Sunday, 28 September 2008
Charity Shops Galore
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
In the footsteps of King Solomon
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!).
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!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Scaling the Heights
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.
Sunday, 21 September 2008
First blog
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.
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.
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.
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.