Venice airport as we approached our gate As we exited the customs area in Venice I expected to see the promised ‘meet & greet’ person. I’d booked a water taxi to our hotel, via our hotel. The available area of the arrival hall was checked to make sure that we were not in the wrong place – […]
What do people think of when they hear of a mutiny? Perhaps cinema’s effort to re-enact a mutiny helps us to think of – the mutiny on HMS Bounty, in April 1789 might come to mind. . or would it be the Indian Mutiny of 1857. . or a later mutiny aboard the Russian battleship […]
Where there is faith there is light and strength The translation of the moto above. My father’s family have lived in Birkenhead since around 1870, after moving from St Albans in Hertford via Derby. My mother’s family were relatively newcomers having moved from Caernarvon in North Wales in 1921. I was born in the same […]
Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]
I’d always wanted to return to Sri Lanka (still Ceylon in my mind) to show Maureen something different, but this time I wanted to stay at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, not just visit for lunch as I had when I was at sea. We flew in from Malaysia and after immigration & customs we entered a […]
SS Shieldhall, used to be a Clyde ‘sludge boat’. 1972 GT, built in 1954 and now saved as a piece of history and maintained by volunteers. In 2012 she was repainted in the colours of R.M.S Titanic to mark the centenary of the sinking. She operates over the weekend as a pleasure steamer taking tourists […]
I’ll never go abroad – which was a stupid comment that I made at thirteen, comes back to bite me. My first adventure abroad was just after I’d just turned sixteen in 1960. Billy Beedles, who was a family friend and a schoolteacher asked me to accompany him in August to help shepherd a […]
In 1926 Aggie married Charles Grey When one reads the history of Samoa, particularly through the 1800s to the mid-1900s the list of characters that flowed in and around Apia, the capital of Samoa, would keep a Hollywood producer in work for years. Aggie grew up across the road from the International Hotel and one […]
SS Shieldhall, used to be a Clyde ‘sludge boat’. 1972 GT, built in 1954 and now saved as a piece of history and maintained by volunteers. In 2012 she was repainted in the colours of R.M.S Titanic to mark the centenary of the sinking. She operates over the weekend as a pleasure steamer taking tourists […]
Where ever we went in Southampton we came a cross history, whether from a few years ago to over a thousand years ago. He still guards Bargate, and watches over the peace of the town. The town has been in existences from the Stone age, through the Bronze and the Iron age. It was called […]
Asia has a number of major hubs to Europe – Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and recently with the growth of the Chinese airlines, various Chinese cities such as Shanghai & Guangzhou (old name being Canton). When checking which transit hub to use to buy your business class ticket consider the economy of the […]
MV Pundua – ordered by the M.O.W.T (Ministry of War for Transport) in 1945, but was delivered to British India Steam Navigation Co. when launched. The Company had 105 ships at the outbreak of WW2, and during the war they lost 51 vessels due to enemy action. They also managed 72 other vessels, and of […]
Floating Market outside Bangkok. Hire a boat and enjoy the experience. They cater for all tastes. Access to the market can be made from the landward side. We walked through the market to get to the boats. The locals also buy from the boat people. The young girl had just bought a hot meal. Most […]
Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]
