It seems that plans to dual the main link between the north of Scotland and the rest of the UK (as well as the southern part of Scotland), the A9, are to be brought forward with the announcement of a GBP3bn programme of improvements. Read more here from The Press Association.
Quite apart from improving the speed of travel up and down this major Scottish road artery, it should improve safety, too, by obviating the need for many motorists to make dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Monday, 24 May 2010
Little things to remember before a journey ...
I leave Mazarrón (Murcia, Spain) tomorrow to begin my journey back to Nairn in the Highlands of Scotland and apart from trying to leave the house here in a reasonably clean condition, there are other little things to remember:
My first day of driving will take me to Córdoba where I will be spending a couple of days - there are reputdely many marvellous things to see there and I've wanted to visit it for a few years now. This is a week of fairs in the city, so it should be particularly lively.
On Thursday I'll be driving the relatively short distance to Toledo, another of those Spanish cities I've wanted to go to for quite a few years and will again be spending a couple of days there. The city has a very rich and diverse cultural history and of course there are many works by El Greco exhibited in venues there.
On Saturday I will have a longer journey to Bilbao, where I shall be spending a night prior to my departure for Portsmouth on the P&O ferry.
Once in the UK I shall be 'dawdling' my way up to Scotland, spending the first night in Winchester (the ferry arrives late-afternoon in Portsmouth so I can't go too far that day), before heading up to Manchester for a couple of nights. I've only ever transited the city before, by train or 'plabe, but there is much to do there, so I'm told - and this is my chance to find out. Finally, I will be spending a night in the Scottish Borders (a much under-rated area I've often just passed through on the way to somewhere else) before heading up to Nairn and home.
... and I shan't be neglecting to take my passport and other vital documents, as the little boy in the video did at first.
My first day of driving will take me to Córdoba where I will be spending a couple of days - there are reputdely many marvellous things to see there and I've wanted to visit it for a few years now. This is a week of fairs in the city, so it should be particularly lively.
On Thursday I'll be driving the relatively short distance to Toledo, another of those Spanish cities I've wanted to go to for quite a few years and will again be spending a couple of days there. The city has a very rich and diverse cultural history and of course there are many works by El Greco exhibited in venues there.
On Saturday I will have a longer journey to Bilbao, where I shall be spending a night prior to my departure for Portsmouth on the P&O ferry.
Once in the UK I shall be 'dawdling' my way up to Scotland, spending the first night in Winchester (the ferry arrives late-afternoon in Portsmouth so I can't go too far that day), before heading up to Manchester for a couple of nights. I've only ever transited the city before, by train or 'plabe, but there is much to do there, so I'm told - and this is my chance to find out. Finally, I will be spending a night in the Scottish Borders (a much under-rated area I've often just passed through on the way to somewhere else) before heading up to Nairn and home.
... and I shan't be neglecting to take my passport and other vital documents, as the little boy in the video did at first.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Volcanic ash, air traffic disruption and the consequences
We are just getting used to a world (in much of Europe at least) where over the past several days, air travel has become all but impossible. Yesterday some flights were being allowed into Scottish air-space (mainly trans-Atlantic flights and flights to/from Scottish islands), but the ban has been re-instated today.
It may be that in a few days the wind-directions will have changed sufficiently, or that the volcano in Iceland will halt or slow-down the rate at which it is discharging debris into the atmosphere to allow air transportation involving most of Europe to be possible again. So there would have been, say, a week or two weeks of major disruption, no doubt some severe loss of revenue for certain airlines (who still have to pay regular expenses such as salaries or finance costs for loans) and for individuals perhaps some expense they can ill-afford or difficulty getting where they want to be, but ultimately it will have been a mere 'blip' in history. I am not one of nature's pessimists, so this is the kind of scenario I envisage and certainly hope for.
But what if this optimistic outcome doesn't happen? What if the disruption continues for a month? Three months? Six months? A year? What might the social, economic and perhaps political consequences be?
For a start, the days of easy, quick travel would be over for the vast majority of people. The first time I ever flew in an aircraft was in 1967 or thereabouts, so far as I recall, and I must have taken many hundreds of flights since then. For my present stay in Spain it should not affect me much, because I travelled here and am scheduled to travel back by road and ferry. But what about my usual one month visit to Spain in the Autumn, when I would normally have flown? Will I be able to make the trip, or will I bother trying to do so if I cannot fly? I'm not one of those people who pops across to someplace in Europe by aeroplane for a weekend or or a few days, basically because I live in a part of the UK where there are almost no international flights from my nearest airport, so requiring transit via some other UK airport with more flights. But many people do live near big airports and have grown accustomed to travelling all over Europe for a [long]-weekend. Basically, none of these trips would be possible any more, period. Simply because by the time one took a train/ferry to go most places it would already be time to come back. Apart from these leisure trips, business travel would be severely affected and would probably lead to a huge expansion of teleconferencing (something that should probably happen more and more anyway). No more would we get air-shipment of highly-perishable foods such as some fruits and vegetables 'out of season'. The 'green' lobby might be pleased, although I cannot see it as tremendously positive if these changes have come about because the atmoosphere has become clogged-up with volcanic ash. Let's face it, things could become much more serious if the volcanic ash cloud became a semi-permanent feature and affected crop production. Curtailed leisure travel would be the least of our worries!
I don't really think that any of these apocalytpic visions is likely to happen, but the events of the past few days do bring home just how fragile our civilisation is. It could all disappear very easily because of factors we have absolutely no way of stopping or changing. Have a great weekend!
PS/ So far the present events have afftected people I know in the following ways:
-a guest who should have travelled here two days ago for a break of about ten days has had to cancel her trip;
- a friend (and former colleague) who now works in Rome usually travels home to Paris every weekend to see her children and has probably had to cancel her trip;
- guests scheduled to come here in just over two weeks may see their plans affected if the situation does not improve soon.
Minor problems, I suppose, but many hundreds of thousands are probably affected in similar or worse ways.
It may be that in a few days the wind-directions will have changed sufficiently, or that the volcano in Iceland will halt or slow-down the rate at which it is discharging debris into the atmosphere to allow air transportation involving most of Europe to be possible again. So there would have been, say, a week or two weeks of major disruption, no doubt some severe loss of revenue for certain airlines (who still have to pay regular expenses such as salaries or finance costs for loans) and for individuals perhaps some expense they can ill-afford or difficulty getting where they want to be, but ultimately it will have been a mere 'blip' in history. I am not one of nature's pessimists, so this is the kind of scenario I envisage and certainly hope for.
But what if this optimistic outcome doesn't happen? What if the disruption continues for a month? Three months? Six months? A year? What might the social, economic and perhaps political consequences be?
For a start, the days of easy, quick travel would be over for the vast majority of people. The first time I ever flew in an aircraft was in 1967 or thereabouts, so far as I recall, and I must have taken many hundreds of flights since then. For my present stay in Spain it should not affect me much, because I travelled here and am scheduled to travel back by road and ferry. But what about my usual one month visit to Spain in the Autumn, when I would normally have flown? Will I be able to make the trip, or will I bother trying to do so if I cannot fly? I'm not one of those people who pops across to someplace in Europe by aeroplane for a weekend or or a few days, basically because I live in a part of the UK where there are almost no international flights from my nearest airport, so requiring transit via some other UK airport with more flights. But many people do live near big airports and have grown accustomed to travelling all over Europe for a [long]-weekend. Basically, none of these trips would be possible any more, period. Simply because by the time one took a train/ferry to go most places it would already be time to come back. Apart from these leisure trips, business travel would be severely affected and would probably lead to a huge expansion of teleconferencing (something that should probably happen more and more anyway). No more would we get air-shipment of highly-perishable foods such as some fruits and vegetables 'out of season'. The 'green' lobby might be pleased, although I cannot see it as tremendously positive if these changes have come about because the atmoosphere has become clogged-up with volcanic ash. Let's face it, things could become much more serious if the volcanic ash cloud became a semi-permanent feature and affected crop production. Curtailed leisure travel would be the least of our worries!
I don't really think that any of these apocalytpic visions is likely to happen, but the events of the past few days do bring home just how fragile our civilisation is. It could all disappear very easily because of factors we have absolutely no way of stopping or changing. Have a great weekend!
PS/ So far the present events have afftected people I know in the following ways:
-a guest who should have travelled here two days ago for a break of about ten days has had to cancel her trip;
- a friend (and former colleague) who now works in Rome usually travels home to Paris every weekend to see her children and has probably had to cancel her trip;
- guests scheduled to come here in just over two weeks may see their plans affected if the situation does not improve soon.
Minor problems, I suppose, but many hundreds of thousands are probably affected in similar or worse ways.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Conservatives trying to have it both ways on gay rights
One has to wonder whether the Conservative Party has really changed or not. This latest revealing comment by shadow home secretary Chris Grayling seems to me to be trying to having it both ways on gay rights. He tells a sympathetic audience what they want to hear - that he is 'on their side' and supports the right of those who maintain bed&breakfast establishments to refuse accommodation to people based on their sexuality and [that he] wanted to be "sensitive to the genuinely held principles of faith groups". Then he goes on to say he does not want to see a change in the law.
But the law, Mr Grayling, currently says [the relevant law is - the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007]: no one should be refused goods or services on the grounds of their sexuality.
Is this 'dog whistle' campaigning a warning that a future Conservative Government might seek to change the law to water down legislation to weaken the equality afforded by the law to gay people?
What I find particularly alarming is the comment made by a Conservative party spokesman that Mr Grayling had made it : "absolutely clear that in this day and age, a gay couple should not be turned away from a hotel just because they are a gay couple.". What Mr Grayling has done, and the Conservative Party spokesman has not refuted this, is to try and draw a distinction between different kinds of business offering accommodation for payment - between hotels and guest houses and/or bed&breakfast. Many establishments calling themselves hotels fulfil the dual role of being the home (and property of) the hotel-keeper. Where would such establishments fit into the world as envisaged by Mr Grayling?
I really do think the Conservative Party needs to repudiate Mr Grayling's comments clearly and unequivocally, or the suspicion will be left that the Conservative Party has not, in actual fact, changed very much at all and would not hesitate to reverse and/or weaken equality legislation if it thought it could get away with!
PS/ Mr Grayling's subsequent attempts to 'clarify' his statement only serve to 'muddy the waters' further. The current law is quite clear and Mr Grayling says he does not wish to change it. So what exactly does wishing to be 'sensitive to the genuinely held principles of faith groups' mean, Mr Grayling. What practical effect do you seek to see brought about and how can this be achieved within the current legislation, which you say you do not wish to see changed?
Why doesn't he just come out (ho! ho!) and admit that he was caught out by an undercover recording revealing his prejudices and is now trying to row-back furiously from them, whilst passing a message to religious bigots that he really does support them?
I'd be really pleased if someone could point me to any misanalysis in my article.
But the law, Mr Grayling, currently says [the relevant law is - the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007]: no one should be refused goods or services on the grounds of their sexuality.
Is this 'dog whistle' campaigning a warning that a future Conservative Government might seek to change the law to water down legislation to weaken the equality afforded by the law to gay people?
What I find particularly alarming is the comment made by a Conservative party spokesman that Mr Grayling had made it : "absolutely clear that in this day and age, a gay couple should not be turned away from a hotel just because they are a gay couple.". What Mr Grayling has done, and the Conservative Party spokesman has not refuted this, is to try and draw a distinction between different kinds of business offering accommodation for payment - between hotels and guest houses and/or bed&breakfast. Many establishments calling themselves hotels fulfil the dual role of being the home (and property of) the hotel-keeper. Where would such establishments fit into the world as envisaged by Mr Grayling?
I really do think the Conservative Party needs to repudiate Mr Grayling's comments clearly and unequivocally, or the suspicion will be left that the Conservative Party has not, in actual fact, changed very much at all and would not hesitate to reverse and/or weaken equality legislation if it thought it could get away with!
PS/ Mr Grayling's subsequent attempts to 'clarify' his statement only serve to 'muddy the waters' further. The current law is quite clear and Mr Grayling says he does not wish to change it. So what exactly does wishing to be 'sensitive to the genuinely held principles of faith groups' mean, Mr Grayling. What practical effect do you seek to see brought about and how can this be achieved within the current legislation, which you say you do not wish to see changed?
Why doesn't he just come out (ho! ho!) and admit that he was caught out by an undercover recording revealing his prejudices and is now trying to row-back furiously from them, whilst passing a message to religious bigots that he really does support them?
I'd be really pleased if someone could point me to any misanalysis in my article.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
A change of scene ...
The long winter in the Highlands of Scotland may not be quite over yet, but for me it will be so on Thursday, when I start the journey south to my home in Spain for a few months. The first part of the trip will take me beyond the 'snow fields' of the Grampians (with a bit of luck) and on down to the southern Lake District, where I will be spending a night on my way to Portsmouth to catch the Friday evening ferry for Bilbao.
After two nights of hopefully not too rough weather crossing the Channel and the Bay of Biscay the vessel is scheduled to arrive on Sunday morning and then it will be on to the motorway to make my way to a south-eastern suburb of Madrid where I shall be spending Sunday night, before continuing in the direction of Valencia, then Murcia, en route to the house which, with a bit of luck, I shall reach mid-late afternoon on Monday, with pleanty of time to do such mundane things as get to the supermarket to do a little food-shopping for a few basics for the first day at least.
I've just heard that the weather in the Mazarrón area, close to where my home is, continues cold, windy and wet. Ah well, we'll just have to hope that Spring will soon be on its way there too and of course the average temperatures are somewhat higher than here, so that is always something to look forward to. Meantime I thought it would be pleasant to open a bottle of champagne this evening to celebrate my imminent departure as obviously alcohol will be off-limits for me tomorrow evening, ahead of my fairly early start on Thursday morning. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that I have anticipated my arrival in the Murcia Region of Spain by amending the sub-heading of this blog a few days 'before the event'. Hasta luego!
After two nights of hopefully not too rough weather crossing the Channel and the Bay of Biscay the vessel is scheduled to arrive on Sunday morning and then it will be on to the motorway to make my way to a south-eastern suburb of Madrid where I shall be spending Sunday night, before continuing in the direction of Valencia, then Murcia, en route to the house which, with a bit of luck, I shall reach mid-late afternoon on Monday, with pleanty of time to do such mundane things as get to the supermarket to do a little food-shopping for a few basics for the first day at least.
I've just heard that the weather in the Mazarrón area, close to where my home is, continues cold, windy and wet. Ah well, we'll just have to hope that Spring will soon be on its way there too and of course the average temperatures are somewhat higher than here, so that is always something to look forward to. Meantime I thought it would be pleasant to open a bottle of champagne this evening to celebrate my imminent departure as obviously alcohol will be off-limits for me tomorrow evening, ahead of my fairly early start on Thursday morning. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that I have anticipated my arrival in the Murcia Region of Spain by amending the sub-heading of this blog a few days 'before the event'. Hasta luego!
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
London Tube 48-hour strike - Bill goes all "Devil's Kitchen"
I had the dubious pleasure of watching Bob Crow, the 'capo' of the union (aka 'gang') known as the RMT, last evening telling poor unfortunate Londoners why they would just have to 'grin and bear it' because members of the union were staging a 48-hour strike for some fatuous reason; not that I'm biased of course, you understand, but watching that 'mockney' lout on my television screen brings a rage-mist down over my eyes, I'm a little embarrassed to admit. Luckily I happened to flick through my RSS feeds tonight and found something in Gavin Whenman's blog that struck me as specially apt. The embedded video relates to a shorter strike a couple of years ago and encapsulates what are I imagine the sentiments of many commuters in London tonight. There is 'profanity' in the embedded video I'm afraid, but it seems to me that when confronted by divisive and offensive eejuts such as Crow some leeway is permitted:
- the title by the way refers to the serial swear-blog known as the Devil's Kitchen of course - even if I find the language used regularly there to be far too strong for my tastes, I read it often because the quality of the writing is otherwise so high and the quality of the arguments deployed is plenty high enough - even if I call a halt when the ranting carries on for screen after screen of obsessiveness in some of the [far too] lengthy articles.
However, amidst all the probable chaos in London over the next couple of days it is pleasing to read in the traditional 'journal of record' that the online blogging community is recognised as providing a valuable level of helpful information and advice for those who will be trying to negotiate their way through Bob Crow's ego-fest in the coming couple of days.
- the title by the way refers to the serial swear-blog known as the Devil's Kitchen of course - even if I find the language used regularly there to be far too strong for my tastes, I read it often because the quality of the writing is otherwise so high and the quality of the arguments deployed is plenty high enough - even if I call a halt when the ranting carries on for screen after screen of obsessiveness in some of the [far too] lengthy articles.
However, amidst all the probable chaos in London over the next couple of days it is pleasing to read in the traditional 'journal of record' that the online blogging community is recognised as providing a valuable level of helpful information and advice for those who will be trying to negotiate their way through Bob Crow's ego-fest in the coming couple of days.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Ryanair cancelling swathes of bookings - involving Inverness and perhaps other destinations
(Please see UPDATES at end)
I just had an email from Ryanair advising me that a flight I had booked some time ago with them from East Midlands airport (EMA) to Inverness airport (INV) has been cancelled. In my case it's a flight several months in the future (15th October), but the cancellations seem to affect people travelling a lot sooner than that! And perhaps on other routes too, because although my email tells me about my own flight (roughly speaking) and no doubt fulfils their legal obligations to the letter, there is absolutely no mention of this in their website, so there may be many other changes/curtailments of service which won't be obvious to anyone not directly affected. Here's the text of the email I received, which illustrates the guarded way in which my email (and presumably those received by many other people who have booked flights) is worded:
Of course I am only transiting East Midlands airport (EMA), as I shall be arriving there on an easyJet flight from Spain some hours before my Inverness was originally scheduled to depart. This airport serves the English Midlands cities of Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Derby, not places I have ever had any particular requiirement to visit.
It is, somewhat to my amazement, still technically feasible for me to get to Nairn that day by taking the airport bus into Derby, then a crosscountry train to Edinburgh, then a direct ScotRail train to Nairn/Inverness via Aberdeen (rather than the more usual Perth). It would of course have me arriving at Nairn at 11.45pm approximately rather than 5.20pm at Inverness airport and, although I haven't priced it yet, undoubtedly cost more than the now-cancelled Ryanair flight. I may therefore look at changing the itinerary for my return to the UK completely, as I have no over-riding need to be back here on that date.
Whether these flight cancellations by Ryanair have any direct correlation with the announcement of the first ever losses by the company just a few days ago is not known to me, but one might perhaps be forgiven for wondering if these are not 'slash and burn' tactics in operation to get the company back 'into the back' as expeditiously as possible, with the routes affected being those they consider marginal to their main route network.
It'll be interesting to see whether there are any flights to/from Inverness by Ryanair in the foreseesable future, specially during the current economic recession/depression whose end-date can only be guessed at. One must I suppose hope that it will be less long than the one which blighted the 1930s with such terrible consequences. Do you think I am being melodramatic? I sincerely hope I am.
UPDATE: (Tuesday 9JUN09 22.10 BST) Within less than an hour of uploading this article, there were 'Google' searches using as their search criteria some of the same precise wording used in the email I received from Ryanair, originating from Poland - indicating perhaps that these 'slash and burn' route network cuts do go rather further than their Inverness-East Midland route, as I had speculated. I wonder just how many destinations are affected.
2nd UPDATE: (Wednesday 10JUN09 02.18 BST) It seems that the Durham Tees Valley airport to Dublin service is also being withdrawn from July.
3rd UPDATE: (Thursday 11JUN09 10.32 BST) Now I see internet searches alighting here from the Czech Republic over the issue of Ryanair flight cancellations. Just how far does this thing extend?
I just had an email from Ryanair advising me that a flight I had booked some time ago with them from East Midlands airport (EMA) to Inverness airport (INV) has been cancelled. In my case it's a flight several months in the future (15th October), but the cancellations seem to affect people travelling a lot sooner than that! And perhaps on other routes too, because although my email tells me about my own flight (roughly speaking) and no doubt fulfils their legal obligations to the letter, there is absolutely no mention of this in their website, so there may be many other changes/curtailments of service which won't be obvious to anyone not directly affected. Here's the text of the email I received, which illustrates the guarded way in which my email (and presumably those received by many other people who have booked flights) is worded:
Ryanair Flight Cancellation Dear Customer Ryanair regrets that following an operational review your flight/s detailed below will cease operation from the 16/07/09 - 24/10/09. Please advise any other passengers who may be travelling in your party of the cancellation of this booking. Any flights booked departing between the 16/07/09 - 24/10/09 have been cancelled and a refund will be automatically processed back to the original form of payment used to pay for the original booking. If one of the flights in this reservation is due to depart before the 16/07/09 and you do not wish to use the flight you can receive a refund by clicking on the link below and completing the form. (URL to my flight booking) Ryanair sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this route cancellation. |
Of course I am only transiting East Midlands airport (EMA), as I shall be arriving there on an easyJet flight from Spain some hours before my Inverness was originally scheduled to depart. This airport serves the English Midlands cities of Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Derby, not places I have ever had any particular requiirement to visit.
It is, somewhat to my amazement, still technically feasible for me to get to Nairn that day by taking the airport bus into Derby, then a crosscountry train to Edinburgh, then a direct ScotRail train to Nairn/Inverness via Aberdeen (rather than the more usual Perth). It would of course have me arriving at Nairn at 11.45pm approximately rather than 5.20pm at Inverness airport and, although I haven't priced it yet, undoubtedly cost more than the now-cancelled Ryanair flight. I may therefore look at changing the itinerary for my return to the UK completely, as I have no over-riding need to be back here on that date.
Whether these flight cancellations by Ryanair have any direct correlation with the announcement of the first ever losses by the company just a few days ago is not known to me, but one might perhaps be forgiven for wondering if these are not 'slash and burn' tactics in operation to get the company back 'into the back' as expeditiously as possible, with the routes affected being those they consider marginal to their main route network.
It'll be interesting to see whether there are any flights to/from Inverness by Ryanair in the foreseesable future, specially during the current economic recession/depression whose end-date can only be guessed at. One must I suppose hope that it will be less long than the one which blighted the 1930s with such terrible consequences. Do you think I am being melodramatic? I sincerely hope I am.
UPDATE: (Tuesday 9JUN09 22.10 BST) Within less than an hour of uploading this article, there were 'Google' searches using as their search criteria some of the same precise wording used in the email I received from Ryanair, originating from Poland - indicating perhaps that these 'slash and burn' route network cuts do go rather further than their Inverness-East Midland route, as I had speculated. I wonder just how many destinations are affected.
2nd UPDATE: (Wednesday 10JUN09 02.18 BST) It seems that the Durham Tees Valley airport to Dublin service is also being withdrawn from July.
3rd UPDATE: (Thursday 11JUN09 10.32 BST) Now I see internet searches alighting here from the Czech Republic over the issue of Ryanair flight cancellations. Just how far does this thing extend?
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Gay holiday company 'Respect' folds
I have just clicked on to the 'Respect' website (for the present it is here - who knows for how much longer) and the following statement is all that remains; I quote it in full in case the website disappears:
Thye 'r' and 'p' of the company were Rob and Paul (its founders and proprietors), formerly with gay travel company 'Sensations'; they left that firm some years ago as a result of a dispute, if I recall correctly, and formed their own travel firm. I travelled once with 'Sensations' (whilst the two were still there) and, I think, three or four times with 'respect', but my final booking with them didn't come off as they had an earlier financial problem before the present one that seems to have put them out of business (or rather the travel firm which actually held the ATOL licence under which they then operated went into receivership and my booking was voided); they had sufficient assets then to find another travel firm willing to cover them under its ATOL licence and so they continued to trade. Because the last financial 'hiccouph' occurred only about 7 or 10 days prior to the date I was booked to travel, and before my refund under the ATOL scheme came through, I was offered the opportunity to pay again for my holiday so that I could travel - I declined this 'opportunity' as I'm afraid that my motto tends when dealing with commercial organisations (the fact that they are 'gay' owned and operated makes no difference to me - business is business) to be:
Once bitten, twice shy!
- and the rather incredulous response I got when I voiced these sentiments over the telephone to Paul at the time, that I should somehow find it quite 'normal' to fork out for a holiday I had already paid for struck me as pretty inept. Although I visited the website regularly thereafter, I had no intention of ever booking a holiday with that firm again.
Incidentally, after the airline Excel/XL went into receivership a couple of weeks ago, the 'message board' on the 'respect' website almost immediately went behind some kind of pseudo-password smokescreen, presumably because there were so many negative comments that it was doing damage to the company. The nonsense that was put on the website was that the number of hits had overloaded the server was, in my opinion, just so much 'whitewash' as their 'message board' was hosted by 'Bravenet', the Vancouver-based web-hosting company through whom I have my own 'message board' and with whom I host a couple of my own registered website domains. I think it was just a way of closing down 'unhelpful' discussions on their 'message board'; they have had a habit of removing 'unhelpful' (i.e. 'negative') messages from the 'message board' for as long as I can remember and whilst they seemed like nice people to deal with when things were going well, there was no sentiment when things turned sour - and why should there be, after all 'business is business', for a 'gay' travel company just as for any other. But the corollary also applies - 'gay' former customers such as me may have liked dealing with a 'gay' travel company because they understood the needs of this market better than most, but sentiment can only be taken so far in both directions.
I am very sorry, despite the rather 'sour' tone of this article, to see the demise of 'respect'; another 'gay' travel company went into receivership a week earlier, the company trading under the name 'throb' - their website announcement is here. It was also a victim of the Excel/XL collapse.
I have checked the Sensations website and observe it still seems to be operating from what I can see, but 'caveat emptor' is probably good advice when paying money out in advance for future services right now. PS/ Of course, 'Sensations' recently merged with 'respect' so I am not sure what its future may be; perhaps only one part of the business of Lidana Ltd (the company operating both travel firms) has folded; no doubt it will become clear in coming days.
respect It is with regret and sadness that, after ten years at the forefront of the gay holiday industry, I am left with no option other than to close Respect Holidays. It is no secret that a combination of oil price uncertainty, the weakness of sterling and the general economic downturn has hit the travel business very hard indeed. Respect held substantial flying contracts with Excel Airways and, since Excel ceased trading, Respect has suffered significant financial losses. Put simply, the financial hit taken in the wake of the Excel collapse has been the straw that broke the camel's back. Unfortunately, unlike members of the travelling public, Respect has no protection against losses sustained by the closure of Excel and in the current climate we are simply unable to take these losses in our stride. To continue to trade would therefore be dishonest to our customers, staff and suppliers. Respect is fully bonded with the Civil Aviation Authority under the ATOL scheme and customers currently overseas will be able to complete their holidays. Customers who purchased a package (flight and holiday) and are yet to travel are entitled to a full refund of all monies paid and should visit the Civil Aviation Authorty's website (www.caa.co.uk) for detailed information. Customers who purchased an accommodation only holiday and who paid a total of more than £100 may be protected by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. If you paid by Visa debit card you should contact your bank for advice on making a 'charge back'. In both instances, you should check with your card issuer for further advice. For further advise please call Cega Claims on 01243 621500. To many people Respect has been more than just a travel company. I would like to thank the many hundreds of regular customers, some of whom have been booking their holidays with us since the very beginning, who have all contributed to making the Respect family such a special place to be. I am very proud of what we have achieved, and devastated that economic circumstances have led to the current situation. I am sorry we couldn't keep it going for you. Finally, I would like to thank all our staff, past and present, in the UK and overseas for their support and dedication over the past ten years. You are the best in the business and I wish you all every success for the future. Paul Kilcoyne |
Thye 'r' and 'p' of the company were Rob and Paul (its founders and proprietors), formerly with gay travel company 'Sensations'; they left that firm some years ago as a result of a dispute, if I recall correctly, and formed their own travel firm. I travelled once with 'Sensations' (whilst the two were still there) and, I think, three or four times with 'respect', but my final booking with them didn't come off as they had an earlier financial problem before the present one that seems to have put them out of business (or rather the travel firm which actually held the ATOL licence under which they then operated went into receivership and my booking was voided); they had sufficient assets then to find another travel firm willing to cover them under its ATOL licence and so they continued to trade. Because the last financial 'hiccouph' occurred only about 7 or 10 days prior to the date I was booked to travel, and before my refund under the ATOL scheme came through, I was offered the opportunity to pay again for my holiday so that I could travel - I declined this 'opportunity' as I'm afraid that my motto tends when dealing with commercial organisations (the fact that they are 'gay' owned and operated makes no difference to me - business is business) to be:
- and the rather incredulous response I got when I voiced these sentiments over the telephone to Paul at the time, that I should somehow find it quite 'normal' to fork out for a holiday I had already paid for struck me as pretty inept. Although I visited the website regularly thereafter, I had no intention of ever booking a holiday with that firm again.
Incidentally, after the airline Excel/XL went into receivership a couple of weeks ago, the 'message board' on the 'respect' website almost immediately went behind some kind of pseudo-password smokescreen, presumably because there were so many negative comments that it was doing damage to the company. The nonsense that was put on the website was that the number of hits had overloaded the server was, in my opinion, just so much 'whitewash' as their 'message board' was hosted by 'Bravenet', the Vancouver-based web-hosting company through whom I have my own 'message board' and with whom I host a couple of my own registered website domains. I think it was just a way of closing down 'unhelpful' discussions on their 'message board'; they have had a habit of removing 'unhelpful' (i.e. 'negative') messages from the 'message board' for as long as I can remember and whilst they seemed like nice people to deal with when things were going well, there was no sentiment when things turned sour - and why should there be, after all 'business is business', for a 'gay' travel company just as for any other. But the corollary also applies - 'gay' former customers such as me may have liked dealing with a 'gay' travel company because they understood the needs of this market better than most, but sentiment can only be taken so far in both directions.
I am very sorry, despite the rather 'sour' tone of this article, to see the demise of 'respect'; another 'gay' travel company went into receivership a week earlier, the company trading under the name 'throb' - their website announcement is here. It was also a victim of the Excel/XL collapse.
I have checked the Sensations website and observe it still seems to be operating from what I can see, but 'caveat emptor' is probably good advice when paying money out in advance for future services right now. PS/ Of course, 'Sensations' recently merged with 'respect' so I am not sure what its future may be; perhaps only one part of the business of Lidana Ltd (the company operating both travel firms) has folded; no doubt it will become clear in coming days.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Away for the rest of the week ...
I shall be away for a few days, in and around Glasgow - visiting gardens, museums and art galleries - call it 'domestic tourism'; I'm looking forward to it. I'll be back late on Friday so may get a chance to write here again during the coming weekend.
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Bulletin from Beaune
The euphony of the title above appeals to me! It also has the virtue of being factual as I am currently in Beaune in the Burgundy region of France, nearing the end of this stage of my return to Scotland. Since I last posted here (* - see at end), whilst spending a night in Valencia at the start of my journey back north, I have spent two nights at a very nice bed and breakfast in the hills outside Sitges, a little south of Barcelona. Unfortunately the weather, although rather nice on the day I arrived there (Sunday), deteriorated on Monday and remained overcast with a little rain for most of the day - none of this prevented me having a very pleasant long walk along the Sitges promenade and back (probably 6-7km) followed by a very good lunch on the terrace of one of the restaurants on the promenade. Tuesday started overcast, too, but before I left Sitges the sun had already begun to poke through the clouds and my resumed journey north into France became increasingly bright as the day wore on, and most of the afternoon was in bright sunshine and on my arrival in Vaison-la-Romaine (Wikipedia article here) to visit with friends we were able to sit on their terrace enjoying the evening sunshine (and aperitifs with tapenade) before a superb home-cooked dinner. The lady of the house is a good cook and the meal started with copious quantities of new-season fat white and green asparagus accompanied by a sauce of mayonnaise mixed with a little Dijon mustard and beaten egg white; a real treat. Followed a speciality paté of the region (pork brain and black olives) accompanied with butter and bread, then a local variant of boeuf bourgignon in which both mushrooms and green olives play a part, in addition to the usual ingredients. Following this was a selection of cheeses and finally a copious bowl of the first local strawberries of the season. Naturally the meal was accompnied by bottles of local white and red wine. I slept very well las night!
This morning (Wednesday) I awakened to the sound of heavy rain outside. By 11am I was on my way again and the rain, which had lessened a little before my departure, came back more strongly during my drive back to the motorway. There are many vineyards in this area which sell wine direct and offer wine tastings to visitors, so I called in at one such in the small town of Suze-la-Rousse and after tasting a number of their wines I purchased several bottles of one of their red wines and smaller quantities of two of their white wines, together with a bottle of each of their Creme de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) and Creme de Myrtilles (blueberry liqueur); as I was already carrying quite a lot of Spanish wines and sherries, mainly to give as gifts to people I will be visiting on my way back home or to people at home, the amount of wine I could purchase today was limited by what I could carry in an already quite well-filled car!
Tonight I am in the town of Beaune in the Burgundy region. Dinner this evening was very good, too. I started with more new-season, mainly white, asparagus with a vinaigrette dressing, then followed on with some fish (ray in butter - not a fish which I have very often been able to have in Britain, I've mainly eaten it in France and Morocco). Finally a plate of local cheeses. The meal was accompanied by a half-bottle of a good white burgundy (a Mercurey, a wine from the Côte Chalonnaise village of the same name) with a glass of red burgundy (whoe name escapes me at this late stage of the evening, but was delicious) to go with the cheese.
It is now rather late. Tomorrow I shall be travelling on to Vioménil in the Vosges region; it is a tiny village with about 170 inhabitants and is the source of the River Saône. I will be out of the reach of an internet connection until I reach the Netherlands on Friday, although will probably have little time or oportunity to blog further until I reach home in Scotland next Tuesday. By which time, of course, who has been elected as the new Mayor of London will be old news; no doubt I'll have something to say about that next week, whatever the result is tomorrow.
(*) - Unfortunately this article seems to have disappeared; I vaguely remember removing it for other reasons some time after I wrote it, but have no offline record of the text - so it is gone into the ether.
This morning (Wednesday) I awakened to the sound of heavy rain outside. By 11am I was on my way again and the rain, which had lessened a little before my departure, came back more strongly during my drive back to the motorway. There are many vineyards in this area which sell wine direct and offer wine tastings to visitors, so I called in at one such in the small town of Suze-la-Rousse and after tasting a number of their wines I purchased several bottles of one of their red wines and smaller quantities of two of their white wines, together with a bottle of each of their Creme de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) and Creme de Myrtilles (blueberry liqueur); as I was already carrying quite a lot of Spanish wines and sherries, mainly to give as gifts to people I will be visiting on my way back home or to people at home, the amount of wine I could purchase today was limited by what I could carry in an already quite well-filled car!
Tonight I am in the town of Beaune in the Burgundy region. Dinner this evening was very good, too. I started with more new-season, mainly white, asparagus with a vinaigrette dressing, then followed on with some fish (ray in butter - not a fish which I have very often been able to have in Britain, I've mainly eaten it in France and Morocco). Finally a plate of local cheeses. The meal was accompanied by a half-bottle of a good white burgundy (a Mercurey, a wine from the Côte Chalonnaise village of the same name) with a glass of red burgundy (whoe name escapes me at this late stage of the evening, but was delicious) to go with the cheese.
It is now rather late. Tomorrow I shall be travelling on to Vioménil in the Vosges region; it is a tiny village with about 170 inhabitants and is the source of the River Saône. I will be out of the reach of an internet connection until I reach the Netherlands on Friday, although will probably have little time or oportunity to blog further until I reach home in Scotland next Tuesday. By which time, of course, who has been elected as the new Mayor of London will be old news; no doubt I'll have something to say about that next week, whatever the result is tomorrow.
(*) - Unfortunately this article seems to have disappeared; I vaguely remember removing it for other reasons some time after I wrote it, but have no offline record of the text - so it is gone into the ether.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Bill signs-off from Mazarron - tomorrow my journey home to Scotland begins
I shall be departing Mazarron tomorrow morning to begin my journey back to Scotland, which I am scheduled to reach on Tuesday 6th May after having driven north through Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, spending some nights in hotels, others with friends and/or family.
Earlier today I recorded a couple viedos of my preparations for my final lunch in the house here; the last videos I uploaded (see here) had music tracks, but no spoken content from me and someone made a comment that he would prefer to hear me talk, rather than have music - so you are duly warned, that is what you get in these latest videos! Whilst preparing lunch I run through my itinerary for the next 10 or so days in some detail - I hope you find it informative even if not precisely 'enjoyable'; I'm no professional as you will readily observe!
In the first video I prepare a salad and provide a running commentary of the food I am preparing and the itinerary I shall be folowing for the first several days of my journey to Scotland (as with the lunch in the earlier videos, although I prepare the salad first, I eat it after what you will see me preparing in the second video):
In the next video I'm preparing some salchichon (a little like a sliced chorizo sausage) and continuing my narrative of the rest of my journey back to Nairn:
I'll be in Nairn until the first week of August, then flying to the Netherlands for a party, then flying on to Mazarron for several weeks until early September. No doubt there'll be enough to pique my interest in doing some blog posts during the time I'm back in Scotland. Probably I'll manage to do a few blog posts during my journey home, assuming the hotel wi-fi is working. However, until then, this is Bill signing of from Mazarron for the present ...
Earlier today I recorded a couple viedos of my preparations for my final lunch in the house here; the last videos I uploaded (see here) had music tracks, but no spoken content from me and someone made a comment that he would prefer to hear me talk, rather than have music - so you are duly warned, that is what you get in these latest videos! Whilst preparing lunch I run through my itinerary for the next 10 or so days in some detail - I hope you find it informative even if not precisely 'enjoyable'; I'm no professional as you will readily observe!
In the first video I prepare a salad and provide a running commentary of the food I am preparing and the itinerary I shall be folowing for the first several days of my journey to Scotland (as with the lunch in the earlier videos, although I prepare the salad first, I eat it after what you will see me preparing in the second video):
In the next video I'm preparing some salchichon (a little like a sliced chorizo sausage) and continuing my narrative of the rest of my journey back to Nairn:
I'll be in Nairn until the first week of August, then flying to the Netherlands for a party, then flying on to Mazarron for several weeks until early September. No doubt there'll be enough to pique my interest in doing some blog posts during the time I'm back in Scotland. Probably I'll manage to do a few blog posts during my journey home, assuming the hotel wi-fi is working. However, until then, this is Bill signing of from Mazarron for the present ...
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Day 5 - Castelldefels to Valencia
I could see when I opened the curtains this morning it was going to be a good day - the sky was blue. It was cool, not cold (this was 8am). After checking out of the hotel I visited the guest-house I plan to stay at for a couple of nights on my way back north in late April; it's in the hills behind Sitges, a little south of Castelldefels. When I write it is 'in the hills' I mean that literally; the road, which eventually becomes no more than a track really, is so steep in a couple of places that the only way up it was in 1st gear and putting one's foot to the floorboard to keep the revs up. However, the place is beautifully appointed - 'rustic with luxury' I think best describes it; they have a nice pool which should be warm enough to swim in when I come back.
SatNav said the drive to Valencia would take slightly over 3 hours (and that's what it took last year), but there is quite a lot of road-working going on on the AP-7 just now north and south of Tarragona over thenty or thirty kilometres in short and long sections so the journey time was slower and I stopped off quite a few times, for lunch etc., but I still arrived at the hotel here just after 4pm. I decided not to do much of an entry today, though - it was a good day, but I'm a little tired so plan to relax for the rest of the evening.
Oh, when I was driving up to the guest-house, my Spanish mobile 'phone rang (luckily not at one of the really steep parts of the hill); it was the lady from the curtain shop in Mazarrón asking if they could come to install my curtains on Monday morning at 11am; I had'phoned her a couple of days before I left home to let her know precisely when I would be arriving (the subject of an earlier blog entry). Let no one tell you Spaniards aren't diligent and hard-working; in my experience so far they are pretty efficient and responsive; it's possible I shall have my own horror stories in due course, but so far I've had only minor frustrations when dealing with suppliers here; I've had a lot worse in the UK and a number of other places I've lived. In any case I had to decline her offer as I must visit quite a number of places on Monday morning and afternoon to confirm various other deliveries and had planned to visit the curtain shop in the morning as my first call - no doubt we can reschedule a time for them to come and install things then.
Tomorrow is a comfortable barely 3-hour drive to Mazarrón so with lunch and perhaps another break I'll make it in 4 1/2 hours at most. It has been a good trip, but I'll be glad when it is over. I won't get to relax much though, as I shall be quite busy for a week or so getting the house up and running and probably won't be online much, if at all, for that period; on the other hand if my furniture deliveries happen very rapidly, which I suspect they might, then I might get to the ISP's office a little earlier than anticipated.
SatNav said the drive to Valencia would take slightly over 3 hours (and that's what it took last year), but there is quite a lot of road-working going on on the AP-7 just now north and south of Tarragona over thenty or thirty kilometres in short and long sections so the journey time was slower and I stopped off quite a few times, for lunch etc., but I still arrived at the hotel here just after 4pm. I decided not to do much of an entry today, though - it was a good day, but I'm a little tired so plan to relax for the rest of the evening.
Oh, when I was driving up to the guest-house, my Spanish mobile 'phone rang (luckily not at one of the really steep parts of the hill); it was the lady from the curtain shop in Mazarrón asking if they could come to install my curtains on Monday morning at 11am; I had'phoned her a couple of days before I left home to let her know precisely when I would be arriving (the subject of an earlier blog entry). Let no one tell you Spaniards aren't diligent and hard-working; in my experience so far they are pretty efficient and responsive; it's possible I shall have my own horror stories in due course, but so far I've had only minor frustrations when dealing with suppliers here; I've had a lot worse in the UK and a number of other places I've lived. In any case I had to decline her offer as I must visit quite a number of places on Monday morning and afternoon to confirm various other deliveries and had planned to visit the curtain shop in the morning as my first call - no doubt we can reschedule a time for them to come and install things then.
Tomorrow is a comfortable barely 3-hour drive to Mazarrón so with lunch and perhaps another break I'll make it in 4 1/2 hours at most. It has been a good trip, but I'll be glad when it is over. I won't get to relax much though, as I shall be quite busy for a week or so getting the house up and running and probably won't be online much, if at all, for that period; on the other hand if my furniture deliveries happen very rapidly, which I suspect they might, then I might get to the ISP's office a little earlier than anticipated.
Friday, 1 February 2008
Day 4 - Millau (France) to Castelldefels (Spain)
Well I finally crossed into Spain in early afternoon today and about two hours later was rolling up to my hotel in Castelldefels.
Leaving Millau today, and indeed arriving there yesterday, took me through some spectacular scenery. As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, large parts of the A75 autoroute are at a significant altitude (well above 700m, often above 900m and upto 1,110m) with the dips in between, which are frequent. rarely dropping below 750 or 800m. The approach to Millau from the north yesterday was particularly spectacular; although I've not actually visited the Grand Canyon (although I have flown over it) parts of the Auvergne in France remind me of a miniature version of it. Today the road leaving Millau was equally spectacular, although I was concentrating on getting the car down the steep descents in the motorway (950m down to about 225m within less than 10 kilometres) without putting it - and me - over the crash barriers into the abyss! Gradually as we approached Béziers (where the A75 more or less joins the A9 autoroute just south and west of Montpellier) and the coast the sky had begun to brighten and there was that quality to the light you only get in the winter on the Meditteranean. An added bonus was that because the were now at much lower altitude it was a little warmer (around 12degC) and that continued to improve a little until when I was driving down past Girona and through Barcelona it had reached 15degC. Much more pleasant! Unlike last year when I skirted Barcelona on the AP-7 autopista, this time I had to travel through it, a task which I think would have been completely and utterly impossible for someone not familiar with the city without SatNav. Truly this is a gadget that, when it works (which is most of the time), is astonishing - it delivered me to the door of the hotel. All I had to do was follow the instructions carefully and maintain rigid lane discipline, particularly when travelling through the tunnels and underpasses which characterise the motorway network within Barcelona.
On an even more mundane note, the hotel is located opposite a large shopping centre with a Mercadona supermarket so I shall buy some essentials there tomorrow morning (salad vegetables and eggs, mainly) as, unlike the UK, no shops open on a Sunday in Spain and that's when I'll be arriving in Mazarrón - I'll probably eat out in the evening, but I'll need something in the house for breakfast on Monday.
Tomorrow I shall be travelling to Alfafar, a southern suburb of Valencia. However, shortly after leaving Castelldefels tomorrow morning I'll be making a detour to visit the place I'll be staying at for a couple of nights on my way back north in late April; it is close to Sitges, which is just south of here.
Possibly after I come back from dinner this evening (which I'm going to go down for in about an hour) I may get another entry on the blog - there's a letter in last week's Economist from Ben Bradshaw about the NHS that I just came across a day or so ago and it badly needs a kicking taken out of it!
Leaving Millau today, and indeed arriving there yesterday, took me through some spectacular scenery. As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, large parts of the A75 autoroute are at a significant altitude (well above 700m, often above 900m and upto 1,110m) with the dips in between, which are frequent. rarely dropping below 750 or 800m. The approach to Millau from the north yesterday was particularly spectacular; although I've not actually visited the Grand Canyon (although I have flown over it) parts of the Auvergne in France remind me of a miniature version of it. Today the road leaving Millau was equally spectacular, although I was concentrating on getting the car down the steep descents in the motorway (950m down to about 225m within less than 10 kilometres) without putting it - and me - over the crash barriers into the abyss! Gradually as we approached Béziers (where the A75 more or less joins the A9 autoroute just south and west of Montpellier) and the coast the sky had begun to brighten and there was that quality to the light you only get in the winter on the Meditteranean. An added bonus was that because the were now at much lower altitude it was a little warmer (around 12degC) and that continued to improve a little until when I was driving down past Girona and through Barcelona it had reached 15degC. Much more pleasant! Unlike last year when I skirted Barcelona on the AP-7 autopista, this time I had to travel through it, a task which I think would have been completely and utterly impossible for someone not familiar with the city without SatNav. Truly this is a gadget that, when it works (which is most of the time), is astonishing - it delivered me to the door of the hotel. All I had to do was follow the instructions carefully and maintain rigid lane discipline, particularly when travelling through the tunnels and underpasses which characterise the motorway network within Barcelona.
On an even more mundane note, the hotel is located opposite a large shopping centre with a Mercadona supermarket so I shall buy some essentials there tomorrow morning (salad vegetables and eggs, mainly) as, unlike the UK, no shops open on a Sunday in Spain and that's when I'll be arriving in Mazarrón - I'll probably eat out in the evening, but I'll need something in the house for breakfast on Monday.
Tomorrow I shall be travelling to Alfafar, a southern suburb of Valencia. However, shortly after leaving Castelldefels tomorrow morning I'll be making a detour to visit the place I'll be staying at for a couple of nights on my way back north in late April; it is close to Sitges, which is just south of here.
Possibly after I come back from dinner this evening (which I'm going to go down for in about an hour) I may get another entry on the blog - there's a letter in last week's Economist from Ben Bradshaw about the NHS that I just came across a day or so ago and it badly needs a kicking taken out of it!
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Day 3 - Orléans to Millau
Today was a lengthy drive, so far as I am concerned (520km or about 323miles) and I was pretty tired when I got here - and rather 'ratty' with it, I'm afraid. It was an excellent drive though - overnight in Orléans it had been bitterly cold (several degrees below zero) with thick ice on the car in the early morning. However, by the time I came to leave (about 10am) the ice on my front and rear windscreens, not to mention the headlights, was pretty soft and could be brushed off easily.It was still overcast though, and there was a pronounced freezing mist (luckily not fog) for the first couple of hours. However soon after passing Clermont-Ferrand the sun started to make tentative efforts at piercing the gloom and it grew steadily brighter until it was a bright sunny afternoon, although it never got very far above freezing - briefly about 7degC, but as most of the final couple of hours was well above 700 metres altitude, wirth lengthy periods well above 900 metres (and a maximum signposted alitude of 1,110 metres (3,642 feet) it was considerably cooler, hovering just above zero for the last 2 or so hours.
The highlight of the day for me was near the end when I approached Millau - instead of going down into the town (literally, as it's at the foot of the Tarn valley) I decided to cross the Viaduc de Millau in both directions, inquiring of the young woman at the toll booth before the first crossing if I could get back down into Millau from the northern side (approached from the south) after coming back across the Viaduct; she explained which junction I should turn around at; the toll to cross the bridge is €5.40 each way - I considered the €10.80 money well spent to experience crossing it twice! There's quite a good view of the Viaduct from the motorway when approached from the north, but not much from the south, but crossing it was both a great and an anodyne experience - it's really just a 2-lane motorway and the Viaduct is just a well-integrated part of it, although it's not flat - it slopes upward quite a lot from north to south. The engineering achievement is best from from the side, however and the image below was taken from the balcony of my hotel bedroom at sunset:
The hotel I'm in tonight is quite comfortable, the bedrooms particularly. I had an excellent dinner, mainly fish and seafood based, but the décor in the dining room was decidedly dated and the service was small-town well-meaning and friendly, rather than big-town slick and professional. The 'rattiness' I referred to earlier was nothing to do with the restaurant, just the lead up to arrival at the hotel and a few things that happened soon after. The hotel is located in the centre of this very old town with the narrow streets you find in such places. Without SatNav I'd still be looking for it! First one must block the very narrow street outside the hotel to announce one's arrival to get authorisation to get into the private garage, then negotiate the very narrow lane to get into it, all the while traffic is piling up behind! Then when I get into the room a couple of the table lamps need their bulbs changing (something house-keeping should have done earlier in the day!!) so I am moved to the room next door. All this takes time. Then when I try out the codes for the wi-fi internet access, it doesn't work. Frankly if companies are going to give complicated codes using 'O' and '0' (the letter O and the number 'zero') they should do so in a typeface that allows one to distinguish easily which is which!!!! After I've tried it a couple of times the ISP (Orange in this hotel chain) tells me this code is blocked!!!! A little later the young lady from reception brings up another 'gratis' password sheet and I get online with that. All well and good, but instead of having an hour and a half to get everything done before going down to dinner I have barely 20 minutes because of the room change and the problems with the wi-fi code. Hence my 'rattiness'.
Now enough of this - after copious quantities of wine with dinner (I decided after my irritating arrival at the hotel to have wine with the meal, despite my diet not premitting this) I am more or less back to an even emotional keel.
Tomorrow's drive will take me, at long last, into Spain and I will be spending tomorrow night in Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona.
¡Hasta Luego!
The highlight of the day for me was near the end when I approached Millau - instead of going down into the town (literally, as it's at the foot of the Tarn valley) I decided to cross the Viaduc de Millau in both directions, inquiring of the young woman at the toll booth before the first crossing if I could get back down into Millau from the northern side (approached from the south) after coming back across the Viaduct; she explained which junction I should turn around at; the toll to cross the bridge is €5.40 each way - I considered the €10.80 money well spent to experience crossing it twice! There's quite a good view of the Viaduct from the motorway when approached from the north, but not much from the south, but crossing it was both a great and an anodyne experience - it's really just a 2-lane motorway and the Viaduct is just a well-integrated part of it, although it's not flat - it slopes upward quite a lot from north to south. The engineering achievement is best from from the side, however and the image below was taken from the balcony of my hotel bedroom at sunset:
Viaduc de Millau, Millau (Aveyron), France 31 January 2008  Click here to see a larger image. |
The hotel I'm in tonight is quite comfortable, the bedrooms particularly. I had an excellent dinner, mainly fish and seafood based, but the décor in the dining room was decidedly dated and the service was small-town well-meaning and friendly, rather than big-town slick and professional. The 'rattiness' I referred to earlier was nothing to do with the restaurant, just the lead up to arrival at the hotel and a few things that happened soon after. The hotel is located in the centre of this very old town with the narrow streets you find in such places. Without SatNav I'd still be looking for it! First one must block the very narrow street outside the hotel to announce one's arrival to get authorisation to get into the private garage, then negotiate the very narrow lane to get into it, all the while traffic is piling up behind! Then when I get into the room a couple of the table lamps need their bulbs changing (something house-keeping should have done earlier in the day!!) so I am moved to the room next door. All this takes time. Then when I try out the codes for the wi-fi internet access, it doesn't work. Frankly if companies are going to give complicated codes using 'O' and '0' (the letter O and the number 'zero') they should do so in a typeface that allows one to distinguish easily which is which!!!! After I've tried it a couple of times the ISP (Orange in this hotel chain) tells me this code is blocked!!!! A little later the young lady from reception brings up another 'gratis' password sheet and I get online with that. All well and good, but instead of having an hour and a half to get everything done before going down to dinner I have barely 20 minutes because of the room change and the problems with the wi-fi code. Hence my 'rattiness'.
Now enough of this - after copious quantities of wine with dinner (I decided after my irritating arrival at the hotel to have wine with the meal, despite my diet not premitting this) I am more or less back to an even emotional keel.
Tomorrow's drive will take me, at long last, into Spain and I will be spending tomorrow night in Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona.
¡Hasta Luego!
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Day 2 - Zeebrugge to Orléans
The crossing last night was very comfortable indeed, although the cabin was rather over-heated for the first few hours. Whilst the sea was moderately rough, the ship is well-stabilised (as I knew from previous crossings) so any movement was very minor. After a decent dinner and some coffee watching the news on TV and reading, I headed straight back to my cabin and continued reading for a while. But I was very tired (not having had an enormous amount of sleep the night before leaving home) so soon put my book down and got to sleep.
The ferry arrived bang on schedule in Zeebrugge and by 12.30 pm I was heading down the highway to Bruges and then on into France. The weather was a bit hit-or-miss; quite a lot of rainy showers really until nearing Paris, when the sun came out briefly. Going round the Bd Périphérique was every bit as tiresome as I had anticipated; I was hitting Paris just around 4pm and by the time I was on it it was already about 4.20pm and the late-afternoon traffic jams were in full swing. That probably added 45 minutes or so to my journey time, but apart from that the journey was straight-forward. Only problem I had was that my SatNav kept falling off the windscreen - the new model (a TomTom GO 720T) I got a few months ago is a lot lighter than the earlier model and I've not had this problem with it before; perhaps the suction cup has become a little weakened or I need to clean the windscreen thoroughly. Anyway, it got me around Paris efficiently and up to the door of the hotel. I think part of the problem is that there was a lot of stopping and starting going round Paris and some pretty uneven road-surfaces. However excellent meal here earlier this evening made up for most of these frustrations; a really nice steak cooked exactly as I had asked - saignant - when one asks for the equivalent 'medium-rare' in the UK it is invariably what the French would call au point (i.e. 'medium'). It is impossible to get a proper bleu (very rare) steak in Britain in my experience. Being in France again is very reassuring if you care about what you eat - even in the most basic establishment (e.g. motorway eating places, for example) they try their best to serve decent fare.
Tomorrow the plan is to drive to Millau to see and travel across the spectacular Viaduc de Millau, designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened three or so years ago; supposedly it's a 4 1/2 hour drive from here, so with lunch I expect it'll take me at least 6 hours. This is the whole reason I'm travelling this route rather than down the A6 Dijon/Beaune/Lyon route I have always taken before; I'm looking forward to seeking the Viaduc de Millau a lot!
Now to other matters completely. Whilst driving down toward Paris I heard on the radio that Derek Conway MP has announced he won't contest his seat at the next election, after having had the Conservative whip withdrawn yesterday by David Cameron. I think this was inevitable and very welcome - he really had got to go. I saw his Commons apology before I left and the way he made it sound was as if it had been a minor 'oversight'. Stuff and nonsense - simple pure crookery instead and he has been found out and humiliated. It's a remarkable change for someone who was thought a possible future Speaker to fall so far so fast. His case was blatant, but frankly so are some of those on the Government benches - why is it taking so long to get these ... [delightful people] out! It seems that the difference between the Conservatives and Labour is that when a Conservative does it, the method is blatant and spectacular, whereas 'sleekit' Labour politicians nudge the laws as far as they can, so it is too often difficult to prove rather than just very strongly suspect they are wrong 'uns. I think also that when Conservatives are found out they treat it more seriously and respond quicker - this was as true when the Conservatives were in Government as it is now. I'm sorry to be old-fashioned about it, but whilst the Conservatives may often be 'cads', they have some modicum of honour, whereas for Labour everything seems to come down to 'finessing' the rules, but has precious little to do with dignity or self-respect. As for the LibDems, well I abjure swearing in this blog as regular readers will know, but I will permit myself to say this - the LibDems are far too often two-faced, self-serving swine of the very worst kind. Much as I dislike what Labour is supposed to be about ('socialism'), I have long accepted that most of those who support it are sincere in their deluded ideas of what might make Britain a better place, even if the present crowd are rapidly reaching the same end which has befallen every other Labour government - spending far too much on the wrong things and doing so poorly; as I suspected almost from they were elected in May 1997, Brown's claim to be a prudent guardian of the economy has proven just as false as every other Labour government previously in power.
Oh, and to close, a couple of topical subjects about France, as I am currently enjoying the hospitality of these wonderful and highly individualist people:
- there was a discussion programme earlier on TF1 about the SocGen affair with some of the great and good of French politics and television alongwith a lawyer acting for SocGen. The burden of it was that whatever happens a foreign takeover, or any takeover, of the bank must be prevented - this being France I really don't think the EU telling France to avoid protectionist moves will stop them if they have a mind.
- the other item was about the President's latest squeeze; such reporting would have been impossible to imagine in France before Sarkozy deliberately changed the long-standing rule (at least so far as he is concerned) about not reporting on the private lives of important people. Apparently it was Carla Bruni's birthday recently and there was a report about all the guests arriving at her swanky apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris (*) and how big were the gift packages they were carrying; really cheesy tabloid stuff and completely revolutionary in France, unlike in the UK, the US or indeed Italy where reporting on public personalities is exhaustive and exhausting. One of the guests was a certain Monsieur Bouygues, ultimate boss of TF1 and long before that the boss of the eponymous engineering and industrial group which is the source of his wealth and power; another guest queried cheekily of the reporter whether they had a heated mobile film unit vehicle and if not perhaps they should ask their boss to provide one, specially on such a cold evening. This kind of thing is completely novel in France; whether it's a good thing is another question entirely.
(*) Not a million miles from where I had my apartment when I lived there - one of the great and good of French television was a regular visitor to another apartment (of a relative, I believe) in the building. Most such people live either in the 16th, or perhaps the 7th, the latter particularly for 'old money'.
The ferry arrived bang on schedule in Zeebrugge and by 12.30 pm I was heading down the highway to Bruges and then on into France. The weather was a bit hit-or-miss; quite a lot of rainy showers really until nearing Paris, when the sun came out briefly. Going round the Bd Périphérique was every bit as tiresome as I had anticipated; I was hitting Paris just around 4pm and by the time I was on it it was already about 4.20pm and the late-afternoon traffic jams were in full swing. That probably added 45 minutes or so to my journey time, but apart from that the journey was straight-forward. Only problem I had was that my SatNav kept falling off the windscreen - the new model (a TomTom GO 720T) I got a few months ago is a lot lighter than the earlier model and I've not had this problem with it before; perhaps the suction cup has become a little weakened or I need to clean the windscreen thoroughly. Anyway, it got me around Paris efficiently and up to the door of the hotel. I think part of the problem is that there was a lot of stopping and starting going round Paris and some pretty uneven road-surfaces. However excellent meal here earlier this evening made up for most of these frustrations; a really nice steak cooked exactly as I had asked - saignant - when one asks for the equivalent 'medium-rare' in the UK it is invariably what the French would call au point (i.e. 'medium'). It is impossible to get a proper bleu (very rare) steak in Britain in my experience. Being in France again is very reassuring if you care about what you eat - even in the most basic establishment (e.g. motorway eating places, for example) they try their best to serve decent fare.
Tomorrow the plan is to drive to Millau to see and travel across the spectacular Viaduc de Millau, designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened three or so years ago; supposedly it's a 4 1/2 hour drive from here, so with lunch I expect it'll take me at least 6 hours. This is the whole reason I'm travelling this route rather than down the A6 Dijon/Beaune/Lyon route I have always taken before; I'm looking forward to seeking the Viaduc de Millau a lot!
Now to other matters completely. Whilst driving down toward Paris I heard on the radio that Derek Conway MP has announced he won't contest his seat at the next election, after having had the Conservative whip withdrawn yesterday by David Cameron. I think this was inevitable and very welcome - he really had got to go. I saw his Commons apology before I left and the way he made it sound was as if it had been a minor 'oversight'. Stuff and nonsense - simple pure crookery instead and he has been found out and humiliated. It's a remarkable change for someone who was thought a possible future Speaker to fall so far so fast. His case was blatant, but frankly so are some of those on the Government benches - why is it taking so long to get these ... [delightful people] out! It seems that the difference between the Conservatives and Labour is that when a Conservative does it, the method is blatant and spectacular, whereas 'sleekit' Labour politicians nudge the laws as far as they can, so it is too often difficult to prove rather than just very strongly suspect they are wrong 'uns. I think also that when Conservatives are found out they treat it more seriously and respond quicker - this was as true when the Conservatives were in Government as it is now. I'm sorry to be old-fashioned about it, but whilst the Conservatives may often be 'cads', they have some modicum of honour, whereas for Labour everything seems to come down to 'finessing' the rules, but has precious little to do with dignity or self-respect. As for the LibDems, well I abjure swearing in this blog as regular readers will know, but I will permit myself to say this - the LibDems are far too often two-faced, self-serving swine of the very worst kind. Much as I dislike what Labour is supposed to be about ('socialism'), I have long accepted that most of those who support it are sincere in their deluded ideas of what might make Britain a better place, even if the present crowd are rapidly reaching the same end which has befallen every other Labour government - spending far too much on the wrong things and doing so poorly; as I suspected almost from they were elected in May 1997, Brown's claim to be a prudent guardian of the economy has proven just as false as every other Labour government previously in power.
Oh, and to close, a couple of topical subjects about France, as I am currently enjoying the hospitality of these wonderful and highly individualist people:
- there was a discussion programme earlier on TF1 about the SocGen affair with some of the great and good of French politics and television alongwith a lawyer acting for SocGen. The burden of it was that whatever happens a foreign takeover, or any takeover, of the bank must be prevented - this being France I really don't think the EU telling France to avoid protectionist moves will stop them if they have a mind.
- the other item was about the President's latest squeeze; such reporting would have been impossible to imagine in France before Sarkozy deliberately changed the long-standing rule (at least so far as he is concerned) about not reporting on the private lives of important people. Apparently it was Carla Bruni's birthday recently and there was a report about all the guests arriving at her swanky apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris (*) and how big were the gift packages they were carrying; really cheesy tabloid stuff and completely revolutionary in France, unlike in the UK, the US or indeed Italy where reporting on public personalities is exhaustive and exhausting. One of the guests was a certain Monsieur Bouygues, ultimate boss of TF1 and long before that the boss of the eponymous engineering and industrial group which is the source of his wealth and power; another guest queried cheekily of the reporter whether they had a heated mobile film unit vehicle and if not perhaps they should ask their boss to provide one, specially on such a cold evening. This kind of thing is completely novel in France; whether it's a good thing is another question entirely.
(*) Not a million miles from where I had my apartment when I lived there - one of the great and good of French television was a regular visitor to another apartment (of a relative, I believe) in the building. Most such people live either in the 16th, or perhaps the 7th, the latter particularly for 'old money'.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Day 1 - Nairn to Rosyth and on-board Blue Star 1
I left this morning around 10am and by about 11.45 was driving into House of Bruar (a rather upmarket pit-stop for food and some quite fancy shopping), a little north of Pitlochry on the A9, where I had some lunch and bought a few 'typically Scottish' gifts to give to a couple of people at my destination - basically jams produced locally. Then just before 1pm I was on my way. The weather when I left home had been overcast, but there was no rain. However maybe 20 or so miles north of Bruar the rain began, light at first, but as I travelled south it got steadily heavier. By the time I reached Perth it was raining quite heavily and that continued until I reached Rosyth at about 2pm - where the ferry port is. However, it doesn't seem to be raining now - perhaps it's such a fine drizzle that it's not showing up on the surface of the water - we're still in port of course and will be leaving here at about 5pm assuming we keep to schedule.
Now I am seated in the bar near the prow (is that the right word?) of the ship, just having a glass of sparkling mineral water and trying out wi-fi access to see how it works from on-board. It was pretty straightforward and I was online wihtin mintues - however, they sell access in 90-minutes slots and it is relatively costly at €9- (GBP6.29), so I think the novelty of trying it will be enough. If I recall from last year wi-fi access from most of the hotels I stayed in was about €9- for 24 hours in France and about €12- in Spain, so I shall probably give that a go during the next couple of days, if only to check my email.
In a couple of hours I shall go and get dinner (wine-less I'm afraid as I'm back on 'Atkins' - see section at right for my diet details if you're not familiar with it; basically it's lo-carb and in my case is mainly protein of whatever kind I fancy, accompanied by copious salads at all meals, including breakfast). Over the past year I've seen my weight creep back up a little and this process continued over Christmas and New Year. About 10 days ago I decided that this had to stop as I had been having to buy clothes (trousers especially) a little larger to be comfortable - 33" waist instead of 31" or 32". Of course I'm nothing like as heavy as I was before I started 'Atkins' about 5 or so years ago and I never intend to let myself get that way again.
OK, enough of that. Tomorrow I should be heading down through Belgium from Zeebrugge and will soon pass into France where I'm headed for Orléans tomorrow evening, having transited a part of the Boulévard Périphérique in Paris - that should be enormous fun (not). I used to travel on a small section of it pretty frequently (around the other side of Paris near Neuilly) and it is a road which is never not busy, even during the wee small hours of the night.
I suppose one of the advantages of having only 90 minutes access, and working purely off battery power, is that it focusses the mind - rather than spend idle minutes 'surfing the web' and generally wasting time, one is forced to do what one wishes to do then close the machine up. That's what I plan to do in the next few moments. As I'm typing this it's about 4.45pm and just getting dark - we should be leaving port in the next 15 or so minutes, hopefully.
PS/ I hope you notice the serious political content in this post; time constraints and being 'on vacation' make me feel whatever disasters may be happening onshore, it's not my concern just for these few brief hours!
Now I am seated in the bar near the prow (is that the right word?) of the ship, just having a glass of sparkling mineral water and trying out wi-fi access to see how it works from on-board. It was pretty straightforward and I was online wihtin mintues - however, they sell access in 90-minutes slots and it is relatively costly at €9- (GBP6.29), so I think the novelty of trying it will be enough. If I recall from last year wi-fi access from most of the hotels I stayed in was about €9- for 24 hours in France and about €12- in Spain, so I shall probably give that a go during the next couple of days, if only to check my email.
In a couple of hours I shall go and get dinner (wine-less I'm afraid as I'm back on 'Atkins' - see section at right for my diet details if you're not familiar with it; basically it's lo-carb and in my case is mainly protein of whatever kind I fancy, accompanied by copious salads at all meals, including breakfast). Over the past year I've seen my weight creep back up a little and this process continued over Christmas and New Year. About 10 days ago I decided that this had to stop as I had been having to buy clothes (trousers especially) a little larger to be comfortable - 33" waist instead of 31" or 32". Of course I'm nothing like as heavy as I was before I started 'Atkins' about 5 or so years ago and I never intend to let myself get that way again.
OK, enough of that. Tomorrow I should be heading down through Belgium from Zeebrugge and will soon pass into France where I'm headed for Orléans tomorrow evening, having transited a part of the Boulévard Périphérique in Paris - that should be enormous fun (not). I used to travel on a small section of it pretty frequently (around the other side of Paris near Neuilly) and it is a road which is never not busy, even during the wee small hours of the night.
I suppose one of the advantages of having only 90 minutes access, and working purely off battery power, is that it focusses the mind - rather than spend idle minutes 'surfing the web' and generally wasting time, one is forced to do what one wishes to do then close the machine up. That's what I plan to do in the next few moments. As I'm typing this it's about 4.45pm and just getting dark - we should be leaving port in the next 15 or so minutes, hopefully.
PS/ I hope you notice the serious political content in this post; time constraints and being 'on vacation' make me feel whatever disasters may be happening onshore, it's not my concern just for these few brief hours!
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Temporary blog header change
Keen-eyed readers may notice that the sub-heading at the top of the blog has changed to reflect my departure next Tuesday from Scotland for Spain. In theory I should be blogging en route whilst driving down through France and Spain, where I expect to arrive at my destination in the Murcia region on Sunday 3rd February. Obviously this will depend on wi-fi availability on the ferry and the various hotels I'll be using on the way. Once I complete my journey I will probably be off-line for at least a week, as it'll take me a few days to get round to organising broadband in my own house - more a function of me being too busy to visit the ISP's office on-site to ask for it to be installed than any anticipated difficulty in getting it done; during this time my only way of blogging will be to visit a nearby internet café, but I doubt I shall have much time for that either.
For those that are interested I'm reposting my itinerary (originally posted at the beginning of the month):
I'm unsure about wi-fi availability at the hotel in Millau, but apart from that I should at least have the possibility of blogging if I get the time. There may be a couple of new posts before I leave on Tuesday - it all depends on pressure of time, which is becoming more intense as I prepare to leave.
For those that are interested I'm reposting my itinerary (originally posted at the beginning of the month):
On Tuesday I shall be departing Nairn (a little town on the Moray coast of Scotland, just east of Inverness) and beginning my journey to Mazarron, where I hope to arrive about 126 hours later. First will be a three or so hour drive down to Rosyth, the ferry-port on the Fife shore just north of Edinburgh, where I will board the Superfast ferry for Zeebrugge. With luck, assuming we arrive on time (weather permitting - last year we arrived a couple of hours late), I will be driving out of the port there soon after midday on Wednesday 30th. My first overnight stop will be in Orléans, about an hour south of Paris. The whole journey, which will take me around part of the Bd Périphérique in Paris (a road I haven't had the 'pleasure' of driving on since I ended my 4-year sojourn there in 1988!), hopefully missing the worst of the early-evening traffic. I've been to Orléans only once before, a Sunday lunch destination on one occasion when I lived in Paris, although I have toured parts of the Loire region a few times as well (to visit the mediaeval castles and of course sample the wine). The next day will take me from l'Aquitaine (the French A10 motorway linking Paris to Bordeaux) onto the A71 (l'Arverne - see a website about the names given to French motorways here) in the direction of Clermont-Ferrand, a city I've not been to before (and indeed will only transit this time). It is, however, the home of the ubiquitous Michelin company. Then it will be onto the A75 (la Méridienne) and my destination for the night, Millau, because I've wanted to cross the Viaduc de Millau, the spectacular bridge across the Tarn valley designed by Sir Norman Foster, ever since it was opened at the end of 2004. My third day out from Zeebrugge will take me into Spain, where I'll spend my first night in a place called Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona; although I've been to Barcelona before (I drove through it earlier this year and did the 'tourist thing' there some years ago) and must have passed through Castelldefels before on the train on the way to/from Sitges (where I have holidayed before), I've not actually visited it yet. The following day will take me farther down the AP-7 motorway to the city and region of Valencia where I'll spend the final night before arriving at my destination near Mazarron in the Murcia region on Sunday 3rd February. |
I'm unsure about wi-fi availability at the hotel in Millau, but apart from that I should at least have the possibility of blogging if I get the time. There may be a couple of new posts before I leave on Tuesday - it all depends on pressure of time, which is becoming more intense as I prepare to leave.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
One week countdown for my departure for Spain begins
This time next week I shall just be about an hour and a half away from my departure for Spain (I wrote about my detailed itinerary for this trip a few weeks ago here). Most of my pre-departure preparations are made, but a task I will do today (or just possibly tomorrow) is to do a dummy-run of packing up the car. One of the rooms in my apartment has all of the suitcases and bags laid out in it, and some are even already packed, with most of what is still to go in the bags laid out there, too. My visual checks seem to show that everything I want to take can physically be accommodated in the car, and I am normally pretty good at estimating this kind of thing, but I want to make sure - I don't want to find, next Monday evening (or even worse, next Tuesday morning!) that a door or the boot-lid of the car won't close.
Although I am buying all of the furniture and most of the equipment for my house in Spain there, there are certain things I want to take with me from here, either because I couldn't find precisely what I want there, but more usually because I have duplicates, triplicates or quadruplicates of certain things here in Scotland and I don't want to acquire yet another set of something or other in Spain. The two best examples of the latter are china-ware and cutlery. I have something of a 'fetish', I must confess, for both and as a result I have over the years bought a lot more than I can make use of regularly so it seemed only sensible to transfer one set of both to do duty in Spain; even after I have taken a 12-setting dinner service and cutlery with me I will stil have at least two similar sets of both here in Scotland. My 'problem' is possibly even worse with cutlery; a year or so back I bought additional sets, but decided later that I didn't particularly like them so whilst I do very occasionally use them I've never enjoyed this, so more recently I bought another set of cutlery that is much more to my taste, so that is part of what is coming along with me. Over the past couple of weeks I have become an expert at using bubble-wrap [for the china-ware] and tie-grips to make sure everything I have packed is secure and rattle-free; there's no point in taking a lot of china-ware if a lot of it is going to be broken when I get there!
Now a bit of a diversion, if you'll bear with me. I first learned about tie-grips when I was still involved in party politics as one of the jobs I used to assist with was going around Inverness, Nairn and Grantown-on-Spey with one of my political-junkie friends equipped with a step-ladder, piles of plastic signs (pre-punched with holes, using a hole-punch acquired from the local farm-supplies outlet as it was designed for use in marking livestock) and loads of tie-grips so we could fix the signs on lamp-posts; the trick was to get around before one's political rivals so you could get the best locations, but if there were already signs up on a pole we had to position our own signs without physically touching another party's signs; electoral law and local regulations are quite strict about such things, also about the need to avoid lamp-posts or other poles in specific locations (those bearing traffic signs, minimum height above the road/pavement, for example - although some parties seem to ignore such niceties, we always tried to obey the rules scrupulously.
OK diversion over! As for my furniture and equipment (i.e. 'white goods') for the house in Spain, it is all ordered and should be delivered soon after my arrival there in a couple of weeks. However, as I wrote here (in my other 'casabill' blog), although my contacts with furniture shops there show most items ordered are on-track for delivery, there is a hitch with certain items of living-room furniture (wall units, etc), so I will have to identify and order alternatives when I get there. Since then I've been in touch a couple of times with both the carpenter and the metal-worker who are doing work for me and they assure me that their jobs at my house will be completed by Wednesday or Thursday this week; I spoke with one of them on the telephone yesterday evening and he confirms they have already made arrangements to get the keys from the key-holder (and the kep-holder confirms this, too) so I am hoping it will all be done for my arrival. The only other places I have still to contact are the bathroom shop (for the shower screen and certain other bathroom fittings) and the curtain shop for the blinds ('venetian' and 'roller') I have ordered - I have to some extent been putting this off because their English is pretty rudimentary, as is my Spanish - however, I'll get that done today or tomorrow as well, just to re-confirm to them when I am scheduled to arrive.
Now I must get back to the real, practical world! Me typing about this, laptop on my lap as I sit up in bed listening to the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio4, isn't going to get the dummy-run of loading up the car accomplished, which I referred to above. I must steel myself to get out of bed, get showered, shaved, dressed and get some breakfast!
Although I am buying all of the furniture and most of the equipment for my house in Spain there, there are certain things I want to take with me from here, either because I couldn't find precisely what I want there, but more usually because I have duplicates, triplicates or quadruplicates of certain things here in Scotland and I don't want to acquire yet another set of something or other in Spain. The two best examples of the latter are china-ware and cutlery. I have something of a 'fetish', I must confess, for both and as a result I have over the years bought a lot more than I can make use of regularly so it seemed only sensible to transfer one set of both to do duty in Spain; even after I have taken a 12-setting dinner service and cutlery with me I will stil have at least two similar sets of both here in Scotland. My 'problem' is possibly even worse with cutlery; a year or so back I bought additional sets, but decided later that I didn't particularly like them so whilst I do very occasionally use them I've never enjoyed this, so more recently I bought another set of cutlery that is much more to my taste, so that is part of what is coming along with me. Over the past couple of weeks I have become an expert at using bubble-wrap [for the china-ware] and tie-grips to make sure everything I have packed is secure and rattle-free; there's no point in taking a lot of china-ware if a lot of it is going to be broken when I get there!
Now a bit of a diversion, if you'll bear with me. I first learned about tie-grips when I was still involved in party politics as one of the jobs I used to assist with was going around Inverness, Nairn and Grantown-on-Spey with one of my political-junkie friends equipped with a step-ladder, piles of plastic signs (pre-punched with holes, using a hole-punch acquired from the local farm-supplies outlet as it was designed for use in marking livestock) and loads of tie-grips so we could fix the signs on lamp-posts; the trick was to get around before one's political rivals so you could get the best locations, but if there were already signs up on a pole we had to position our own signs without physically touching another party's signs; electoral law and local regulations are quite strict about such things, also about the need to avoid lamp-posts or other poles in specific locations (those bearing traffic signs, minimum height above the road/pavement, for example - although some parties seem to ignore such niceties, we always tried to obey the rules scrupulously.
OK diversion over! As for my furniture and equipment (i.e. 'white goods') for the house in Spain, it is all ordered and should be delivered soon after my arrival there in a couple of weeks. However, as I wrote here (in my other 'casabill' blog), although my contacts with furniture shops there show most items ordered are on-track for delivery, there is a hitch with certain items of living-room furniture (wall units, etc), so I will have to identify and order alternatives when I get there. Since then I've been in touch a couple of times with both the carpenter and the metal-worker who are doing work for me and they assure me that their jobs at my house will be completed by Wednesday or Thursday this week; I spoke with one of them on the telephone yesterday evening and he confirms they have already made arrangements to get the keys from the key-holder (and the kep-holder confirms this, too) so I am hoping it will all be done for my arrival. The only other places I have still to contact are the bathroom shop (for the shower screen and certain other bathroom fittings) and the curtain shop for the blinds ('venetian' and 'roller') I have ordered - I have to some extent been putting this off because their English is pretty rudimentary, as is my Spanish - however, I'll get that done today or tomorrow as well, just to re-confirm to them when I am scheduled to arrive.
Now I must get back to the real, practical world! Me typing about this, laptop on my lap as I sit up in bed listening to the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio4, isn't going to get the dummy-run of loading up the car accomplished, which I referred to above. I must steel myself to get out of bed, get showered, shaved, dressed and get some breakfast!
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Gearing up for my departure for Spain
At the end of this month I shall be departing Nairn (a little town on the Moray coast of Scotland, just east of Inverness) and beginning my journey to Mazarron, where I hope to arrive about 126 hours later. First will be a three or so hour drive down to Rosyth, the ferry-port on the Fife shore just north of Edinburgh, where I will board the Superfast ferry for Zeebrugge. With luck, assuming we arrive on time (weather permitting - last year we arrived a couple of hours late), I will be driving out of the port there soon after midday on Wednesday 30th.
My first overnight stop will be in Orléans, about an hour south of Paris. The whole journey, which will take me around part of the Bd Périphérique in Paris (a road I haven't had the 'pleasure' of driving on since I ended my 4-year sojourn there in 1988!), hopefully missing the worst of the early-evening traffic. I've been to Orléans only once before, a Sunday lunch destination on one occasion when I lived in Paris, although I have toured parts of the Loire region a few times as well (to visit the mediaeval castles and of course sample the wine).
The next day will take me from l'Aquitaine (the French A10 motorway linking Paris to Bordeaux) onto the A71 (l'Arverne - see a website about the names given to French motorways here) in the direction of Clermont-Ferrand, a city I've not been to before (and indeed will only transit this time). It is, however, the home of the ubiquitous Michelin company. Then it will be onto the A75 (la Méridienne) and my destination for the night, Millau, because I've wanted to cross the Viaduc de Millau, the spectacular bridge across the Tarn valley designed by Sir Norman Foster, ever since it was opened at the end of 2004.
My third day out from Zeebrugge will take me into Spain, where I'll spend my first night in a place called Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona; although I've been to Barcelona before (I drove through it earlier this year and did the 'tourist thing' there some years ago) and must have passed through Castelldefels before on the train on the way to/from Sitges (where I have holidayed before), I've not actually visited it yet.
The following day will take me farther down the AP-7 motorway to the city and region of Valencia where I'll spend the final night before arriving at my destination near Mazarron in the Murcia region.
I'll be writing some more about my pre-departure preparations (already done and to do) in the course of the next few days and weeks.
My first overnight stop will be in Orléans, about an hour south of Paris. The whole journey, which will take me around part of the Bd Périphérique in Paris (a road I haven't had the 'pleasure' of driving on since I ended my 4-year sojourn there in 1988!), hopefully missing the worst of the early-evening traffic. I've been to Orléans only once before, a Sunday lunch destination on one occasion when I lived in Paris, although I have toured parts of the Loire region a few times as well (to visit the mediaeval castles and of course sample the wine).
The next day will take me from l'Aquitaine (the French A10 motorway linking Paris to Bordeaux) onto the A71 (l'Arverne - see a website about the names given to French motorways here) in the direction of Clermont-Ferrand, a city I've not been to before (and indeed will only transit this time). It is, however, the home of the ubiquitous Michelin company. Then it will be onto the A75 (la Méridienne) and my destination for the night, Millau, because I've wanted to cross the Viaduc de Millau, the spectacular bridge across the Tarn valley designed by Sir Norman Foster, ever since it was opened at the end of 2004.
My third day out from Zeebrugge will take me into Spain, where I'll spend my first night in a place called Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona; although I've been to Barcelona before (I drove through it earlier this year and did the 'tourist thing' there some years ago) and must have passed through Castelldefels before on the train on the way to/from Sitges (where I have holidayed before), I've not actually visited it yet.
The following day will take me farther down the AP-7 motorway to the city and region of Valencia where I'll spend the final night before arriving at my destination near Mazarron in the Murcia region.
I'll be writing some more about my pre-departure preparations (already done and to do) in the course of the next few days and weeks.
Thursday, 26 April 2007
Bill is back in Nairn for the summer!
Well, I returned home to Nairn last Saturday, but since then I have been quite busy 'reintegrating' into a domestic existence here; boring things like dealing with a certain amount of mail, disposing of a lot of 'junk' postal items, putting stuff in the refrigerator and coping with a dog who is now quite an elderly lady and who has, in the last few weeks, begun to show her age in a number of ways; more about that in a subsequent post.
Since my last post on 13th April, when I was roughly half-way up France (about 60 Km south of Lyon) I had an enjoyable overnight stay with friends who live in the Vosges area of Lorraine in north-eastern France. The small village where I stayed, Vioménil, has a population of roughly 160 and I suppose one of its main 'claims to fame' is that the source of the River Saône is located there; naturally I had to have a photograph!
Apart from this, the Vosges is known for its 'sources' (springs from which water is bottled for sale) and two of the better-known French bottled waters come from the towns of Vittel and Contrexéville which are located not far from Vioménil. Broadly-speaking, Vittel is a water low in minerals which, according to the 'blurb', flushes the impurities out of your system whereas Contrexéville is pretty high in certain minerals and is supposed to aid in 'slimming', although you are not advised to stray too far from a lavatory if you drink a lot of it! I like both of these waters, for the record, but not all waters are the same and it is just as well to be aware of the different effects they can have on the body.
The following day I travelled on to the Netherlands, the last part of this stage of my journey home to Scotland, where I spent five days staying with my brother and sister-in-law in the small village of Sweikhuizen (a short article about the area, in English, is here) in the South Limburg region, having travelled through Luxembourg and Belgium; the day was gloriously sunny (and hot!) and there is some marvellous wooded scenery along the way; my last two journeys through Luxembourg were both in the winter (last January when I travelled down to Spain and some years ago when I was en route to visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg) and whilst it remains beautiful when snow-covered I much prefer it in warmer weather. Soon after my arrival in Sweikhuizen in the late afternoon on 15th April I was sitting in the garden of the local bar in the village enjoying drinks with family and friends - glorious!
One of the excursions I was taken on during my stay in the Netherlands was to a place called the 'three borders point' where the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium meet. In fact in the early 19th century it would have been the 'two borders' point, because in those days Belgium was still a part of the Netherlands (it became an independent country only in 1830) and indeed Germany did not exist either - so the two countries involved were the Netherlands and Prussia (which later formed an important part of the unified Germany under Bismarck). However, it did become a 'three borders point' even then because of a dispute between the two countries over the zinc ores found in the area near the town of Kelmis (or 'Calamine' in French, after which the sunburn lotion Calamine Lotion is named - the active ingredient is a compound of zinc oxide and iron oxide); as a result a tiny territory called Neutral Moresnet was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1816 and continued to exist until 1919 when it was abolished and absorbed into Belgium as part of the post-First World War Treaty of Versailles.
Well, how could I not have a photograph taken at such a place which has such a curious history!
The last leg of my journey home began last Friday when I drove to Zeebrugge with my mother (who had been in the Netherlands for a few weeks with my brother) to catch the ferry for Rosyth, just north of Edinburgh, where we arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and by 5pm that day I was home in Nairn - somewhat fatigued, but happy. I've been spending the last five days resting after my journey and doing the various mundane things an absence of three and a half months involves. I come back, of course, to the final stages of the Scottish parliamentary and local election season which will culminate in the elections to be held on 3rd May, just one week away. I received my postal vote ballot papers today; I shall be writing about the elections in the next few days.
Since my last post on 13th April, when I was roughly half-way up France (about 60 Km south of Lyon) I had an enjoyable overnight stay with friends who live in the Vosges area of Lorraine in north-eastern France. The small village where I stayed, Vioménil, has a population of roughly 160 and I suppose one of its main 'claims to fame' is that the source of the River Saône is located there; naturally I had to have a photograph!
Bill at the source of the River Saône - 15th April 2007 (Vioménil, Vosges, France)  Click here to see a larger image. |
Apart from this, the Vosges is known for its 'sources' (springs from which water is bottled for sale) and two of the better-known French bottled waters come from the towns of Vittel and Contrexéville which are located not far from Vioménil. Broadly-speaking, Vittel is a water low in minerals which, according to the 'blurb', flushes the impurities out of your system whereas Contrexéville is pretty high in certain minerals and is supposed to aid in 'slimming', although you are not advised to stray too far from a lavatory if you drink a lot of it! I like both of these waters, for the record, but not all waters are the same and it is just as well to be aware of the different effects they can have on the body.
The following day I travelled on to the Netherlands, the last part of this stage of my journey home to Scotland, where I spent five days staying with my brother and sister-in-law in the small village of Sweikhuizen (a short article about the area, in English, is here) in the South Limburg region, having travelled through Luxembourg and Belgium; the day was gloriously sunny (and hot!) and there is some marvellous wooded scenery along the way; my last two journeys through Luxembourg were both in the winter (last January when I travelled down to Spain and some years ago when I was en route to visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg) and whilst it remains beautiful when snow-covered I much prefer it in warmer weather. Soon after my arrival in Sweikhuizen in the late afternoon on 15th April I was sitting in the garden of the local bar in the village enjoying drinks with family and friends - glorious!
One of the excursions I was taken on during my stay in the Netherlands was to a place called the 'three borders point' where the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium meet. In fact in the early 19th century it would have been the 'two borders' point, because in those days Belgium was still a part of the Netherlands (it became an independent country only in 1830) and indeed Germany did not exist either - so the two countries involved were the Netherlands and Prussia (which later formed an important part of the unified Germany under Bismarck). However, it did become a 'three borders point' even then because of a dispute between the two countries over the zinc ores found in the area near the town of Kelmis (or 'Calamine' in French, after which the sunburn lotion Calamine Lotion is named - the active ingredient is a compound of zinc oxide and iron oxide); as a result a tiny territory called Neutral Moresnet was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1816 and continued to exist until 1919 when it was abolished and absorbed into Belgium as part of the post-First World War Treaty of Versailles.
Well, how could I not have a photograph taken at such a place which has such a curious history!
The 'Three Borders Point' 17th April 2007 - Bill stands in Germany and faces into the Netherlands  An amusing sign in a restaurant window  Click here to see larger images. |
The last leg of my journey home began last Friday when I drove to Zeebrugge with my mother (who had been in the Netherlands for a few weeks with my brother) to catch the ferry for Rosyth, just north of Edinburgh, where we arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and by 5pm that day I was home in Nairn - somewhat fatigued, but happy. I've been spending the last five days resting after my journey and doing the various mundane things an absence of three and a half months involves. I come back, of course, to the final stages of the Scottish parliamentary and local election season which will culminate in the elections to be held on 3rd May, just one week away. I received my postal vote ballot papers today; I shall be writing about the elections in the next few days.
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