Charity Shops Galore

Sunday is the one day of the week when I give token allegiance to the care of the environment, leave the car behind and travel by bus. The fact that I have a free senior travel card could also be a factor! The trip to the Quaker Meeting House that I attend is only about one mile. It is situated at the end of Mutley Plain in Plymouth.

Mutley Plain

The Plain must be the charity shop capital of the country with no less than seven outlets within one hundred yards of each other.

In this shot there are actually three next to each other

Only the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) is open on a Sunday morning and I often drop off a load of tat there. Usually it is no longer required DVD's, video films and books. Whilst there I always pick up a light book to read at the bus stop where I have a half hour wait. Last week it was a volume of incredibly silly signs, which amused me. As I spend a considerable time in South Florida one that appealed to me was from the Everglades:

THOSE WHO THROW OBJECTS AT THE GATORS WILL BE REQUIRED TO RETRIEVE THEM

Today it was "The Biggest Book of Bloke Jokes Ever". My partner thought it was hilarious and I just had to accept that we men can laugh at being the butt of female humour! One that did amuse me was:

How do you kill a bloke?

Ask him to jump off his ego and land on his IQ.

On a more serious note, there is a lot of animosity from the regular business community against the proliferation of charity shops. The charity outlets do not pay business rates and many of them now sell new stuff as well as goods handed in by the general public. When they first opened they were fully staffed by volunteers but now most have salaried managers who are urged to meet sales volume targets. I have some sympathy with the business commuunity on this point.

Mutley Plain is just four hundred yards from the main university campus and the area is well patronised by the large student population. The rest of the street is made up of fast food outlets, bars and night clubs and agencies marketing student accommodation. At weekends the place is a hive of activity with a good presence of the law. The charity shops provide a good service to students on a tight budget but, on quite a lot of occasions, I have seen goods priced well in excess of what they cost new in Poundland (same as Dollar stores in the USA).

"Caveat emptor".

In the footsteps of King Solomon

For over a quarter of a century freemasonry has been one of my pastimes and I believe that I am a much better man, in every respect, as a result. Freemasonry is "a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". Lodges meet up to twelve times each year and usually, in basic craft freemasonry, perform one of three morality plays or ceremonies at each meeting. In the first ceremony an initiate is taught the value of charity; in the second the usefulness of the study of the seven liberal arts and sciences, namely grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. The third ceremony, from which is derived the expression "being put through the third degree", teaches how best to prepare for one's death and for the life hereafter. Every applicant is required to express his belief in God but his understanding of God is left to his own convictions. Atheists are barred from membership. In UK lodges there are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Quakers and many who express their faith in other ways. Because freemasonry has no creed we can all congregate together and give allegiance to "The Great Architect of the Universe" and other all encompassing descriptions of God. (Worth reading Rudyard Kipling's "Mother Lodge" to see the mixed bag of folk in his lodge).

The lodges that I belong to meet in three different locations, each with with their own lodge building or temple. The biggest of these three is King Arthur's Great Hall in Tintagel, Cormwall, the legendary Camelot of Arthurian legend

The picture above is of the masonic temple in Tintagel and it is open to the public throughout the year. Many Americans visit as it is not far from where the first settlers to the "New World" sailed from Plymouth. In the foreground can be seen the wooden replica of the Round Table but the large granite round table is at the top of the picture below the granite "throne", surrounded by eight foot high granite pillars, with Excalibur, embedded in a granite stone, on top. Freemasonry has no direct connection with the King Arthur legend but the "Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table" does meet there. Incidently, just two hundred yards away is the temple of the female freemasons in the local area. It is worth noting that at a meeting I was at last night it was anounced that a donation of 3,000.000 UK pounds (about five million or more US dollars) had been made to the UK osteoporosis society and a donation of 1.6 million pounds made to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to provide a new boat for a place in South Wales. Considering that freemasons do not approach the general public for donations that is a lot of money to come out of the back pockets of members. The meeting last night was held in Launceston, the old capital of Cornwall, where the founder of Quakers (George Fox) was imprisoned, in the castle, in the seventeenth century, for dissenting against the established church. (I only mention that because I happen to be a Quaker!).

The above picture is of Launceston lodge.

The lodge that I frequent most is in the small market town of Wadebridge, in Cornwall. That entails an eighty mile round trip for me from my home in Plymouth. I continue to attend as I have many friends there and presided over a lodge there last year - not quite the same as presiding at Tintagel and occupying Arthur's throne, which I did for two years in the past. Makes one feel like a bit of a meglomaniac!!!!!

Wadebridge Temple

I think that I have waffled enough for one day but at least I have discovered how to put photos between the text!

Scaling the Heights

There are forty three steps up to my office. The office is at the top of a delightful old manor house set in beautiful Cornwall – probably the prettiest county in the whole of England. The office is converted from accommodation once used by domestic staff who worked “below stairs” – a bit ironical that! The population trebles in the summer months when hoards of people on vacation descend on us.
Over the past few months I have been glad to get to my desk and catch a few breaths and I can no longer manage ten mile walks on the undulating Cornwall Coast Path with its stunning seascapes. ( I have not yet got the hang of putting the images between the text). I am thankful that I have walked the whole of the path in the past and have happy memories and scores of photographs to remind me of those good times.

I guess the payback of advancing years and an ill spent youth around the waterfronts of the world has to be accepted. I am grateful that I was able to travel the world in the middle 1950's before it became a much smaller place with air links to all points of the compass and computer terminals at every airport that makes them all look much the same.

Now - as a "newby" blogger, and having frittered away time trying to get pictures, unsuccessfully, between the text, I am going to have to make a dash to meet an evening appointment. I do hope to improve on both length and content with my next effort.

First blog

I have never written a blog before and do not claim to have any real skill in committing my thoughts to print. However, having a go could be fun so I will give it a try.
Last Sunday I returned from a cruise on a beautiful ship named Costa Serena. It sailed from Venice which required a flight from the third London airport (Stansted UK) and that was preceded by a 300 mile plus drive to get to Stansted in the first place. I have cruised a number of times before but mostly in the Caribbean on English speaking trips. On this trip I was accompanied by my partner, who happens to be my ex wife, our 20 year granddaughter and my son who is three years younger than she is! I arrived in Venice extremely tired after the long drive and flight and although there was five hours of free time before sailing I gave going ashore a miss in order to catch up on much needed shuteye. The youngsters went ashore and had fun! This cruise was very different to previous ones and was geared to the Italian passengers who made up a good 80 per cent of the travellers. Every announcement was made in five languages and there was no way of switching the system off. Italian, followed by English, German, French and Spanish was a bit wearing on the eardrums. The food turned out to be first class with everything imaginable available for breakfast and seven course lunches and dinners served in the ornate dining room. My only criticism was that the kippered herrings offered for a breakfast choice were like biting into a lump of rock salt!
Our first port of call was Bari in Italy and the weather was good and the place pleasant for sightseeing and shopping. The following day we docked at Katakolon in Greece and had a fantastic day. I had booked a taxi a couple of months earlier to meet us on the jetty and take us to Olympia where the first Olympic games were held.

Olympia

I found the taxi driver on the internet and he was absolutely great and was waiting on the jetty as soon as we stepped off the ship. We had four and a half hours with him for 140 Euros plus a 20 Euro tip (about 230 US $ in total). He spoke perfect English and took us to a number of places on the return trip that were well off the tourist track. The organised trips to Olympia on crowded buses would have cost about twice as much so that was a good decision of ours.
We were next due to call at Izmir in Turkey but due to a medical emergency had to divert to land a sick passenger. Izmir was cancelled and we had a splendid day on the Greek island of Mykonos instead. Istanbul was a great day with a visit to the Blue Mosque via the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar being truly memorable.

Granddaughter - suitably attired!

Sadly, my son and granddaughter were both robbed near the Blue Mosque by a shoeshine man but I guess it taught them not to get their notes out in a public place without due care in future.
Before returning to Venice another great day was experienced in Dubrovnik in Croatia. The walled city is really impressive but, unfortunately, I got caught by a torrential downpour whilst on the city walls without anywhere to shelter. I was absolutely sodden and back on board the ship had to wring out all my clothes, including underwear.

It was a great week but I would not cruise with Costa again - everything is extremely expensive onboard compared with ships that use US $ or UK pounds - and the cruise was really aimed at Italians with other nationalities not really catered for.
I am going to finish here and see what happens when I try to publish this blog - at least my good pal in Brisbane Australia will read it.