Queen Elizabeth II - RIP

 Such sad new about the passing of our Queen of over 70 years. She was a good age at 96, and continued to be active mentally albeit with limited mobility. Boris Johnson and Liz Truss must have been very touched that they were the last political figures to be received by her as Prime Minister duties were passed from one to the other.

What, though, for the rest of us. I was born in her coronation year of 1953, and my mother was of the same age as the Queen. I never knew a previous monarch, and people born after February 1971 would have never known any other face but the Queen on our coins and bank notes. That was, of course, when our pounds, shillings and pence were replaced by decimalisation. I saw her once to my knowledge at The Royal Bath and West Show in the 1960's. She may have been at sporting events I attended but I cannot be sure

I just wish they had named the new cross-rail train line The Elizabethan line rather than The Elizabeth line, it just trips off the tongue easier.

She was commander-in-chief of the armed forces and many serving and retired military people still refer to her as their boss. That responsibility now passes to King Charles III as we enter the Charline or Charleon era. I await a new train line being named as such later in the new reign.

The King has been in training for many years and should be pretty good at the job. He will have his mother's sense of humour honed during his time in the Footlights at Oxbridge. Hopefully he will be able to manage the challenge presented by Harry and Megan, and initial signs are that William and Harry are open to talking through their problems.

The one challenge he has is being fit enough for the challenge The Queen started very young and grew into the role. It is a much bigger job now than it was in 1953 and Charles is jumping straight into it in his 70's. Lets hope all the gym work pays dividends or we could be going through this pomp and circumstance all over again in the not too distant future.

So as The Queen is laid at rest in Edinburgh for 24 hours  and the Scottish public file past her coffin we can only surmise the impact it will have on the independence debate, as well as the united Ireland challenges and the Northern Ireland protocol. Our monarchy is unique in the way it reaches out across the World. Let's hope the change of the guard enhances that reputation and does not diminish it.

Gotcha

Damn and blast. I have just tested positive for Covid. I thought it was a bit of left over jet lag but it seemed too debilitating for  that and as we had a group outing tonight I thought it best to check.

So either got it in Fenway Park, on the BA flight to Heathrow or on the shuttle to Manchester which was populated by a large number of potential unvaccinated people.

Our first Liverpool golf Salver day went off well on Monday so hopefully I have been careful regarding cross infection. I have cancelled other commitments until next week.

Maybe this will dose me up with anti-bodies ready for the Winter

Foot race

It's a small world is an expression which is used disproportionately by Earthlings, but it does seem to raise its head every now and again with great relevance.

Take our trip to Boston and Falmouth in Cape Cod. The football festival in honour of SWMBO's brother  was a great success and the organisation was augmented by a PA announcer through out. Marc Davis is a teacher and cross country running coach but in the day he was a 3000m steeplechaser. He ran the PA system for us, and then this weekend he is going to be the finishing line commentator for the Falmouth 7.1k fun run. This will be the 50th year of the race and it is a linear route from the lighthouse to the Shipwrecked pub. The strange distance is due to the fact that it started as a pub run with about 6 bars being embraced on the route. I don't think many competitors stop on the way round these days.

Marc reached the final of the steeplechase at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He broke his foot in the semi- final so ended 12th in the final. SWMBO and I were in the Olympic stadium little knowing we would meet Marc 25 years later. Interestingly he shared an agent with Michael Johnson who we also saw win the 400m final in his golden boots.

Bums on seats

 So the Boston adventure comes to an end. It finished yesterday with an 8 sided football tournament having started on Thursday with 18 holes at Oakley Country Club. The first course laid out by Donald Ross.

Sandwiched in between was a visit to Fenway Park to see the Red Socks defeat the Yankees 3-2 in overtime. If ever baseball gets exciting then that must be how it looks.

We were royally looked after by the owner and staff of the Phoenix Landing and at the after party last night we were 'treated' to a bicycle ride past of about 100 naked or near naked participants, All very surreal and hugely amusing.

To wind it all up, I lost the golf and the Scousers lost 3-2 in the footie final to aforesaid pub side.

Back Blighty now with BA.

Electric Ladyland

 Goodness me what a night as a mega storm hit Cape Cod. We were out for dinner and managed two beers before moving on for a Thai. We never made it as thunder and lightening hit the village together willtorrential rain. Then boom the whole power supply shut down so we started back home canopy to canopy. About half way back we noticed a Chinese all lit up so managed some crispy duck and sizzling beef from one of the only outlets spared the blackout. We just got back to the motel before another deluge!!!

So this morning we needed a proper breakfast and decided that The Shipwreck was walking distance. Bother it was closed so no alternative but to try Betsy's and so glad we did.

A rave from the grave with 60's music  juke boxes on each table and retro decour

. The food was the best of the lot, so I brought one of their mugs!

All the talk of electricity reminds me that we took delivery of an electric car before we left blighty. A Corsa-e for SWMBO to swan round in. You dont see many electric charging points over here but with petrol at $4 a gallon there is no huge demand for them, other than a few Tesla.

Off to Boston tomorrow for the rest of the tour. Golf at Oakley Country Club tomorrow then a Patriots pre-season friendly and Fenway Park on Friday for some Red Socks action.

The Little League playoffs have been on in the bars we have visited. Some of the kids look about 12 and the pitchers have been in tears. Where is the fun in growing up going??

Diners dollars and dimes

 As my invincibility at knock-out golf disintegrates, it is time to take a break and travel again. This time we are attending the 10th anniversary football festival in Boston in memory of SWMBO brother Marin, who died there so young.

Firstly though we are having some beach time in Falmouth,Cape Cod. From the shore we  can watch the ferries to Martha's Vineyard and the whale watch vessels plying their trade. All very relaxing.

There are  similarities with our cruise to Croatia in so much as each town has a Main Street a ferry terminal and a harbour inlet. Main difference is that real estate prices start at about $2m. Yesterday we went to Hyannis where JFK had his Summer House. and we will drop into Sandwich on our way up to Boston on Thursday.

The motor Inn we are staying at has limited facilities although the pool is very handy, so we are eating out for breakfast and dinner. The diner options are interesting. The nearest,the Black Dog, is a semi-take-away with good coffee and muffins. Yesterday we tried a Portuguese cafe but that was poor, so Shipwrecked, on the beach is winning so far with just Betsy's to try tomorrow.

Evening meals have been good with the obligatory burger and Guinness in the local Irish bar followed by two Italian meals. The first was great but the second didn't suit me as their starter filled me up too much and the rissotto was too stoggy and a bit like porridge.

Micro breweries seem to be everywhere with cloudy IPA dominating, but the search for an amber beer continues.It will probably be Samuel Adams.

What did the Romans do for us?

Koper in Slavenia and Split in Croatia probably had the most interesting architecture. The similarities were very strong, and the old towns had managed to hold onto their Byzantine past. Split indeed is a UNESCO World heritage site, but the walk to the Cathedral in Koper was probably the highlight. Here are a few pictures which caught the eye during the week.

Emperor Clementines Palace in Split

The Cathederal in Koper

Emperor Clementine

Garibaldi, the biscuit man, and a rare holiday snap!!