Wishful Thinking

Gail and I went on a bit of a ten day road trip around Devon and Cornwall a few weeks ago, but I haven't got around to editing many of my photos yet, due to other commitments. So I have two weeks missing from the blog. But hope to start filling in the missing days from tomorrow.

So I thought I would make a bit of a start tonight, with a street scene from St Ives in Cornwall. With it's quaint little streets, and of course the harbour and beaches, meant that I took an awful lot of photos. Gail did too.

One of the highlights was to see our dear friends Stewart & Julie renew their wedding vows after ten years of marriage. Stewart is a photographer and blogger like me, while Julie's main passion is textiles.

A few months we received our invitation to join them in St Ives for their celebration, and as both gail and I have never visited the west country, we jumped at the chance.
It was a lovely sunny day, and everything seemed to go perfectly, right down to the pub meal afterwards.

Wish we were back there, as it's a fabulous place.

Dancing In The Moonlight

Well we've safely arrived Tuscany. The eight of us touched down at Pisa, after flying Ryanair from East Midlands Airport.

Our first stop on our eight day tour is Florence, or Firenze as they say in Italian. We are here for two days and there's lots to see, such as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Work began on the cathedral  in 1294, and it took 142 years to build. Everything by hand of course. No cranes, bulldozers or trucks back then. Just men and horses.

It's a very big building and has recently been cleaned. It certainly glowed in the moonlight as we walked by it on the way to dinner.

Can I Come Too?

Sorry for the low quality and blurred image. Definitely not up to my usual standard, but I quickly had to grab my camera, as Gail called me into the living room.

You see we are currently in the middle of packing for our week long trip to Tuscany in Italy which starts tomorrow, and Oscar had this idea of wanting to come with us. He thought by trying to climb into one of our suitcases we wouldn't notice.  But he is quite a big fellow, and would certainly have made the suitcase overweight.

Better luck next time Oscar!

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

Anyone fancy a trip to Barbados? Well a bus was parked in the Old Market Square today waiting for people to climb aboard. Although I think the bus would only take you to the airport, as I don't know of too many coaches that can travel across water, and the Atlantic Ocean is a very big sea.

I Am Not A Number

It's my birthday & seventh wedding anniversary tomorrow. I'll be 50 by the way. Gail asked me what I wanted to do as something special. Go on holiday somewhere perhaps. Yes I replied, Portmeirion in North Wales.

I had been before on a day trip some years ago, but have never actually stayed there as a guest. It's a very special place, as it was designed and built over a number of years by one man, a Clough William-Ellis.

Portmeirion is of course more well know as the place where Patrick McGoohan's character tried to escape from in the TV series The Prisoner in 1967. A very unusual series of 17 episodes in which a spy resigns from his job, is kidnapped and finds himself trapped in 'the village'. He is called 'Number Six' and various psychological methods are used to try and find out why he resigned.

So I found a deal for two nights bed & breakfast. Fantastic. When I rang up to book, they told me which cottage that we would be staying in. I then looked it up on their website and found out that it was that the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein used to rent during the 1960s.

When we arrived it was dark, so we didn't know where in the village we were located. After we had unloaded the car we went to have dinner in the main hotel, which looks a bit like a castle.  We then went for a walk around the village. We had it to ourselves, as there was nobody else around.  And boy was it quiet.

We're All Going On A Winter Holiday

Tomorrow, Gail & I head off to Birmingham Airport to catch a flight to Dubai. We can't wait, as we haven't really had a proper holiday since Turkey last May. We unfortunately won't be staying in this hotel; the 5 star Mina A Salam, but something more modest (and cheaper). Hopefully I will still be able to do a daily post. In the mean time there is my Dubai photo page to keep you going.

Hello Switzerland

Hi folks, Gail & I are in Geneva at the moment for a few days. Naturally I am taking lots of photos, alas the weather isn't very good, overcast & cold. The hotel where we are staying has Internet access, unfortunately I have no way of uploading any of my pictures. So you'll all just have to wait until Thursday!

Messing About On The River

What better than chugging along on the canal at no more than about 3mph? The owners of these 3 narrowboats have stopped off for a drink before carrying on to their next port of call.
A very relaxing way to spend the day.