Trains Planes and Automobiles

After the excursions of the last few days, we based ourselves in a Eco Hotel in the Peruvian cloud forest, not far from Macchu Pichu. We chilled out chasing photos of humming birds, learning about the sexual life of orchids and the medical properties of herbs and partaking of first class Peruvian hospitality.

We did not meet any of Paddingtons ancestors, nor were we ravaged by mosquitos, so we arrived back in Lima in good order.

The sea level terrain restored my metabolism almost instantaneously and Maxine summarised our holiday thus:

• 9 flights
• 2 train journeys
• numerous cab rides
• 5 hotel rooms
• 2 bottles of win (some mistake shurey?....ed)
• 2 pints of London Pride (Brazil prices)
• 1 fab wedding and

and we tried to drink Brazil dry of Brahma!

Sounds a good summary to me. 15 more hours in the air and we should be home!!

Paddington Bear

People used to say 'can you name three famous Belgiums?, with Hercule Poirot being top of the list. Well, we tried with Peruvians when SWMBO and I arrived in Lima, for our onward trip to Cusco. The most famous Peruvian spectacled bear and Tupac, the last of the Inka kings came to mind, but a third failed to pop out.

We arrived at Cusco to get acclimatised to the high altitude for our visit to the magic kingdom of Macchu Pichu, and boy did I need it. I have never felt so wrecked as I did at 10,000 feet.I had no energy, could not get my breath and was basically in the oxygen deprivation zone. Maxine on the other hand revelled in it, real role reversal from sea level in the UK.

We stayed in Cusco for two days, three probably would have helped me, by which time we were all churched out saw masses of Inka gold and silver but still had no idea where the Macchu Pichu hoard went. Hirem Bingham must have had the same feeling.

We then travelled by trail to Aguas Calientes at the foot of Macchu Pichu before taking a bus the final few hundred feet up to the mountain city. We were afforded the luxury of a good guide who helped us to all the major parts of the site in the morning, except the guardhouse. he left us this challenge for the afternoon and while Maxine made it, I fell about 100metres short. it would have been good to walk to the Sun Gate but that would have been another 90 minutes uphill hike and so we thought best to remember the place in a positive light.

The back packers who walk the Inka Trail to arrive at Macchu Pichu do so at the Sun Gate. it must be a fabulous feeling and more than worth the four days of yomping which are involved in getting there.

The Road to Rio

Phase 2 of the South American tour saw Tim drag the new Mrs Weathers to afore mentioned Murphy's for the Carling Cup final between United and Hotspurs. It was a reasonable 0-0 cup final between two under strength teams but there was only going to be one winner when it went to penalties.

Murphy's is owned by an ex-Twickenham resident and Spurs supporter who moved to Sao Paulo in 1987. It also sells London Pride albeit at £8 a bottle. The guv'nor was curious why I had not dropped in when I was there in 1989....it might have had something to do with working Monday to Friday and then going to Rio for the weekends....some things never change as me, SWMBO, Kieran and Becky and partners headed there for some r & r, as Mr and Mrs Weathers II headed to Kenya.

SWMBO and I were staying in a five star on Copacabana, the kids were in a hovel a few blocks back, moaning a bit. I explained to them they had to earn the right to stay in a five star, but sagging in to use the facilities, as they did, is fine.

Copacabana is a fine place, a beach by day and a sports arena by night, people still playing footie at 3 am.

We did Sugar loaf, Christ the Redeemer and the Girl from Ipanema bar, where Antonio Carlos Jobin wrote it. Rio named their airport after him which struck a cord (sic) with the scousers and John Lennon international.

Highlight for me was the row in the street with the taxi driver after ordering everybody out at the traffic lights. Don't think SWMBO and Kieran were too impressed but the cabbie did finally get in the car to get me change, not get a gun and shoot me once we had settled our differences in language neither of us understood.

That was the only flashpoint of the whole tour, Sao Paulo and Rio are just like London, but with weather.

Ding Dong The Bells Are Going To Chime

Well number one son did the deed last week and married the lovely Lili in a wonderful church in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was there with my wife, my ex-wife (both featured in this photo, together), three of Tims siblings,( two, Hannah and Rebecca, also featuring) , the mad mother-in-law Tim has inherited, various friends from the UK and elsewhere and the randoms from Brazil who made up the numbers.

The service was wonderful, the bride looked fab, there was a free bar and I made my speech in Portugese, much to everybody's amazement. It got some laughs but I am not sure if that was a result of mispronounceation or that they actually got how diffciult it is to surf the net of 'famous Brazillians'!

The Brazillian wedding culture is quite strange. For example, I spent all of the Saturday until just before the wedding (5pm) in a beauty salon with the bride, bridesmaids and others. I was there to provide male company for Tim and this is an expected ritual. The bridal party all left from the salon, and for somebody who take 20 minutes to get ready it was a bit of a strain, especially with the Ireland v England rugby match on the tele at Murphy's down the road.

That said, it was a superb event and apart from the conception, it was the first life moment I have been at for Tim. For that alone, it will be the Special One.

Under the Hammer

I have been drinking off and on in a pub in Twickenham called The Tup. The rugby club use it after games on Saturdays, but Gillette Ray and I usually pop in for our Tuesday night club if there is a footie match on.

It has been a bit idiosyncratic as far as decor is concerned. A series of tup related cartoons have been blended with several prints by Beryl Cook, Jack Vettriano and others.

I have always vowed to offer the builder for some of them should the pub ever get a make-over. I already own a few Beryl Cooks but the one in The Tup would not be my first choice.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when a couple of Tuesdays ago I walked in and the 'Beryl' was missing. I looked round quickly and saw that both the others I liked had price tags on them. Further questioning of the new manager indicated that they were taking up too much wall space and did not fit the new Tup image. He clearly did not know what he was selling, so a quick deal was struck and they now reside in Chis. the manager was happy as he needed a new glass washer and he the 'Beryl' was the pick of the bunch, but how wrong could he be.

Only a select few of her screenprints command decent money, most of her litho's can be picked up for a few hundred pounds.

No, the one I wanted was 'The Partys Over' by Jack Vettriano and it became a Valentines present for SWMBO .Jack Vettriano is a Scottish artist who's most famous work, The Singing Butler sells more posters and prints than any other artist in the UK. The original recently sold for £750,000. He, like Beryl Cook, is frowned upon by the establishment as not really being a proper artist and consequently you will not find either hung at the Tate Modern.

Jacks pictures do have a smouldering sexuality about many of them and consequently the beer drinking Ruggers who frequent the Tup will now have to fantasise over something else.

Ice cold in Alex

Well sadly I have not appeared in The Sunday Times rich list, ooops, sorry, The Sunday Times top 100 blogs here. That must be in part due to the delinquency I am demonstrating with my regular entries.

If its not work getting in the way (shurely not?....ed) then its the social distractions of Edinburgh which are responsible. I have been eating and drinking pretty well lately, and it has caused me to stumble upon one of those annoying restaurant habits which I think should be stamped out.

I tend to drink white wine when I am out, and a crisp nicely chilled Chablis usually fits the bill perfectly. Imagine then when I ask for it in a wine bucket, and a contraption more filling for flowers turns up at the table. I really can't understand why they try to indicate that this cooler thingie can begin to take the place of an ice bucket. If the wine is slightly warm then the cooler will maintain it at that temperature, and placing a few ice cubes in the bottom does not alter the effect.

So come on all you patrons who read this site, get those wine buckets in when next I visit, and dump the coolers round the corner at the florists.

Snow snow thick thick snow

Today it snowed with great vigor in the London conurbation, and sure enough the whole thing stopped. I don't have a problem with that as I had planned to work in London all week and not travel to Edinburgh.

With my surname I kind of have a feel for this sort of thing occurring.

It was interesting as I walked down the High Road to see that some house owners and shops had cleared the snow, and others had not. As I understand it, if you clear the snow and the postman slips and damages himself then you are liable for the injury, if you leave the snow to its own devices and he falls over its 'an act of God' and just tough! I always leave my snow untouched...

Turnham Green was like a scene from a Lowry painting, and I would post my photos but my phone has packed up, humbug. So if I find they are on my memory stick when I get a new phone I will post them later.


I also have some pictures of Chiswick Business Park I did manage to recover. I will post them later too. It will probably thaw later which is always the down side of the beauty which snow can bring to a grey city landscape.