped around the town.  Every vital witch museum was fully booked and a few people were dressed up in something that indicated they were witches, but the numbers in town were probably much lower than normal owing to the weather.  I was happy to potter around and take it all in but I was most interested in the historic buildings.   



My last day, the sun was back out again and it was lovely to go to Harvard, it is a University that seems to wear Autumn clothes well.  There is a building there by Corbusier, but I popped next door instead to the art gallery.  

I could happily stayed living in America (if I could have afforded it) and having weekends in Washington and Harvard and so on.  Instead I walked back through the harbour area and to the hostel, and then that was that. The flight home was effortless, why has it taken me so long to do such an easy journey.  Let's hope the money and energy will last long enough to enable me to return, I am glad and blessed to know America better.   



Saturday, 19 October 2024

Colonial America.

It was chucking it down when M rolled up at the hotel, but she made light work off the treacherous conditions and drove us down to Mount Vernon, Washington's place near Alexandria.   She is very organised and we sat and ate her pre packed breakfast come lunch before heading in.   The house,  with slave quarters nearby, is grand yet simple, larger than the norm, but not excessive. It overlooks the Potomac,  so a beautiful location and he lived here almost all his adult life, with his wife.  He was her second husband, and she died youngish, but he lived on in the house entertaining the many guests and family. Of course he could not have done it without the slaves who worked the land, on his death bed, his slaves were as per his will released, but not those he inherited from his wife.  Everyone acknowledges it is a complex and problematic history, yet in many ways he seems a decent chap, in fact that is part of the problem, sensible thoughful men doing the terrible and unthinkable at the same time as creating a nation.  
                                                                             
Washington's view over the Potomac

To help us understand these people, actor interpreters are employed and we enjoyed meeting Doctor Craik who had both treated Washington and become the nation's doctor.  His services were requested too late in the day to save the "great" man. However, his reimaginer entertained us with thoughtful observations of how he became a Doctor in Virginia after leaving his native Scotland.  He was so persausive that one young audience member was trying to work out how he could be speaking to someone over 200 years old.   It was a wonderful introduction to Colonial America.  We followed it with my second Mexican meal of the holiday before meeting her family and bedding down early ready for the second day of the adventure.  

There is an updated memorial on the site too. 

 Mount Vernon is relatively close to the outskirts of Washington where M lives, but Monticello, (Jefferson's place) via a brief stop at Montpelier,  Madison's place, is a longer drive away.  Our original plan had been to go on from there to Richmond and the Civil War musuem, but Monticello, first with the house visit and then finding out more about him, his relationship with Sally Hemmings and other slaves and family members, and his love of innovation in the garden, kept us busy all day.   He was in the room when it happened, but seems an even more problematic slave owner than Washington.  Like Washington, he was widowed relatively young, but that does not excuse getting off with his wife's half sister (I hope that is correct) who was both a child and a slave.   He was a philosopher and architect, an enlightened man, who seemed not remotely aware of the humanity of those who lived in his home.    
                                                                                   
Garden view of Monticello


His home at the top of a hill in Virginia (suddenly lots of Trump support flyers en route) is in a beautiful location.  The trees do not allow the view almost all the way to the sea that it must have once had but one can just about see through to the University he helped promote and up in the skies above vultures wheeled in search of prey.  It is an amazing place.  




From there we did pass through Richmond where we stopped at a huge cemetery, overlooking a restless James river, the final resting place of Jefferson Davis and thousands of young men killed in the (Un)civil war.                                                                  
Confederate graves. 


Our hotel in Williamsburg for two people for the night, including breakfast and a wonderfully relaxing swim/spa was cheaper than one night in a dormitory in Boston, so getting away from the main sights out of season is definitely worth doing.  

Our last day was dedicated to a visit to Williamsburg, a sort of American Beamish, where genuine town features and authentic properties are brought together and brought to life by the many staff in character in shops, and restaurants or through visits to elements of the town e.g. the court, the pub and Governor's Palace.   Having arrived about 10 we did not get away till about 5, so broke the journey home with a picnic of breakfast items and M picnic.  


There is no way I would have seen so much in America without M, RM and JV,  I am indebted to them, but M especially helped me really get to grips with the Colonial history.  It is of course a tragic history,  for a few miles down the coast Pocahontas met a young English man, and is now buried in Gravesend, but her people, were gradually pushed off the land or killed.   I loved interacting with the actor interpreter Washington, but felt overwhelmed in the Native American space.       I wish we had had time to go to Jamestown or Yorktown but it just was not possible in the time we had but it would be nice to go back and explore those histories more too. 

A short walk near the Potomac and one of the smallest cemeteries from the Civil War,  ended my stay with M,  and then it was back to Washington and time to myself.  
                                                                                       

Washington Part 1


 The minute you emerge from Washington Station the Capital building is ahead of one, and I was drawn towards it immediately despite the rain, forgetting that I was supposed to look for somewhere to drop my bags.  By the time I got to the Native American musuem it was coffee time so the poor security guy had to rifle through all my bags so I could grab another delicious muffin ( so much better than British ones) and then head upstairs dragging my bags behind me to engage in the detailed history of the native americans.  I could have spent a fortune in the musuem, but reminded myself to wait to I returned, but of couse I never did. However, I did treat myself ot one of the native American inspired food dishes before trailing on through The Mall and then up towards my hotel.  

The history of how the white man made all these deals with the natives, is an excrutiating one, but the musuem tries to give a balanced view of the relations which after a couple of centures had almost driven all the nations to extinction.  However, the museum is a celebration to of how the tribes and their cultures found ways to surive in some ways.    



The hotel that night was a treat,  I figured after several days with friends, where I was not sure how well I would have slept and time at the hostels I might need some time to myself. As it happened because I was so tired and everyone so kind I had actually slept well everywhere but was still shattered by the time I got to my hotel, too tired to head back into town once I had downed copious cups of tea but I was pleased to potter around the local area.  Washington is full of the most amazing houses,  and little districts. Lovely.  




Monday, 14 October 2024

Baltimore.

 I have not seen RM since we lived in Senegal, but recently she dropped in on my son in Croatia. She is a lovely person, always interested in other cultures and something of a linguist as she speaks Icelandic, some Arabic and Japanese and Bosnian!  As she works I wanted to see her at the weekend.  I arrived an hour late Friday evening and we drove straight through to the trendy Federal Hill district and the Cross Street market to try the best Tacos in town.  I have never had tacos before, they are perfectly nice, very good in fact, but I was confused by the addition of chips and cheese as I envisaged a northern delicacy alongside a southern one, but was completely wrong. We had so many chips to eat, we still had not finished them by the time I left on the Monday.  

As we drove to RM's home she explained which districts were skeetchy and which safe and how she bordered on a good one.  Her house was tall and narrow,  and packed with things, much more like my place, than the elegant flat in Philly.  That and the greeting by the dogs made it feel very welcoming. 



Next morning rain and sun was promised and we got both and a delicious pumkin muffin whilst en route to a walking tour of Anapolis.  Another State House, another room where it happened,  the realisation that the lightening rod is another of Ben Franklin's innovations, lovely to see the Maryland artic explorer Matthew Henson acknowledged, and sad to see the slave market information a bit buried, whilst Harriet and Douglass' link to the town was celebrated.   And by the then the sun was really shinning so we hoped on a boat to see the town from the water's edge, before enjoying crab soup and oysters in a really traditional local restaurant.   

I was happy with tea and jam for my evening meal by the end as I had eaten so much previously.  However, Sunday morning we had a brunch treat.  RM wanted to go to one of the trendy restaurants which would have been nice but they had a wait time of almost an hour, so we went to a really traditional place, it looked almost like a bar or snooker place, yet they had huge breakfasts for just $10 each.    After that I was planning to go to the picturesque part of town whilst RM worked but the electrics were out so she had to drop me at another museum, where I was able to see some modern indigenous art and more traditional American wares.  I was feeling very rough by the end unfortunately but a Senegalese take away helped revive me before I crashed out and then that was it,  RM was back to work, her partner,  from famed punk band, Moving Targets, kindly dropped me off at the station and I was onto Washington!  Capital city, here I come.

Philly

 Philly to me is synoymous with Will Smith and the Liberty Bell. Apart from a coffee in the former's district, I did not see lots of West Philly, but I certainly got to see the Liberty Bell and other aspects of this lovely city.  My host was a friend I made in the Czech Republic and he was a kind and solicitous host from the outset, from meeting me at a rather bleak downtown location under a bridge to getting me back there three days later before I turned into a fish - some expression of lightening Ben Franklin's re guests only have a three day sell by date.  


The best thing about Philly was his place, up on the 18th floor this flat, which was originally part of a social housing system. It was so central and I loved that the desk at the bottom always said hi if one was passing and that everyone chatted to each other on the stairs or in the lift.  There was even the garage man to tip and chat to each time we ventured in or out.  


Day one was really being a tourist, being shown the sights, or not as it happens,  he was keen to show a view, but that turned out to be closed, and introduce me to the best pizza in town, in a downtown Irish bar, but that also turned out to be a dude, but it was fun winding the streets and in the end we dashed home for great pasta.  Staying with a man who had his own restaurant has its pluses.  Next morning he provided a great breakfast too, in fact each day something  unique, from pancakes, to omlettes, to various types of sausage, was presented.  


Although everything was nearby, at 80 and with a bad back, probably not helped by the fact that my host was sleeping on the couch, to give me a bed, we went most places by car.  Although JV has lived in Philly a long while, indeed his family goes back to early Dutch settlers,  it was a while since he had visited key locations, so we went through the process of going through security, only to discover we had to go to another building to get the tickets, but it was fine, that gave us the chance to see the LIberty Bell close up (it previously had a different name) and then go to the Independence Hall, which also previously had a different name. 

Once again the National Parks Service helped bring the location - the room where it happened - to life.    I followed this up with a visit to Primark and the fabulous Reading Market where to my delight I got some bissap as a gift for my host, before rushing back to rest and then get ready to go to the Opera.    The opera took place in one of the oldest buildings in town, but the Opera was one of the newest in the repetoire - The Listeners.  The composer is a local lass and this was its local debut so the company had gone to town to ensure the place was full, my $300 seat only cost about $11, and I was next to one of the patrons who, unlike the people in the row behind, coped with the swearing and stayed to the end! I enjoyed it and it was lovely afterwards to spot two of the musicians in the bus queue after who had only had a fortnight to memorize an entirely new score.  


It was hard to top that but the following day JV had arranged a tour of the local library archeological department, which was a talk by their head just to the two of us of some of their material. They have loads of original Dickens but also pictures by Dore and Egyptian scrolls! and we got to see them first hand.  I also got to the whispering Civil War memorial and some of the local parks, but the highlight of Thurday was meltingly soft brisket and mac and cheese and pots, in the company of 4 other lively older folk who had just come back from a holiday in Italy.  A chance to be with lots of Americans from all walks of life.  (two Italian originally).  


Hidden behind the cupboards in J's flat was a washing maching and dryer, so it was nice just to sit and chat, catch up with the Hurricane Helene news and election news and not hurtle out, on my final day but once that was out of the way we dropped into another of the many free musuems in town, this one on Chemistry and potted around Ben Franklin's old home before I got onto the Greyhound bound for Baltimore and another adventure. 



Monday, 23 September 2024

New York

 New York has been much more challenging proof I am not really a traveller.. I cannot really say why as nothing untoward has happened here it just feels overwhelmingly busy at times, the hostel is not as nice . Like in Thailand the huge buildings weigh me down, yet I loved it when I came here over 40 years ago. Then I did most of the things I wanted to do and should do in Manhattan including going to Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, Radio City waking up on Long Island .. guest of woman on plane and guest in a brownstone guest of man met on train. It was an adventure.. now at times it has been an assault on the senses. Is that old age or just having less energy. 



But there has been lots they has been good about it and today I did exactly what I wanted to do.. visit the High Line where there was an exhibition on climate change and Chelsea market. With the help of staff I got a metro ticket and back to the hostel in the evening and some great bonuses...the gardens along the Hudson, Washington square. The 9/11 memorial and even part of the Smithsonian on the indigenous population. I wanted to buy up almost everything in the Museum shop but was feeling so rough I only rushed around but good precursor to what I hope to see I Washington 



I am sorry not to have done anything other than pass thru the key outer edges or get to Harlem which I am very close to here but reaching energy limits and for the next few days will be travelling with friends. No word from the one person I very very very vaguely knew of, which is a shame, but glad to have revisited.  And still having problems uploading stuff onto this site. 


Words music and highs and rain rain and more rain

 A friend suggested that if I had the oomph I could visit Concord and see the home of Luisa May Alcott. I didn't booked in case I had a bad night but it was very quiet I went to sleep about 8 woke at 12 slept again but was up and out in time to catch the 8:30 train to Concord, At first I couldn't work out where to buy a ticket to get onto the platform but the woman at the gate was able to oblige.   The journey was fine, but when I tried to get off the guard threw out her arm and ushered me back - no one could leave till she had lowered the steps.   That encounter got me talking to the other woman getting off the train.. a former teacher Meagan from Huston was kind enough to shout me a coffee before we did the tour of the museum. Concord is beautiful full of really old houses Emerson lived there, Thoreau ,Hawthorn and of course the Allcotts. The house is in many ways as they left it  Louisa May had been a nurse before writing Little Women based on her experiences and her family.  But her dad was also a famous philosopher and her sister May Amy in the books was a really good artist who studied in Europe so a great and informative visit. I didn't want to leave as Boston interesting though it is is harder 


Today it rained and rained here so I planned to head up to Harvard and the museums there but got waylaid and landed up Bunker Hill and in the naval dockyards before catching the ferry back to.the Long Wharf. From.there I gravitated back to Boston Common where two sound stages were blaring out hip hop on one and rock in the other but virtually no one was listening as they were clustered round the booths selling dope. I swear I am half high it was so strong. It was still going strong as I strode out across the common to dip into the Black History Trail. Coming back to the hostel though more music was playing all from the 60s and 70s and part of the hostels Peace Day celebrations..! Meanwhile the news from Lebanon Sudan Ukraine gets ever worse.  


Tomorrow I head to New York. 

Thursday, 19 September 2024

Boston

 The holiday nerves were super active till I safely and very easily arrived here last night and I was assaulted by a range of mostly nasty smells, loud penetrating shouts and nice meeters and greeters who helped direct me to the youth hostel. I had just run out of maps and inspiration when there suddenly was the hostel. Determined to make the most of my first evening I headed to Boston common and the houses of the Back Bay but was denied access to the river and a site of MIT by the busy roads.


Today though things have gone mostly very well. Having checked where the bus goes from I walked down to the Boston tea party museum which wasn't even open I was up so early and through to the Long Wharf where I was disappointed to discover there are no boats to Salem on account of the weather. So I drifted off to the Fanheuill Market for coffee and to read my book but then stumbled on a national park ranger who was about to take a group out for a free walk and talk in the old town. He was brilliant. I now know so much more.about the complex make up of the people involved with the revolution on both sides and indeed sometimes switching sides and how a group of male Bostonians those who were free men over 21 propertied and therefore.with the right to vote in local community  groups began to discuss wanting more from the British but eventually rebelling.  If only I could remember it all. Some of the Boston buildings are wonderful but the dark brick and sometimes.the scale of some.of the buildings feels a bit ominous. I wouldn't want to bring up kids or dogs here not enough green space so far or air. But from the air I was surprised how green it looked and of course lovely to be by rivers and sea. So a complex and interesting place.

Thursday, 22 August 2024

Brie and Now you see us.

 In the last 24 hours I have learned the incredibly bright and interesting husband of a late friend has dementia, another person I know is being treated for cancer and two people have suddenly died. One local, one from my past.  Brie was my best friend at school. In some ways we could not be more different.  Her father was a police officer and her mum was like her a nurse.  She had a sister. Her family were so different to mine. We were all buttoned up and they were all let it hang loose.  I think I first really experience Chinese food at her house.  Her mum was my minimum (cos she was smaller than my mum) and my mum was her maximum.  I probably stayed over with her more than she did with me, but she came on holiday with me.  I will try and find some pictures of her in her short short skirt.  She was a Tory and I was in those days Labour.  I once remember leaving school and having a blazing row with her over deaf and blind charities!   We became friends over films.  I wanted to go to the cinema but did not have anyone to go with, then discovered she was going to see The Entertaining of Mr. Sloane and I joined her and after that we were very good friends till she moved to Scotland.   


She was more boyfriend orientated than I was, or much more experienced. My only visit to her in Scotland it was very interesting to see the work her mum was doing, but the energy was different, she had a fella and seemed a world apart, but then she came back down to England to train as a Nightingale. She worked at St. Thomas' for many years and she I definitely kept in touch.  I cannot remember whether it was then or when we were younger, probably the latter, but after a programme called Smith and Jones, she became Gabriel White and I was Halleluhah Black - players on our names and we communicated using these characters.  However, aside from that she seemed much posher and grown up than me, dating doctors etc, but then suddenly it turned out she was dating one of my flat mates!  So that was quite a turn up.  After that I got married, met John Green and I suppose somehow through me she met him too and they married.   In some ways John seemed to be the every day Brie, whereas she had become a "Nightingale a professional" but for many years I think they were good together. I loved visiting their various homes in  Woodbridge. I always thought she was better than me, better at life, they went to the pub, she cooked Sunday dinners etc, whereas my marriage had broken up.  But then John went through some bad times and the marriage did not survive and sadly nor did my friendship with Brie.  At some point John became my partner, but I think Brie had already broken off the friendship. She wrote to me saying something about no longer being on the fence.  I never really knew what it was about.  Many years later I visited Woodbridge and showed my then partner all the places I used to go with Brie and I bumped into her.  I think she was touched that I thought to show him where she lived but all attempts to communicate with her failed, so I should learn from that. Despite that  I was in Woodbridge last year with another partner. I always hoped that at some point I would see her again.   But clearly it was not to be.  

Woodbridge 2023. 


Ordinarily I would love to go to say goodbye, but how do you do that when you would not be welcome at the funeral.  I will try instead to one day quietly go up and see the grave.  I am saddened and interested to learn she had an autoimmune condition.  She was a very good nurse.  But also smoked and drank.  I wonder what the condition was.   I am also pleased to know she wants a green burial.  Something I would like too. I wonder if we would be more politically aligned now.  I suppose on Tuesday when they lay her to rest I can try and spend that time with her.  


Too much death at the moment.  I know it is always there and it is a great motivator for getting on with life.    Luckily I find with most people my age we can laugh at our bodily challenges and try to make the most of our lives. I feel incredibly blessed by how much I get to do.  Today for example I was in the Tate, having a tete a tete with friends I have known for some 30 odd years at an exhibition about female artists through the years.  Wow, wow, wow,  given that the art history degree I did seemed to think women artists did not really exist in the distant pass what a revelation to see these successful professional artists who succeeded despite the odds against them.  







Thursday, 15 August 2024

A wonderful British seaside break and frightening undertones.

 For years Alnmouth has been a tantalising green blue river with a hint of sea glimpsed from the train, but I did not manage to get there when just up the road in Alnwick, yet when my friend LM asked me to join her there I first demured - after all I had been nearby twice before recently. However, it is nice to be asked and it would mean finally finding out what the village and sea beyond really looked like so I decided despite the cost to go for it.   And thank goodness I did.  When LM last visited the HF house there she had dreadful weather and the walk plans were curtailed but this time the weather was stunning.    Is there anything nicer than soft sand under ones feet and a beautiful beach?  And being Northumberland apart from some intrepid families wrapped up against the wind and some ecstatic dogs,  the beach is relatively empty.   



LM was walking the Pilgrims Way,  I headed inland the first day and went to the Ad Gefrin museum in Wooler.  The bus times made a long visit impossible, but there is not a huge amount in the museum and much of it is a recreation. so, in some ways visiting from far away does not make sense but if you are in Wooler it is a great addition.  There is also a little distillery on site and I was lucky enough to be given a glimpse of the shinning new coopers.  Lovely.  And then I was back in time to loll on the beach and paddle.  

The following day was even sunnier.  I caught the bus to Amble as a local had suggested the market there.  I was not sure how far I was capable of walking and felt quite tired as I walked along the river to Warkworth Castle.   But scaling the stairs and the ins and outs of the castle revived me and I did then manage to walk back along the coastal route to Alnmouth with plenty of breaks on the beach reading.   Absolutely lovely.  Some idiots had almost set fire to the brush by the beach but luckily they put it out and so I have learned how good sand is for that purpose, in fact better probably than water as it was nearer to hand, but it is scary how easily a fire can catch hold.  



Greece and Canada have been aflame, and Europe in scalding temperatures, England has been aflame for different reasons.   The far right are on the march.  I did not hear anything untoward in Northumberland but all over Weardale there were whispers of protests and back home I heard that the local hotel where there are some refugee families ,there is extra security.  

Meanwhile I am not the only one complaining about the appalling customer service with Booking.com.  Two programmes of You and Yours have covered problems, but still not addressed the questions I have raised. It is probably too late to write to them to raise my issues, but if I have the oomph I will. 

Friday, 2 August 2024

Still not sure who to complain to or how to complain about Booking.com

 Nothing new,  I just listened to a programme on Customer Service and in the UK people are regularly complaining about the appalling services with many companies.  One of the experts talked about how good Customer Service will bring return custom and I felt that is what Booking.com needs proper training about how to deal with and support customers, which is I know a sort of nebulus complaint but one where action can happen and be clear and specific.  However, can I find out who one complains to about them .. no, trading standards?  No Simon Calder  No,  ABTA No.  I complained to the CEO but that did not even get an iota of a response.  So whilst I have used Booking.com once since then, I am still on the whole trying to avoid them.  But dear reader if you know of how to formally complain abou tBooking.com let me know. 


Meanwhile thrilled that the Olympics going so well in Paris, despite the pollution in the Seine, but worldwide things seem more unstable than ever and England seems more violent these days, what with cross bow and knife deaths.    Thank goodness for Cambridge.  just a chance to chill and relax with friends and listen to good music.  However , my poor little body has been recovering from Parsnip burns so I have been in a lot of pain.   Makes me realise how difficult it must be for people with constant pain from skin conditions.   No wonder we are happy to disappear into sport and music to forget everything else. 

Tuesday, 23 July 2024

Here we go again

 So I am thinking to book tickets to America, at last, but the reviews, make me wary Play airlines does not seem to have a phone number and whilst the cheap airline has satisfied some of its customers, the rating is pretty poor, so whilst I have had issues with KLM I booked with them instead. Except now I cannot get through to them.   Why are online services so difficult to deal with.  

I am still not satisfied with the "help" I got from Booking.com.  I really feel they need proper Customer Services training. They cannot even tell me who I can complain to with my issues.   They do not seem to come under ABTA.  Even emails to the CEO has not elicited a decent response. 

Sadly even some face to face services leave much to be desired. I am mindful that when I have had students at my house I have never, despite all my best efforts got better than good, rather than excellent.  But whether it was the teaching or the food, my cooking after all, or the accomodation who knows, but I know I always try my best (but as my step dad used to say my best is not good enough) So perhaps my decorator tried her best and most things she did a great job BUT there is one glaring error,  it is clearly partly my fault as I did not take all the picture frame nails down,  I was so shattered after two weeks of moving stuff I did not even realise this I was just pleased to have got everything ready for her.  But she asked and helped take down shelves, so why not ask and take out picture fittings rather than paint over them and leave the original colour showing underneath. You can see I am seething.   All that money to have the perfect finish and then that.    I have asked her to correct the issue so wait to see what happens. 

The only good thing about really annoying services is it distracts one from sorrow.   So Virginia, died around the time of my 50th, her daughter was still fairly young at the time.   Jackie had a long and painful 4 years of terminal treatment,  but otherwise luckily all my friends have made it with me to their 60s/70s but then Jane, like my mum, suddenly and unexpectedly she was gone.   I was priviledged to spend time with the family saying goodbye yesterday.    She was N's Auntie, his African family, his first childminder, friend,  we had a couple of theatre trips together, she introduced me to Fela Kuti and we went on a family holiday to France .  I attended her eldest son's wedding and the christening of her grandchild  as well as having regular time at her home,     More recently we have gathered for coffee in Kentish Town so that is where some mourners retreated to after the church service to share our memories.  36 years of friendship.   Very sad  




Wednesday, 10 July 2024

So lovely to have some warmth in the sun in Zagreb and Maribor.

Two weekends,  two games, two Indians (footie fodder), and one new tattoo and most importantly time with N in Zagreb.  And in between four gentle days discovering the second main city of Slovenia, Maribor.  Time to mourn my lovely friend JG, who has known us both since N was a baby.    I stayed at the hostel, which is very nice, and had my own little room with cooking facilities, so could pretend I was living there.  I managed to potter, go up a mountain and have a swimming pool virtually to myself.  I loved just being able to sit in the sun and enjoy a coffee and walk across the bridge into town.  Lots of women my age there and families,  a couple of nice art galleries and even a castle and only two hours from Zagreb.    Magic. 








Meanwhile back in the UK my friend Bob was up in Suffolk working to get the vote out,  so it was brilliant on Friday morning to wake up to find that not only had Adrian Ramsay got in but the other three GPs had been elected.  






Thursday, 13 June 2024

On top of the world.

13th June 1968 - My grandmas must have been just over 70.  She never moaned about things being wrong with her health, but she did say about some of them and she recorded many of them in her diary: left cheek very painful and inflamed."  She also describes pretty miserable weather in June for example this from June 15th and 16th 1980: "sun all morning but windy rain later heavy in night did not go out/ very winder and rainy morning cold too afternoon some sun but she windy."   Grandma worked till she was 70,  did all her own shopping and it seems had to go to the launderette to wash her clothes - this when she was about 83." went to launderette Tuesday tiring work. Ironing Wednesday and Thursday. "  


Grandma had no real help as she got older and even when I visited I was not really allowed to do anything, so how do I compare to her.  I know that having only worked part time since my 50s it could be argued my health is worse than hers, and perhaps friends will say I moan about being in pain a lot but it would be nice to think I could emulate her and carry on till 90 with virtually no help. I hope so, like a lot of people my own age I do worry about how I will manage.  But where I think my life really is different to hers is in the amount of time I spend going out and about (her diary show she had a life, but not so many visits to exhibitions or holidays and so on).  


I was very pleased on Tuesday to dodge much of the rain  and this summer feels like the worst on record till I read my grandma's diaries) to visit a good friend in hospital, she is slightly older than me and in worrying pain,  and then go on to meet a couple more friends to see a talk on Tibet which featured the redoubtable Sir Michael Palin and the force of nature that is Brian Blessed. He was only slightly younger than me when he went up Everest and now at 87 has more energy than a family of elephants.  I was just chuffed to get into town and back and had to rest most of the day to have the energy to go but I am so pleased I did. 


As a child I was always vaguely interested in explorers,  and from about 14 years on was itching to travel more and have more experiences.   But with climate change and the sheer volume of people moving around begin to question the focus I put on travel in my life.  (I used my pension to pay for trips for the last 7 years, but sadly the money runs out in July)  So it was interesting to learn about the early years of Tibetan travel and how differently it was viewed by the Westerners compared to the Tibetans but that even then it was marketed and promoted through film and a tour of Tibetan monks to the UK.   It was also lovely to see two greats share some memories.  


 



So some people have been travelling to places like the Himalayas for the last 100 years, for most Brits a trip to the seaside and perhaps one or two places abroad seemed exciting until recently and now there is an explosion in travel.   I hope I have at least a couple more big trips in me, (both financially and energy wise ) but I suspect it will be mostly local travel soon, though that is more expensive of course than travel abroad.  My friend Johnny who is slightly older than me just came back from three months in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, very impressive.   He did ask me to go with him, but knew I wasn't up to it.  However, I love watching programmes on travel still and of course whilst Nathan lives abroad have a good reason to nip to Europe a couple of times a year.  






Sunday, 2 June 2024

How Green is My Valley or is skiffle piffle?

 The Broxbourne Green Party tries to widen its appeal by doing the occasional walk/social.  It is always a nice occassion as they are nice people and it is good to spend social time together.   However, so far we have still failed to attract more than a few people along.  This months walk in conjunction with the Big Green Walk was no exception which is a shame as it cleverly combined very little walking through the very green Lea Valley along with stops for lunch, afternoon tea before culminating at the live music exhibition at the Lowewood Museum. Lowewood Museum.    Cliff Richard was amongst a number of local musicians who went on to work in the industry,  he was not there at the musuem, but one who had worked with the Kinks was . The musuem had somehow got people like him back in touch with former band members and they had played live at the museum in conjunction with a little exhibition about the early days of Skiffle and boys bands in Hertfordshire.  Really fun and interesting stuff.   











Parliamentary candidate Owen, who also plays a guitar in a band, discovering the origins of rock and roll. 


Another lovely musical event locally was the Julie Fowlis concert in Hertfordshire. I have only just discovered one of the local churches has got some top notch folk musicians in,  it had a homely feel to it, but then this stunning music.  

Sunday, 26 May 2024

A Scottish sojourn and Cragside visited - at last.

Five beds in five nights is not very ecological, but as three were in youth hostels it was at least economical.                                                 

Looking out towards Helensborough. 

I revisited the Glasgow Youth Hostel so that I could spend time with family there, then hotfooted it to Stirling, where I succombed to the joys of Scottish cooking at the Brae Restaurant.  I do not think I have ever eaten before in a restaurant dubbed award winning but do not ask for coffee as it is seriously overpriced.  At the Stirling Hostel there were schoolchildren from the Czech Republic and Poland, which was intriguing and I would have said it was a lovely hostel, but when I tried to get my bag back having really enjoyed a long visit to Stirling Castle no one responded to my knocks or my phone calls or anything. And then the heavens opened too, so by the time I got the bag back I was well past my sell by date and needed a taxi on to my next destination - a lovely hotel for the night.   I had spent the day with a friend who I had meet on a Weardale Travel holiday and she was up in Stirling enjoying another such trip.  I could not manage the whole visit but the hotel enabled me to have dinner with her and breakfast even though she was on a coach trip with a whole bunch of other people.  So hotel and travel company very accomodating.  

Stirling Castle

It was raining so hard when I changed trains in Edinburgh that I almost fell out of the station and straight into the coffee shop oppositive, which just happened to be attached to the City Art Gallery.  Having enjoyed the free exhibition there, I almost headed off again, but the cheap train onwards was not for another hour, so even though I was shattered I headed across the park to the National Art Gallery.  Thank goodness I did.  One the atmosphere through the rain was very photogenic and two - the gallery has several of my favourite paintings in it - Glasgow Boys and Colourists.   And then it was back to Alnwick, my starting point for a trip to the Farne Islands, some time ago. 



Again I had intended to eat at the hostel to save money, but rather than just a cup of tea at Barters books in Alnwick the word Northumberland speciality grabbed me and I thoroughly enjoyed their version of rarebit.   But as a result I did not need breakfast as I headed out across country on a very scenic bus route to Cragside, the first house to have electricity installed in the UK.   I have seen this place on TV so often and everyone who has visited said it was wonderful and it is, especially in rhondodendron season, but it is problematic, the guy who owned it was an arms dealer,  and now even his plants would be controversial but it is a magnificent place.  I do not often get to visit stately homes and in a few days I managed a castle and one magnates home and several lovely meals out and two art galleries. Result.   And most importantly caught up with some lovely people - friends and family and cemented the joy I get from spending time up north. 



I booked only one room via Booking.com and all this was before I was locked into a battle with them about my missing holiday and the mental trauma of thinking I had, then hadn't, then had booked something with them.   The battle is ongoing.   I have somehow landed up with two accounts with them They have consistently failed to help me address this problem.  They keep asking hotels to refund me money because I missed my holiday, which I have never asked them to do and say it is nothing to do with them even though it is the platform I have a problem with. However, the fact that I have not been able to access my full hotmail  account for over a year has not helped. I have spent so many hours trying to resolve that one. I know I am not alone with such difficulties. 


Election called the night I was in Stirling hotel. 

Sunday, 12 May 2024

Happy times and sad news.

Lovely weekend enjoying some sunshine, searching for the Northern lights and just going where the wind took us on a lovely romantic break in North Norfolk.  I tried crab for the first time in about 30 years, hidden behind cheese it was fine,  at midnight I almost fell in a bunker whilst out trying to find somewhere dark to look for the northern lights and prior to that we had watched a barrage of strobe effects that could have been the northern lights but were in fact the fun and games of the last hour or so of Eurovision.  What with that and a nice swim, great food, lovely hotel, and the discovery of a local animal rescue shelter we packed a lot into a short break.  

Shanties at the RNLI musuem


Sad news en route, about the death of the poet and campaigner Hubert Moore. Hubert wrote gentle, spare, humourous and incredibly perceptive poetry, often on the horrors of life e.g. on torture, through a unique lens reflecting on the differences within the parallel lives being lived on earth. A good, gentle soul, with a fierce anger about injustices.  




 And sad times for a young boy who was spotted inconsolate that his beloved THS had lost the women's FA cup today. Take that Joey Barton. Things have changed in the world of football.

Friday, 3 May 2024

Out at the count, not out for the count

The


BBC give us credit for reducing the Tory lead in the local elections, which cheered us up after not improving on our third places in most wards in Broxbourne.  The local election agent has lost tons of weight deliberately, not from the amount of work he has done to get the vote out which  has been tremendous, but after all that effort it was deflating not to have progressed further however four years on we are still in there, talking with the press, being referenced on TV and I think adding to the story of politics in Broxbourne and certainly making the Tories work harder.  

Receiving the results for the key ward. 



Monday, 22 April 2024

Gutted - a complete holiday mess.

I just thought to look at my Booking.com app. And yes you have guessed it. It shows my bookings in Lyme Regis. and Dorchester.  So I had booked it, but did not think to look at the app till my bank account just showed money had been taken out to pay for a very expensive holiday, which I have not had.   Stress.  Both a cause and result.   Basically I have worked for three weeks for nothing.    So worried that my brain fog was this bad, have messaged the doctors,  hope it is nothing more serious.  I clearly need a holiday!. 

                                                           .........................

It gets worse.  I just discovered I had booked different accomodation in Eindhoven, but again it is only showing on the app not on the website where I usually use to check any travel plans.   So I had two hotels booked for Eindhoven. Whilst a lot of this is down to not having straight forward information from Booking.com clearly all is not well with my brain.  

                                                         ----------------------

More muddle, I realise I booked the second UK for two nights .i.e. coming back on the 25th but I had a train ticket to come back on the 24th.  Totally gaga. 

Sunday, 21 April 2024

Dog tired, but home.

 So definitely not a  holiday, but having spent, just under a week dog sitting, and a lovely sunny weekend in Zagreb, I raced home to the UK, over land.  

Sunny Zagreb


A bad start as the late running train out of Zagreb meant I risked missing my connection to Munich, but when I got to the Austrian change over point, just in time,  the second train was over 30 minutes late, which meant I got to Munich around 10pm, rather than after midnight which is what would have happened, had I missed the connection.   The train through Slovenia seemed to run very slowly and there was an extended stop to have passports checked.  (The Bangladeshi doctor, who was in the old style closed in carriages with me was given a penetrating look when his was examined) But the scenery was stunning.  I think there were 5 guards who checked my tickets, but none of them knew what would happen in Austria till I actually got there.   

Arrivals hall Stena Lines. 


One of the problems with going over land is that you have to pay for accomodation. Somehow I got a hotel room just around the corner from Munich train station for just over £50. I do not know whether it was because they were doing building works which initially made the place seemed inaccessible or I was just lucky, anyway I was very grateful for the free water on arrival and even more for the free tea and coffee in the room, which meant I did not need breakfast and could be refreshed ready to dash up to Marienplatz before my first train of the day the following day.  

                                                                            

Eindhoven


I had booked all my tickets prior to heading out for Croatia, but DB, the German company notified me that my original journey from Munich to Eindhoven was not now possible on the route I had planned, so I popped into the information service in Munich who gave me a new schedule with four changes, but which was nullified immediately when the first train left late.   In the end I got into Eindhoven almost two hours late. The good thing about this was that I had time to gaze happily at Koln cathedral whilst waiting there for my second train of the day, the bad thing about it, was I spent ages on cold platforms, and by the end of the day really had run out of energy and it was wet and cold.  But more good news, I stayed in a charming hotel in Eindhoven, found a nice bit of the old town to explore before woofing down a much needed warming curry.  

Twin cathedrals. 


Koln has a special place in my heart, partly because of my school trip when I was 15 but more importantly from my time with BFBS whilst I was training to be a radio journalist.  I got to "play" on their radio and had the most wonderful time in Koln.  I revisited the city a couple of years later when I spent 6 weeks travelling round Europe, so have not been back for about 40 years, but of course the Cathedral still stands magnificent.  Eindhoven on the other hand is mostly modern and unknown to me, and again I have not been to the Netherlands for some time, and I really enjoyed the last leg of the journey to Rotterdam and onto the Hoek of Holland.    The last dash for the port and home. 


I should have got off the train and headed for some breakfast in Rotterdam, and I will do that another time, but I naively thought that the next stop would have some cafes or that worse come to the worse I could get something when I arrived at Stena Lines. However, neither really was true.  In fact at the place where I should have got the metro I could not even work out how to get a ticket and there were no staff to ask, but luckily a passing woman about my age was kind enough to tell me how the machines worked.  So I pressed onto Stena Lines, and just found a coffee vending machine, so cracked open the small bottle of wine provided in the hotel, and using my empty coffee cup, enjoyed a drop off Merlot on an empty stomach and finished reading my book.  

Royal Acadmy Courtyard


The ferry was uneventful. The meal I had booked surprised me by its good quality, it was so windy, going outside seemed risky, but other than that was unremarkable and rather too long to want to do very regularly and then of course trains were cancelled on the UK side too but I got home near to midnight Tuesday night, having set off just after lunch on the Sunday, but it can be done and will be again.  

London Marathon, the Mall, 2024. 


But boy am I tired now. I had to come home as a friend was celebrating his wedding and of course I thought I had a holiday booked, but I just did not have the energy for any more travel and felt unwell so to boost myself have enjoyed a day in London instead at an excellent exhibition and briefly some of the elite runners come home in record times in the Marathon before crashing out at home for the week to recover. .