Wednesday 15 October 2014 - Interesting Day

A poorly planned working Wednesday in October starts with the usual drive to Brighton followed, after a mornings work by a dash to Gatwick to get to London to meet one of the Hillside Book Clubbers for a quick drink at her club in the hope of meeting Lynne Hatwell, the Dove Grey Reader who was giving a talk the next day that neither of us could attend.
I had expected a brief meet with Lynne, a quick drink and then home for the usual dinner in front of the telly.  I hadn't expected to take a surreal journey from one interesting encounter to another.
I was a bit behind schedule to be honest and should have got an earlier train but I would have missed all the fun.  On the 14.08 train from Gatwick to Victoria I sat opposite someone clicking away on his MacBook and as you do on London trains we ignored each other.  Then at East Croydon another passenger boarded and sat beside me and these two men knew each other and began an interesting conversation about the film Tristan Loraine was making (thats the MacBook guy) and the art Gordon Cheung (the East Croydon passenger and contemporary artist).
As we approached the conversation overflowed to include me and another woman who proudly described herself as an investment consultant which has a certain irony as she was addressing someone who is accusing some of the worlds largest companies of damaging the health of their customers and someone Wikipedia describes as an artist whose work captures the mood of the global collapse of civilization where moral, economic, and environmental crises have spun out of control.  I did not own up to working in human resources!
After a bit of the usual at work I set off in the rain to meet Cheryl for our rendezvous.  After crossing the road to meet her at Green Park station I turned around to find her standing where I had set off from.  Given that poor start its not really surprising that we had two failed attempts to find the University Women's Club but we got there in the end.
We ordered a G&T and then managed to be seated in the corner of the room chatting to the Dove Grey Reader and Susie Partridge chatting about books when a stream of women who were very obviously not English started to arrive.  Beautifully made up and coiffed, perfect smiles and stylish clothes were the clues that this was the Daughters of the American Revolution.  In their midst was their President General Lynn F Young wearing a glittering sash of diamond and gold badges, like a Brownie on steroids.  Compared to these polished creatures I felt like a peahen looking on a peacock displaying and shaking his tail feathers.
I half expected to meet David Suchet on the return journey but that will have to wait for the next time.
Thanks Cheryl for inviting me - I had a most interesting afternoon.

Caister Soul Weekender 2014

A weekend in Great Yarmouth at the Vauxhall Holiday Camp

Mums on Tour go east to Caister-on-Sea for two days of northern soul, dancing in uncomfortable heels, late night chips with curry sauce (or mushy peas - minted or otherwise) and lots of sweeping in the caravan.  Thanks to Jodie for driving Marguerite, Pippa and I there and back and for having a car that fitted all of our luggage. We arrived at the Vauxhall Holiday Camp just in time for dinner.  Not wanting to eat chips and mushy peas for 2 days in a row we decided on the first restaurant that we found only to discover it was a little bit posher than we had planned for.  The food was delicious and the Greek Cypriot Nutritionist host was charming.  We managed to get back to the camp as Alison and Helen arrived  and we all set off into the thick of the dance.  Not having quite enough stamina to keep going beyond 2am we turned in.

After a fry up on Saturday morning a group of us went into the metropolis of Great Yarmouth.  The taxi set us down outside what must be one of the world's less interesting visitor attractions 

Scroby Sands Wind Farm Visitor Centre.  

The allure of this attraction failed to draw us in and we went for a stroll on the beach instead where Marguerite had a paddle and my introduction to Great Yarmouth was a flabby man doing pushups and alternating swigs of whiskey and coke from two bottles they were sharing.  We walked around the and saw an interesting mix of people who seem to have a propensity for stealing restaurant menus if the behaviour of the staff at the Swoosh Cafe Bar is anything to go by.   We gave up looking for a cash machine that didn't charge and headed back to the caravan.

Preparations for the big night started with included lots of hair curling and positioning of berets.  No tour would be complete without Marguerites cleavage putting in an appearance.
Getting ready to go out is sometimes the best part of the evening, great company - and its really hard to curl your own hair.
The transformation took a while and a few bottles of fizz but French Resistance got it's six new recruits and we made it out on time.








Helen had a little mishap with the curling iron so Alison took over while Helen ran her burned fingers under the tap.

United United Kingdom - Sheep say no

There's More to Orkney than Fudge,  day 6 - 19 September 2014

Woke up to the news that we were still in our home country which was good start to our last day.

We visited the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodger.  There is speculation about a connection between the two and they are quite close geographically and also date wise.  The ring of Brodger is featured in the advert for the Ryder cup that's on TV (but fortunately not for long as it had thankfully ended) at the moment.

 Best sight of the holiday, the campaigning sheep.

Referendum Day

There's More to Orkney than Fudge,  day 5 - 14 September 2014

On the big day itself we busied ourselves around the islands starting at the Brough of Birsay.  Planning a visit to this tidal island needs to take the tide tables into account because you can only cross at low tide when the causeway is not covered by water.  Viking settlement with traces of earlier Pictish inhabitants.  Interesting triangular stones used in the construction.

Make sure you don't step back as it's a long, cold and rugged way down.

You can't see it but I know it is there on the land in the distance is a memorial to Lord Kitchener (of Your Country Needs You fame).  He went down with HMS Hampshire when it struck a German mine in the water you see here on 5 June 1919 along with 600 others.

We made it back over the causeway in time and then went back in time again to the Iron Age to the Broch of Gurness.

Zoom forward 2,00 years to the very modern, very slickly marketed Highland Park distillery.  The northernmost distillery of Scotch (only by half a mile) in the world.  In order to be labelled Scotch whiskey has to be created and matured in Scotland for a minimum of 3 years and 1 day.
I was going to buy a bottle but one of the other tourists pointed out that it was on offer in Tesco's for £8.00 less per bottle than it was on sale for at the distillery.  He went on to add that the Kirkwall Tesco had sold out on the day the offer started so I bought a bottle at Horsham for the offer price.   The two Orkney distilleries (the other one is Scapa) both make single malt whiskies and I had my own blind tasting session.  I really wanted the Scapa one to win because I like the bottle more but the Highland Park tasted better.

Skara Brae, bump in the road and the Italian Chapel

There's more to Orkney than Fudge, day 4 - 17 September 2014

While all the residents of Orkey were making their last minute decisions about whether to remain in the Union or notwe were heading back in time 5,000 years.
It was Skara Brae that brought us to Orkney.  Ever since I first saw Simon Schma's History of Britain I've wanted to visit and it didn't disappoint.  

Skara Brae is one of many surviving Neolithic monuments that remain unaltered I imagine this is due to the remote location and sparse population and because the Romans never occupied Scotland or its islands.
The settlement hugs a dramatic coastline now but when it was inhabited it was further away from the sea and there was a freshwater lake in between.

It doesn't look much in a photograph but the dry walls that survive have survived show a primitive but quite comfortable settlement with stone furniture and built in beds.
The local laird William Watt of Skaill discovered the remains on his land in 1850 after a violent storm uncovered them.




The laird's home Skaill House, built in 1620 for Bishop Graham who was the bishop of Kirkwall Cathedral,  is also open to visitors, there is holiday accommodation there but we didn't see it so I have no idea what it's like.  To modern eyes it feels as though the house is placed in a very remote and inaccessible location but when it was built the sea was the highway which puts a different perspective on it's location.
The house has been renovated and presented as a family home of the 1950s.  In the library there is a bookcase that opens to reveal a secret hiding place for valuables.

After leaving Skara Brae we headed back towards Kirkwall.  We stopped on the way at this bumpred tomb.  This bump in the road doesn't look very exciting from this view but it is amazing inside.  You enter through a low tunnel and have to be very careful not to bang your head on the enormous stones that from the tunnel.
in the 12th century Norsemen had entered the tomb, probably to shelter from the Orkney weather.  While they were in there they made several graffiti including the famous dragon.

A few miles and 5,000 years forward we stopped at the Italian chapel.  Built by Italian prisoners of war during WWII the chapel is beautiful from the front and inside but a side view reveals that it is a converted Romney hut - very enterprising prisoners.

We finished off the day with a stroll into Kirkwall and a drink at The Reel where one of the people we had met at the dance on Monday came and chatted to us.
We left it a bit late for dinner where everywhere we tried was closed except the Dil Se Indian restaurant where we had a lovely, inexpensive meal served by charming staff.

Scapa Flow, good food and guide cats

There's more to Orkney than Fudge, day 3 - 16 September 2014

Day three started well with black pudding, bacon and baked beans.  Took the bus to Houghton and walked onto the ferry to Lyness on the island of Hoy.  Not realising we could ride up top and enjoy the view we sat in the dungeon that was the passenger lounge for the crossing.
There is no alternative way of crossing back to the mainland so you have to make sure you don't miss the ferry back.

It's only a short walk from the ferry terminal to the Scapa Flow museum and as we approached I was surprised to see what looked like a Russian flag flying there.  When we got there it did turn out to be a Russian flag alongside the Union flag at this memorial with inscription in English and Russian erected in memory of the brave men who manned the arctic convoys during WWII.

Lyness was the Royal Navy base during WWII and was also the base for the salvage of the scuttled German fleet in 1919.  James Isbister was the first civilian casualty of WWII, killed by Luftwaffe bombs jettisoned over Stromness after a raid on Scapa Flow, on 16 March 1940
Unseasonably warm weather is relative, it was windy (see the flags) and cold.  My new hat came in very handy.


Behind me is Scapa Flow, the body of water, where on 21 June 1919 the captured German fleet of 74 ships hoisted the Imperial German Ensign and 52 of them were scuttled on orders of their German commander rather than letting them be used by the Allies.

The 833 men of HMS Royal Oak mentioned on day 1 were torpedoed in this body of water by german submarine U-47 on 14 October 1939.Behind the museum building (where I had a very nice bowl of home made lentil and vegetable soup) up a flight of stairs is a large oil tank.



Inside the oil tank is an eclectic mix of exhibits including a searchlight, bren-gun carrier and a boat that sailed to Orkney from occupied Norway and a small theatre layout showing a video about the history of Scapa Flow.
How often do you watch a movie inside a large oil tank - selfie was obviously called for.

This stylish fence is part of the anti submarine boom net strung from shore to shore during both 20th century wars.
I recommend a visit to Lyness for anyone visiting Orkne, very moving and interesting perspective on 20th century naval history.  make sure you bring a jumper because the museum is not heated apart from a small room at the back where you can watch any of the various videos in relative comfort.

We caught the ferry back to Houghton and sensibly sat up top this time to enjoy the spectacular view. Photographs don't do it justice so you will have to imagine it and I will remember it.
Changed at Kirkwall for the St Margaret's Hope bus for our dinner at the Creel.  Lovely restaurant with the perfect menu (this or that for for each course, no difficult decisions between multiple dishes).  Lovely restaurant, highly recommended.  After dinner we had a while to wait for the bus so we went for a walk up and down the bay and this very friendly ginger kitten accompanied us.
Then we went into the Murray Arms for a quick one before the 22.11 bus to Kirkwall and witnessed a very lively referendum debate between the patrons, 3 Scots, 1 Englishman the barman and a silent (and therefore of unknown heritage) solitary drinker.  The 3 Scots were decisive 'no' votes and the Englishman seemed to have a death wish as he was very emphatic in his support of the 'yes' vote but ended with the comment 'if it all goes tits up I can piss off back to England'.  evidence of the good natured complexion of the debate is that when we left for our bus he was still alive.

'Yes', 'No', Puffins, hats, burgers and dancing.

There's more to Orkney than Fudge, day 2 - 15 September 2014

Carefully made plans were partially successful today.  After a delicious breakfast we went into Kirkwall and had 40 mins to spare before the bus to Stromness was due so we went into the Kirkwall museum.  It reminded me a bit of the Horsham museum, small but interesting and not too challenging.  We discovered that the ba is an event that happens on Xmas day and New Years Day each year when all the boys under 16 play a type of street football competing for a leather ball stuffed with sawdust.  There are no rules other than to score the goal the Doonies have to get the ba into the salt water of the bay or the Uppies have to get it to a specified part of the city.  At 1pm the men do the same.  Most Orkney hotels are closed during the winter so this is something that remains largely a local spectacle. 

The bus dropped us off at the Stromness ferry terminal and while Adrian was on the phone to Tina our builder I amused myself reading the notice board and saw this flyer and as our dinner plans had fallen through (restaurant not open on Mondays) we decided to have an early dinner and go.

Whilst the south of England was enjoying a late summer heatwave Orkney was having its own unseasonably warm weather, but Orkney warm required the purchase of a hat and the wearing of jumpers and jackets.

Under my new hat to protect me from the Orcadian wind we headed off to explore downtown Stromness.  We had seen lots of puffin stuff (tea towels, pictures, models etc) so we asked a bird artist where we might see some actual puffins, his advice was to look in Sussex so we didn't buy one of his puffin pictures.
Three days to go to the referendum and campaigning was in evidence.  We stopped and had a lovely chat with a 'no' campaigner who shivered through an impassioned explanation of why maintaining the union was the sensible option.

A little further along the street we came across the Stromness office of the 'yes' campaign and had quite a long conversation with a chap who had spent a long time living and working in London and although I didn't agree with all of his assertions it was clear that he was very committed to his cause. He was charming too and the most interesting part of both sides of the debate is that everyone we spoke to was clear that this was not in any way an anti English decision.  When I said to the 'yes' man 'I would be very sorry to see Scotland go' he replied 'we won't be going anywhere, we'll still be friends and trading partners'.
I also got the impression that Alex Salmond is not as popular in Scotland as he would like to be, or thinks he is.

One of the 'yes' man's points was the focus on renewables, which is ironic set against the more frequently mentioned north sea oil and gas.  We asked him what the big metal donuts we had seen across the bay were (pictured here) and he said 'if you see something peculiar that you've never seen before its probably something to do with renewables' so does anyone know what these are?  

After a long and chilly day that left me feeling that the 'yes' and 'no' were quite evenly balanced and the referendum could go either way we were greeted by this cheery pair on our bed back at the hotel.

We had an early dinner at Buster's diner, an American diner with huge portions and friendly service and ventured out to find the dancing.  After a false start at the wrong venue we arrived 30 mins late. It was a really great evening, only one dancer was wearing their referendum opinion (it was a 'no' badge) and we joined in and felt quite at home.



Of course we didn't have a clue what we were doing and everyone was very patient with us.  Fortunately we sat out the most complicated dance of the evening which even half of the Orcadians seemed to have difficulty with.  We chatted to a chap who worked as an air traffic controller at the airport who told us the air traffic in the area was actually surprisingly busy as it included all the inter island traffic and the helicopters out to the oil rigs as well.
One of our new friends offered to take our photo.
The warm welcome, the dancing and laughing made this one of the highlights of the trip for me.

There's More to Orkney than Fudge, day 1 - 14 September 2014

In the 70's  I used to treat myself to Orkney Fudge sometimes on my way home from school.  It was sold by the quarter from an open box (no sealed plastic in those days when germs were all the rage), and I was delighted to find it was still available when we were in Edinburgh earlier this year.  I'm not sure if it was the fudge, or Simon Schama  that helped me to make my decision to visit Orkney but whichever it was I'm glad they did.

After visiting Edinburgh as part of my engagement with the referendum and my own personal 'no thanks' campaign a second trip further north of Scotland was promised, and on Sunday 14th September 2014 we set off for Kirkwall, the capital city of Orkney situated in the middle of the mainland.  It's not possible to fly direct from London so we changed at Edinburgh onto this very small plane and arrived an hour an a half later at the only airport I have ever been to where the parking is free.  One of the benefits of a very small airport was that our bags came through the hatch almost at the same time we came through the door and our taxi driver was waiting beside the belt.

We had no idea what to expect when we arrived so I phoned ahead from Edinburgh for a taxi to meet us and take us the 3.5 miles to our hotel. This turned out to be the only negative experience of the trip as it cost £8.50.  We should have taken the bus.
There are more than 2 taxis in Orkney but it amused me that we were conveyed by licensed taxi No 2.

We arrived at the West End hotel in the late afternoon and checked into our suite. Robert and Giffie were wonderful hosts (see reviews on Tripadvisor and also featured in the September 2014 issue of Living Orkney magazine) useful with recommendations of where to go and when and helped with car hire and info re getting around.


We relied on shanks pony, bus and ferry for the first two days with great success when we planned properly and referred to the timetable (not for the legs obviously).

We had a moving start to our exploration of the islands with a visit to the cathedral which dominates the city of Kirkwall.  Inside we saw our first union flag of the trip and found this memorial to the 833 men who lost their lives after HMS Royal Oak was torpedoed in Scapa Flow on 14 October 1939.  I had Scapa Flow on my list of things to see but I had no idea quite how important Orkney, with its population of only 20,000, is to British history, particularly during the two wars of the 20th century.  

After getting our bearings around town, finding the bus station and shops we went back to the hotel for a drink in the bar and chat with our host and a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant.  We had Orkney bas for starters which were lovely sort of haggis and black pudding tempura served with a whisky sauce.  We found out what the ba was the next day at the Kirkwall museum.

Left is a view of the sitting room of our suite.  I felt a little bit like I had wandered onto the set of Dr Finlay's Casebook (which is available on DVD apparently).

It only took 5 years

but I have finally made my first video and here it is.

The subject matter is a bit rubbish but we started with the filming and only got to the planning and story afterwards so we hadn't really filmed the right things.  I'm sure that was deliberate because there is nothing like a cock up to demonstrate how to do something differently in the future.
Anyway I'm delighted with it and hope to do lots more.
I'm off to get myself a director's chair and megaphone now!

What's all this about Scottish Independence

It came as a complete surprise to me in 1983 when my Scottish boyfriend pointed out to me that the Scots hated the English.  He supported his opinion vehemently and regularly and if ever the word English was uttered when British was more appropriate woe betide the speaker (particularly if it was me).  It will come as no surprise to hear that the relationship didn't last very long (the lovely Adrian came to my rescue) but I have to confess it did lead to my harbouring a 30 year dislike for people who I had not met and a country I had not engaged with (I visited Inverness for a few days in 1997) or knew anything about.  In my defence I had a horrible Scottish boss in 1997 and she managed to reinforce my rather biased opinion.

Armed with my long held prejudice I was quite vocal when the referendum on Scottish independence was announced in my opinion that if Scots were to vote on whether or not they wanted to stay in the union then the English should be permitted to vote about whether they were still wanted.  The irony of a Scottish 'no' vote and an English 'yes' vote seemed a possibility.  I'm certain that the referendum is not a personal slight against me but it did feel a bit like that and my immediate response was to take a defensive and wounded stance.

Then Neil Oliver came to my rescue with his fascinating History of Scotland and I decided to do a bit of my own research and to try to understand why my neighbours seemed to want to shun me.  I watched Neil's programmes again on YouTube and booked a trip to Edinburgh.  

Now I know that Edinburgh is close to England and is an affluent, densely populated, urban city not necessarily representative of the whole country but I had to start somewhere.

I wasn't at all prepared for the experience of how welcome we were made.  This started as we landed at Edinburgh airport and Adrian and I were discussing how we would get from the airport to the hotel (we are not always as well planned as we might be) and a fellow traveller said 'I hope you don't think me rude but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation.  Don't waste your money on a taxi the airport bus is the best way to get into the city'.  We took her advice and she was right.

I had expected to see lots of campaigning and to experience an anti English undercurrent.  I wasn't prepared for the number of union flags I saw flying alongside the saltire or for the warm welcome in shops, pubs and restaurants.  On one occasion Adrian and I were dithering about on the street, obviously lost when an Edinburgh city gent stopped and said 'can I help you, I'm local'.  I may be doing my fellow countrymen a disservice but I haven't had that experience in London and I've done a lot of dithering in London.

When you go on holiday with Adrian you are not allowed to eat lunch so we were forced (it didn't take much pressure in my case) to eat enormous Scottish breakfasts.
Because the hotel we stayed in charged for wifi we took our breakfast elsewhere and got these feasts for half the price the hotel would have charged, we were very happy with that.  It also meant we ate at different places each day which was great until Sunday morning when we discovered that Edinburgh is a place for owls (more of that later on) and not for larks.  We had a long walk to find our breakfast that day.
The 1001 Paintings you must see before you Die provided a surprisingly long list of pictures to see in Edinburgh and the galleries did not disappoint (except possibly the Scottish Museum of Modern Art but that might have been our fault as I don't know that we went to the right bit.
I liked this picture (Charles Pulsford's Three Angels) because it reminded me of the Genii Cucullati - I realise that I may be alone in making that connection.

It's not really evidence but here is a picture of the glass of whisky that I did drink.  No water, no ice just neat whisky the Scottish way.  I can't say that I am keen to repeat that experience being more of a fruity cocktail with umbrellas and sparklers in it type of girl but it was part of my research and it does warm you up on a bleak, wet January day.

We walked past the Scott monument a number of times before we knew what it was.  Always keen to walk up a flight of stairs for a good view Adrian persuaded me to join him on the 287 steps to the top.  My legs found it a challenge but the view was great.  Beware very large people that the last few steps are a very tight squeeze.  I asked the man selling tickets if he warned very large visitors about this and recommended that he should watch the film In Bruges as there was a scene in it he would probably find funny.
This is the world's largest monument to a writer in the world apparently.  After climbing all those steps I decided to try out one of his works, I've chosen Rob Roy and have it on my Kindle now.

Here is a lark and an owl together.  Its a bit cheesy I know but she was so lovely I couldn't resist.
All the while she was on my hand she kept turning her head around to look down the alley behind us.  Her handler said she has been doing it all day and he thought there was probably a juicy mouse down there that she had spotted.  What a very useful neck.


I have a lot more to say about this trip and do plan a follow up trip later in the year and further north, so there will be more to come on this subject.