maritime

  Merry Xmas to you all. Here is another article from the pen of my brother, Peter. The smell of fried bacon still, lingered as we set off to collect Richard.   Mum always insisted we start the day on a good breakfast.   We walked through the garden and over the bottom stile grabbing a handful of peapods as we passed the rows.   Away on the distant hillside a plume of smoke followed the tank engine pulling its few carriages up to the cliff top station.   As we approached the top of the bank we heard the clatter of Len’s horse and cart before it came into view.   Len looked as he always did, covered in black dust, as a coalman should look.     The red pantiled roofs of the cottages were spread below us like a garish scarf.   Seagulls sat on chimney pots squawking the news at each other and contemplating the likelihood of tasty fish morsels when the fishing boats returned. We ran down the bank past the fish shop and up a narrow cobbled...

  My brother is an entertaining writer of short stories, Here  is one on our childhood memories . Memories Memory is a funny thing.  As my mother entered her final years, she seemed to have an incredible recall of events and people from over 80 years in the past.  Whilst still aware enough to remember who the prime minister was, she would have trouble remembering what had happened to her in the last week.   My memory for some things is poor; I am dreadful at remembering names.  I can recall that I know the face, but often not the association or the name.  On the other hand, my wife’s memory for names and faces is amazing.  She still on occasions meets and remembers people who she knew at primary school.   I can remember numbers, places, names of places and events.  It probably says a lot about the kind of people we are.  My wife is a warm, friendly people person.  I can remember numbers.   But the purpose of this piece is ...

  I used copilot to draft this article and then edited it. My experience was that it limited my creativity and it took just aas long to edit the artificial intelligence derived draft as to start with a blank page. A Personal Account of a Memorable Getaway Introduction There’s nothing quite like escaping the arrival of winter with cold and long nights with a well-earned holiday. Recently, I had the pleasure of spending a week in Ischia in Italy, and I’m delighted to share my experience. Whether you’re seeking adventure, relaxation, or a bit of both, Ischia offers an abundance of delights that make it a great destination. Accommodation We stayed in a small hotel in the main town on the island, a quiet oasis set back from the main road into town. Reminded me of other southern Italian towns with open arches instead of doors all painted white. Activities and Attractions Boat tour: To explore the southern coat of this volcanic island revealed stunning bays with small village and also lar...

  Summer Holidays are always welcome and especially when we go to Denmark. The holiday really starts when you leave home and that requires planning because we are going to take a ferry from Norway to Denmark in the middle of summer, lots of people on the road. Lots of traffic. Nevertheless, it is exciting as we pack all our goods and prepare to set off. The first challenge is. Shall we stop and have a cup of coffee on the way or are do we not have time? Must we press on because of delays on the road etc with good planning, that's not a problem, so we stop and have a cup of coffee. Very pleasant. Then we set off for the ferry terminal and the queue starts about 3 kilometres from the ferry terminal and we join a queue. Everything gets exciting. We pay for our entry. They know all about us. Because they have the car registration number from the overhead camera and we booked online no problem. Straight into a parking lane with a ticket to let us into the buffet when we get on boa...

  On a package charter flight You would think that as you get older it would be easy to travel abroad, especially if you spent a large part of your career travelling internationally. But it does not. Why is that? Well, your age and your physical and mental resources become somewhat diminished. Secondly, travel procedures change. Remember how parking rules change and become confusing. Well, it's the same with flying, especially if you are on a package tour. It starts the day before travel when you start the challenge of finding your travel gear. Where are my sunglasses? Do I need my swimming gear in the Canary Islands in February etc etc.? You learn as your memory fails you to assemble everything in one place before packing and only then start the procedure of packing. What are the travel agent’s rules for the tour. Well, they're different from ordinary flight booking and check in procedures. No check-in details, only a booking reference number. But it is all sorted ...

 Like all food, regional diversity in Yorkshire is no exception.   Of course, everyone knows about Yorkshire puddings, or do they? A Yorkshire pudding is not some soggy sponge like batter that you eat with your Sunday roast, but a light, fluffy, crispy cup like dough that is filled with gravy. A real insult to a Yorkshire person is to serve the Yorkshire pudding with the main course. It should be eaten alone as a starter. The reason for this is pure Yorkshire. Fill ’em up with Yorkshire pudding and they won't want as much main course! Thriftiness is a Yorkshire trait always to be followed! Of course, if you come from Nottinghamshire, you would eat your Yorkshire pudding with jam as a dessert. But then again, they're really daft from down there! A variation on the Yorkshire pudding is “toad in the hole”, a large Yorkshire pudding with sausage embedded in the mix. Very filling. Then there are kippers, another essentially Yorkshire fish delicacy. In my youth, my bro...

 You know yourself, that you are getting older. Your knees do not work as they used to. They're not as flexible, for example going downstairs you need to hold onto the rail. You are short of breath if you attempt to run, I should say hobble to catch the bus. Worse still you notice you do not have the physical strength that you had, and you start to have arthritic pain in your shoulders and fingers. Such is your state now! You are mentally sharp although your short-term memories come and go. You tire more quickly, and afternoon siesta has become a welcome break. You accept all of this; you have to as there is little you can do about it! Adapt to survive has become your watchword. Add extra time to reach the bus, Do physical work in shorter periods with plenty of rest time.   It works.   But it is not your discovery of how your body ages which is the most annoying. It is how people change their behaviour towards you that becomes most irritating. You must be ti...

  Trials and tribulations at the airport Lately we have been using group travel to travel abroad instead of all the planning necessary when you do it yourself. It is convenient and you meet interesting people also in the group. The downside is that the itinerary is decided, and timing is sometimes not convenient. Take our last trip to Puglia in southern Italy in October. The travel instructions stated that we meet up at the airport at 0515, that is very early for us and necessitated an overnight stay in an airport hotel. Early morning in the airport was chaos, it seems that all charter companies have early morning departures. We rush to find a free check-in automat, no friendly face just a machine that seems to demand an ever-increasing number of personal details before spewing out baggage tags and boarding passes. Pushed out of the queue by impatient persons behind us we found a free space to attach our baggage tags and store our baggage id tags, not in your passport at it...

  Robin Hoods Bay My first recollection of school was around 1945 when I would be 5 years old. We lived in my grandfather’s large house in Robin Hoods Bay, a small fishing/farming community on the NE coast of Yorkshire. Robin Hoods Bay was really divided in two, those that lived at the bottom of the bank in the old village and those that lived at the top of the bank. Grandfather was a successful Captain, like many men in “the Bay” who bought new and expensive houses at the top of the bank. Our house, “Lincoln” had a large garden adjacent to the car park, a pantry, a “poshtub” in an outhouse where clothes were heated in a water bowl before being poshed, rinsed, and hug out to dry and a set of room indicators over the entrance hall inked to each room. The idea was that this was an indicator for servants where there was a request for service. Not sure why we had them as we had no servants!! School was in the hamlet of Thorpe some one kilometre away up two steep hills, Donkey b...

 GATWICK AIRPORT You see humanity at its best and worst at airports in holiday times. Gatwick is such a place in August. Queues for everything but the stolid English acceptance of crowdiness means patience is needed. No shouting, jumping queues even when they exceed the tramlines put down for such an event. No, all nationalities seem to take on that English attitude of of resignation as they join those neverending queues. All nationalities are here and in all shapes and sizes as I found out when a rather large lady sat down on one of those linked seating arrangements. All though she was three seats from me I was catapultged into the air and returned with a thud. Good job I was not drinking tea! Another thing, everyone is using their mobiles. With faces glued to their minature screens they provide translations, directions and even security clearance and boarding tickets  for aircraft and trains. Thank goodness I bought an "eticket" for the  train and avoided a somewhat lon...

In the old days when you were unwell or sick you rang the doctor, and he came to your home. He was called the family doctor and everyone in the family used the same doctor. There was close bond between the family and this single doctor. He might prescribe medication or recommend specialist examination or a trip to the hospital. Medication required a prescription that he wrote out on the spot in handwriting. A trip to the chemist was required to get the medicine or pills. Today that has all changed. If you feel unwell you must make a journey to the doctor’s surgery unless it is an emergency and then an ambulance will come and take charge. A doctor’s surgery today is more like a small treatment centre with nurses, laboratories, and a host of specialist doctors. You have your own personal doctor that you choose and who remains your doctor over time. To see the doctor you must first book online through the national health service. This requires passwords and security checks before yo...

For pensioners As pensioners we constantly adapt to keep up with daily life. Such is the case with supermarkets. No longer is it easy to find a friendly local butcher, greengrocer, or baker. We shop in a giant warehouse, often out of town, that they call either a shopping centre or a supermarket. This requires different strategies to successfully complete our purchases that fit our needs and pocket. Timing is also important. Avoid the commuter rush and especially the “after work” peak to the supermarket. Late morning, early afternoon is best, there is more parking space! Parking is the next challenge. Do I need to find an automat, have I got the right app or is it all done automatically by cameras. Getting it right is important to avoid a heavy fine. Is this a big shop requiring a trolley or a small shop where a basket is enough. The result of the decision determines whether you can use the “self-checkout” or not. No trollies in self-checkout. Today it is a basket shop. The o...

  Surviving entry into a foreign country The plane came to a stop and the seatbelt signed pinged and switched off. It was if it signalled the start of a race or the commencement of a rugby scrum! People pushed and shoved, climbed over seated persons to reach the aisle, and establish a place in a queue for a cabin door that was not even open! Overhead bin doors flew open and without any regard to people below dragged out their luggage and forced a place in the queue for it. If their baggage was not adjacent to their seat, they pushed past with the determination of a scrum forward without apology or concern for others. What is it in us that brings out this behaviour? Having checked in baggage I knew there was no need to rush so sat back and enjoyed the debacle of sensible people reduced to a rabble in their urge to leave the plane. The door opened and the pushing started but also a sense of decency returned as people waited for others to rise and exit their seats. Soon the pace...