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7/18/2014

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Hi all
Here is a picture from one of my travels, not sure where? It is on here now and I can't take it off in case I lose everything. I think it might be Malta, my eyes must be getting worse! 
    Anyway, here I am finally home from my travels in Scotland. although I did go on the scenic train to Whitehaven yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The  sea was as blue as I've ever seen it, and the' mountains or hills,' were beautiful shades of greens and browns.  I'm never sure,' how tall they have to be to be called a mountain!' I never get tired of this journey, the landscape and colours are a feast for the soul.

I have to say Hi to Pam and Kieron, they work in Dunelm's coffee shop, where I meet some of my ME, Fybro friends. We spend a couple of hours together there and the staff are always busy. Yet still they are very helpful and friendly.
I was listening to a discussion, it was about the fact that enough youngsters were not being trained to work in manual trades now. Although I have seen a lot more of them being allowed to get apprenticships, here in our town we still need more help. Then they were discussing that there are no cookery lessons at school now. One person said it was sexist. It would be, if they were only teaching girls, but even when my son was at school, 'Many years ago.' He took cookery classes and went on to be a Chef at a very well respected hotel in the lakes. He found out in later life he wanted to do something else and made a good job of that.

Well, onto my travels this last couple of weeks. after leaving my friend in Scotland, I came home and felt that I needed a change so I booked a late seat with a certain coach firm to tour Scotland.
I think you all know by now I could do with a bit more common sense. I decided because I was feeling tired after my being under the weather, I wanted to let someone else take care of my baggage etc. I read the intinerary and thought it would be interesting, as I would see quite a lot of the Scottish scenery. I had used the firm I was travelling with before, and been quite happy with them.  
This is what I started to write while on the coach. 
I started off at 8-45 this morning, on my way to Melrose in Scotland. The first thing that I found strange was it took 4 hours to get people picked up from  Dalton, Ulverston, Millom, Whitehaven then Carlisle, and there were no pit stops for us oldies. I’m so glad I didn’t have my second mug of coffee! We finally arrived at Gretna Green. Had 3 quarters’ of an hour to have some lunch and to
use the ablutions. The coach to Melrose is very nice, air conditioned and  comfortable, and also thank goodness has a toilet. 
The  reason I’m explaining this is because! Well, where do I start? The young man tells us he doesn’t have to rush as the Waverley Castle Hotel, rooms aren’t going to be ready until 2-45. Made a good start from Gretna, then we have to follow a diversion. It is some diversion!  Our  driver takes a turn up a rather narrow road and here we are, and its 4-30 in the afternoon. We are now stranded on moors in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness  I have a bag of crisps and we have been given a bottle of  water. We have driven for almost an hour on the road with the help of a  local coach driver. He has a small coach, and stopped to tell our driver that it was a very hazardous road. He has very kindly offered to lead him through until it’s safe. It’s really narrow and there are some hair raising bends and a couple tiny of bridges. I don’t think they are meant to take a large, full, coach as they say 10hw and the coach is 13hw. We have been travelling for about 50 minutes and the road has become less of a hazard.  So the coach driver has left us to it; but the minute he is out of sight, the front tyre on our coach blows out. So here we are sitting, and waiting, and waiting. Some  people are starting to get rather annoyed which is rather silly, because these things happen. Well it seems normal to me as I have had several things like this happen to me. 
I am really glad I have brought my note book with me as writing  this is keeping me occupied. Half an hour ago everyone became excited because someone says the bus was here. It turned out to be a false alarm and little local bus piddled past us, still it gave us hope that civilisation was somewhere ahead.
Just now as I am writing the last sentence a new coach has turned up. The manager from the hotel has brought the hotel coach out. He said he knew it could be several hours before another coach could get to us.  Finally we have arrived at the hotel, and it is nine and a half hours since I set off. Sitting down to dinner in the hotel, I realised if I had been travelling to Dulles airport in the USA; I would have been sitting  down to dinner with my friend in Fairfax, VA, having travelled the same amount of time. Although that’s not quite true, my friends have all moved down to  Carolina, so now I just change planes in Dulles to get to Carolina.
 Still so many things like this happen to me I’m not surprised. I think I have said before that
the girls I worked with always swore they would never go on a plane trip with  me. But this was a coach trip, and here I am still in one piece!  Dinner was very  nice and so was a large glass of red wine. That was it though, 9pm I was in  bed.
We went into Edinburgh early the next morning and I totally enjoyed being there. It was a beautiful sun shiny day. I went on one of the open top bus tours. It gives you such an interesting tour and 'I quite enjoyed looking down on people!' Joking apart, it was an eye opener, Princes street was heaving; full of tourists. I have never seen so many Japanese people in one place except on a film from their country. I think that tourists must bring a large amout of cash into this part of Scotland and I can understand it, because it is such a diverse place. I guess if they say yes in their referendum, we will have to use our passport. It will be a shame for all the people who don't have one. Because I know so many who don't travel abroad but love to travel in Britain and Scotland is quite a favourite.  
 The next day we had a rest day and people just  went into Melrose or had a walk around the area. I went down to take a long walk beside the river. It was really pretty as it had a proffusion of wild flowers, which were a mixture of glorious colours along it's banks. I took some pics but will have to put some on later.
 'I  have decided that I'm not going to say sorry this time, as I keep on doing that and it's time I learned how to use my camera. So watch this space! I am going to see if there are any; how to use your camera classes.' I don't even know how to do a selfie, not that you will ever see me in a selfie. I need air brushing now, before I put a pic of me on. Perhaps if I manage to get some lessons I can learn how to do that as well. 
We left early the next morning to travel to Pitlochry where we had lunch, and then nto Strathpepper, where we were stopping at The Highland Hotel. It was a lovely drive and it is the first time I really thought about how much larger than England, Scotland is. Anyway I am going on, when we arrived without a mishap, we were shown our rooms. I went into a quite pleasant room and went into the bathroom, I thought I had missed a door so had another look around and couldn't believe it. The bathroom had no shower, in the last at least twenty five years I have never been anywhere that had no shower. To make it worse they had one of those rubber showers to put on the taps. Anyway moving on! We were there for four nights and the food was good, the staff were nice and the evening entertainment was relaxing. Apart from that, the only other thing that was unexpected was the fire alarm went off after 12 30 and we all left to stand out in the grounds. Luckily I was on the ground floor and watched as many of us oldies struggled down the third third floor fire escape. I hate heights and would have found that scary. We never saw anyone from the hotel and just made our way back after some time.  Good job we had a free day the next day. Ten minutes walk from the hotel was a small group of houses and shops. Everyone was friendy there and I sat down to have a coffee in a restraurant called the Red Poppy, and as they had just opened I sat outside in the sun. The young lady who served me was really bubbly and she down to talk to me for a couple of minutes.  I would have loved to have an evening meal there as it was a lovely place. I have been trying to cut this last line of Italics out but they wont go. Every time I try to the whole thing comes down and sits over it. Oh what the hell! Onwards and upwards, I say.
I hope you aren't too bored with my travels, I'm going to make it short and sweet now,. Had a wonderful day touring Loch Ness, Fort Augustus, continuing on past the ruins of Urquhart Castle,. We stopped to look at the ruins and they had a high wall and bushes growing around it. To go into see it was £7-90, as a Northener with out own Piel Castle to see and it costs nothing I was shocked. No one wanted pay so on we went. We went right up to Inverness, the 'capital' of the Highlands and that journey took us up to 1,500 ft there was still snow in patches. I was glad we didn't have ablow out up there. 
I'm calling this a day now and hope you aren't too bored, I'm not even checking it for mistakes. (Yes I really do  try to check it!) I have to say, I hope you have all enjoyed the wonderful weather. And in all I had a great tour wouldn't have missed it.
So bye for now all
Take care and be happy.
Lilian

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Rain forcast, trip booked. so bring it on

7/3/2014

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Hi all
    Just popped in from The Highlands of Scotland to say hello, I became so confused with the new gallery setting they have put on. By now you all will have gathere that! Anyway I have realised I didn't say Bye and take care, at the end of my blog. So I'm saying it now Confused is my middle name, I've had to use Cloud here so it is another; I was going to say learning curve, but I had to do it 18 months ago in Llandudno, in Weatherstones. Still had to get instructions, and struggled but here I am.
What should have taken around 5 and a half hours to get to the Waverley Castle Hotel in Melrose, took 9 and a half hours. But that's another story. So will tell you later. Be Happy 
Lilian

          I have just hit gallery here and have no idea what it will do, hit it again hoping it will cancel whatever!! Meant to hit image.
 Now I've found out, and don't know how to change it, so sending it as it is before I have a nervous breakdown.
       This is where I started, in case you get as confused as I am. :-))
 Here I am  back to normal? I am up and about after moaning so much last time I wrote. I was
cheered up this last week because it was great to hear that this generation of  teenagers are wanting to have successful careers and much more interested in  conservation. You know, we only hear about the bad kids through the media. If  like me, you stop and think about your friends and family, there are so many  kids who are so nice and making good lives for themselves. 

        This last couple of weeks I have had very many reminders of things that have changed so
much from the past. I was talking to a florist who is young and she was  complaining about it being hard work. It is demanding; because funerals,  weddings, and new babies etc can never be put off until tomorrow. 
I was thinking back to when my mother trained me, I was twelve when she went to Liverpool to help out for two weeks in a fruit, veg and flower shop. At that time she was also shown how to wire, and put wedding and funeral flowers together. There was no oasis then, it was all about moss and wires. It’s so long ago that there were no phones in any of our houses. Also there were no cars to
deliver; we carried all the flowers to the house where the funeral or wedding  was. I remember one night we had to deliver around 8-30pm, because it was a 9am  funeral. We had made the word Mother, and it was so wide we had to carry each end which took the full width of the pavement up. Half a dozen kids were following behind, they didn't say anything, but were interested. They wouldn't have dared too shout at us, as they all knew my mother!  Well when we arrived at the house, we knocked and knocked the door, and we could hear the kids  running around having a good time. Finally my mother opened the door. ‘No one  locked doors in those days.’ When we went in, there were half a dozen children  playing around the open coffin in which their granny was lying and the house  was full of family and friends. They were having a wake, it was something we
  couldn’t imagine now and it was a celebration of that ladies life. I thought it  was lovely. How times have changed since then!
I was watching a programme on  telly; it was an interview with Dot from East Enders. She was talking about what  she would like to be done with her body when she died and she loves the sea as
much as I do. It seems the only place you can be dropped off is Newhaven, or the  Isle of Wight. I would like to be thrown overboard, somewhere in the sea.
‘Not  until I’m dead of course!’ 
One of my friends told me her Father-In-Law wanted to have his ashes scattered  on the canal where he used to have a boat. So they diligently went to the canal  with his ashes. It was midwinter and a gale was blowing, but they kept his  wishes. I couldn’t stop laughing as she told me and neither could she. It was so  windy when they shook the ashes out they shot away and covered some ducks who  were sitting there. The ducks all sneezed and sneezed together.
 ‘Now that’s what I call leaving them laughing.’           

Well I was so proud of myself! A few days ago, I dropped my phone and although  the rest of it worked I had lost all my pictures. I know I’m a senior, and a  woman, and of course I feel stupid when I have to ask for help. I have no  understanding of most of the jargon that is used. But, I am stubborn, so I  persevered looking through the instructions, ‘Most of which I couldn’t make head
nor tail of!’ Then I found a piece of information that told me I had a damaged sim  card, I changed it and my pics came back on. Well, I felt like one of those football players who run around with their shirt over their head when they score a goal. 
Talk about pride before a fall, it all worked fine for a few  days. 
Then on Monday I went on a trip up to visit my friend in  Langholm, Scotland. My friend came over she was going to drop me off and then  stay in my place as it looks over the sea and she says staying is like a holiday to her. As usual I was running late not sure if the train was 10-10, or 10-20. I
bought my ticket and the lady told me the train was arriving in 5 minutes, which  was 10-10. The train pulled in and I had to cross over the track. I looked at  the lift down and thought I’m not going to make it. One of the rail men said,  ‘You going to have to rush.’ ‘I haven’t got rush in me at the moment.’ So I said, ‘Oh there’s another train in an hour, I’m not going to make this one.’ He
said, ‘Yes you will, and shouted, ‘Don’t go yet this lady wants to get on.’ And  they waited for me! ‘There is still some gallantry left in this world.’ 

Langholm is the place I went to around Easter and said how  lovely a place it is. I have decided it should be called Shangri-La, not sure  how to spell it.’ It’s so unusual because no one ever locks their doors, and  even the small boys say hello and smile!
 
Anyway I guess I wasn’t so clever because my phone went off on  the train journey and all I had was the photos, it was off all the time I was  there. Wasn’t sure why but thought it might go on again when I arrived back home. It didn’t. So tomorrow I have to eat humble pie and ask my very clever son  to fix it for me. Hey Ho, no pulling my shirt over my head this  time!
 
I have just had a glass of the whiskey and lemonade I bought when I was ill. Shows I'm not a real alcholic, Iv'e had it at least three weeks.  I have gone tired though, it's late as I have been trying to catch  up with not having any communications this few days I’ve been away. So I’m going to say good night, I will finish this tomorrow.

Good Morning, it is not just raining it is torrenting down. Hence the heading on this time of writing. But there is a good side to it, at least I don't have to carry fourteen cans of water to leave the garden fresh before I leave, I carry one in each hand and consider I'm doing some excersising. I am off on a trip tomorrow. Organized this time, eight days touring Scotland. So looking forward to it! This way until I feel a lot fitter, someone else will be carrying my suitcase. I'm sure I will be ready for my jaunt to Malta in a few months. Old age isn't always easy, but the alternative isn't as good! 
Before I go, I have to repeat this headline I have just heard on the Wright Stuff. I'm sure we won't hear it often. Monster rats are eating , Winnie The Pooh's Forest.  Oh Dear!  
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    Author

    Hi, I'm Lilian, I live on Walney Island, a small peninsular in the North West of England, part of the Barrow In Furness district.  
    I enjoy writing, and commenting on day-to-day life around me, and the world in general, and look forward to making you smile at some of my stories.

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