One Man Travelling...

It was a dark and stormy night... well not really it was actually a dark overcast morning dodging the rain after meeting friends for coffee. What a shame as, pencilled in my diary was a meet at 18:00 hrs (6pm) down on the seafront around John's Café near the Inn on the Beach restaurant. I had seen it advertised that it was to be held on the 1st Tuesday of the month during the summer. Unfortunately I missed it last month. How unfortunate that I would miss it again. But, as you can see, the sun came out during the late afternoon so I set off on my trusty trike at about 5, stopping at the Pebble Beach for a coffee and cheeseburger. Preplanning see... the event would either be crowded or John's Café would be closed. I peddled along to the site of the event at about 18:30 hrs (6.30 pm) to find the approach road lined with all manner of custom cars. Arriving at John's Cafe the carpark was full of admiring spectators and a wide range of lovingly restored and prepared vehicles. Man

Fancy that I had a mind that my next post would be "Spinnaker", turned out to be "Spinuker". After a night of thunderstorms and a grey dull morning I thought that I would not be venturing far today so a chance to catch up on the blogs however the skies started to brighten by about 11 am so I thought a cycle ride was in order and a late breakfast. Turning into the main drag I could see a good crowd around Pebble Beach, was this why Jane had asked me if I was coming down today? Is it a group, a band, a consortium or a collection of like minded people? Whatever "Spinuker" produce some lively music ranging across many genres using a wide variety of pickers. A perfect time for coffee and a baguette or ice-cream if you prefer as the heat was returning to the sun. I opted for the afore mentioned coffee and a bacon baguette. Seating myself in a position to appreciate the music and the crowd gathered around and growing by the minute. What more could I ask for, remi

  Covid has receded but most of us are still confined to camp, No summer holidays abroad this year so the Mediterranean climate has come to us. The island has seen an influx of visitors from surrounding counties and London all eager to sample the beaches and laid back lifestyle which the island affords. We have beaches, mostly pebble, but sandcastles can be found. We have beach cafes and ice-cream. We have fish and chips, in my view the best can be found at the funfair. Yes we have a funfair and an amazement arcade. We also have fitness machines a skate-board park, kitesurfing, and all manor of water sports. And... we have music... lots of it during the summer. On the east side of the island we have the Lifeboat station whilst on the west we find the ferryboat, yes a pub/restaurant and a boat which takes you to Eastney. North to south we have the "Billy trail" so get on your bike and enjoy the island and its surrounds by peddle power. Believe me you'll get there faster th

As I sit here in my garret as the rain pours down one suspects that the summer has come on gone in the few days of tropical heat we experienced last week. I took advantage of one of those days, a Saturday as it happened, to mount my trust e-tricycle and pedal north firstly to Havant then east to Emsworth. This had a profound effect as I sat outside the Flintstones Tea Room near the harbour eating a very tasty baked potato with prawn salad. A family at the next table were conversing in a mixture of  Spanish and English. I became very homesick for my friends in Spain where I had spent so many happy times and the start of my adventures. My heart ached as Patricia reminded me so much of  Dacil, daughter of the house. As you can gather I couldn't resist entering into conversation and mentioned my blogs. As you know I have not written for some time and have promised to bring things up to date on several occasions. This conversation became the spur to goad me into action.  e-Mission, peda

Yesterday, due to Covid19 parades and gatherings not being permitted. a select few laid a wreath at the local war memorial commemorating the 75th anniversary of victory over Japan, the end of WWII. Contemplating this event on Sunday I thought that I would brush off the metaphorical dust from a photo album recorded during my visit to Thailand and update my blog. The event was a train journey over the "Bridge over the river Kwai", and visits to the museum and war graves there on 28th January 2015. The memorial shown is located in the Kanchanaburi War Graves Cemetery, Thailand. Hayling Island has a similar monument near St Mary's Church. I have added a post to my Thailand blog  Bridge over the River Kwai

08:45 hours on Monday 11th February 2019 finds me standing on the platform at Les Cabannes halt. Positioned opposite the shelters which house seating and the timetable display the train sails past me and comes to a halt. I'm the only passenger, it could have stopped in front of me! An hour and a half later we pull into platform 1, Toulouse Matabui Railway Station. Exit and turn right down towards the bus station next door, not to be confused with the multi-story car park incidentally. The ticket for the shuttle will cost me 8€, leaves from platform 1 every 20 minutes and takes about that long to reach the airport. The metro pulls in at the same place should you wish to go that way. My Easyjet app tells me that I need to be there by 11:30 also sending me a message that my plane will be delayed. Pleasant assistant at the bag drop off then I wander down to security trying out my mobile booking pass rather than a paper document. I still need a passport or driving licence though. A le