Answer

You were quite anxious, weren't you, wondering about the correct answer? Well, George has confirmed that my hunch was right - it was the Gothic. I think that ER came out to NZ on a later tour in the Britannia. So there you are. Tuck that away for a quiz evening!

Hmmm....

Now I'm just wondering.... DID the Queen in fact sail out to New Zealand in 1953 in the Britannia, or was it the Gothic??

Flower of Scotland

I love Scotland. I really don't know if it is because of my Dunedin heritage, my ancestry, the general feel of the place or just because my friends Joan and Bill are so lovely that it is just plain nice being there. Probably the latter! It certainly wasn't the weather which inspired me this time, that's for sure. Have a listen to the wee (I'm talking Scottish here you know) video. It's Joan and Bill singing the Scottish anthem. Unplanned, unrehearsed. Beautiful!
I arrived on Monday night, having lost an hour, and we drove from the airport to Innerleithen, a little village in the Scottish Borders. Near Peebles, for those of you, like me, who have a geographical interest and like looking at maps. :-) We sat up and talked for quite a while, with me still in a Massachusetts time zone. Poor Joan and Bill! On Tuesday morning I slept in quite late and Joan was at work. After lunch Bill & I walked into the village and along the road to the cemetery. I was searching for any Rae ancestors who may have been resting there. They came from Innnerleithen and Peebles and the occasional other neighbouring town. The cemetery was very old and isn't used any more. It's in quite a bad state and very neglected, and many tombstone inscriptions were impossible to read. Some had fallen over. Also, there were large areas of ground that were just grass and it's possible I guess that some graves were covered over. So you will guess from that that I didn't find any Raes. There were a few Taits however, and they appear in the family tree too. And speaking of Raes, today is Grandma Scott's (nee Rae) birthday. She would have been 109! Bill and I then walked up a hill to St Ronan's Well. This is a spring with a reputation for healing, mentioned originally by Robbie Burns when he visited the village, then made famous by Walter Scott in his novel St Ronan's Well.

Bill, taken from the well.


Affluent members of Edinburgh society came to 'take the waters' and a bottling plant was established. I had a wee drink of the water so I am assuming now that I am protected from Swine Flu and any other things with may be waiting to pounce.
On Wednesday we went into Edinburgh and had a wander round a mall. We had a look at the exterior of the Royal Yacht Brittannia which is docked there as a tourist attraction. We didn't bother with the guided tour. I remember that the Queen sailed to New Zealand in that ship when she came out for her 1953/1954 tour. It was really SMALL! Indeed, I was very surprised at how small it was. I guess it's quite old. Not that old necessarily means small! But I digress.

Me in front of Lizzie's old boat.

We then went for a bit of a drive round Edinburgh and stopped at Murrayfield. Continuing with my tour of stadiums! It was very large and very impressive and I was glad to get the opportunity to have a look. I don't remember what I did on Thursday, (I know I watched some golf on television), but at night we went into the Forth Valley chorus rehearsal. Joan and Bill are both barbershoppers, and both are very involved. Joan has won several gold medals in the UK region, singing with her chorus and also with quartets she has been in. Mainly her quartet Spinning Jenny. Cool name, eh? Forth Valley won the UK contest this year so will be competing in Seattle next year at the International Sweet Adelines Contest. Anyway, back to the rehearsal. It was wonderful! Hard to believe that a rehearsal could be so enjoyable but it was. Their director is fantastic and the singing was inspiring. How about that? So it was a good night.
On Friday I must have watched some more golf, and also Joan and I went into the village and wandered round. There is quite a bit to see - lots of antique shops for example. As well, because it's a special week - something to do with St Ronan - all the shop windows were decorated in blue and white for a 'best window' competition. After that, Joan's sister and her husband called round for a cuppa and we all sat round and had a nice chat.
On Saturday Joan and I drove to a Park and Ride car park then caught the bus into Edinburgh. It was quite funny actually. Joan has never caught the bus there before, but we must have looked wise because people kept coming up and asking us all about the buses, where they stopped, when they were running etc etc. By simply reading the info posted we were able to provide answers! Or it could have been that my sip of the St Ronan's waters has indeed made me wise. About buses. We had lunch followed by a double decker bus tour, which was good. we had a 'live' commentator, which is much better than the headphones set-up. And the chap was very good, too.
We then walked round the town, checking out the occasional tourist spot. I didn't visit the castle this time, but rest assured it is still there looking mighty splendid. Our final visit was to the National Art Gallery which was super. We didn't have a lot of time left so mainly focused on the Impressionists. You might be surprised to hear that! Back home, and at night we went into the village to watch the closing ceremony of the special week. Which as you know was something to do with St Ronan. And boys dressed up as monks. And dux boys. And... I couldn't really follow it, but it's a long-standing village tradition which is great really. It involved the Pipe and Silver Bands performing and I loved it! I really enjoy band music. There were heaps of people around, and despite the intermittent rain, there was a great festive atmosphere. So that was that.
On Sunday morning I packed (Roger, where were you??) and got taken to the airport. It was a bit chaotic queueing for my RyanAir flight, but in the end it all went well, and the flight landed in Poitiers half an hour early. And now I am home. It's bleedin' hot, but that is not a complaint you understand! Yesterday I wrote wrote and wrote my blog. I think I should become a writer because I just love it. I also went and had a goodbye ice cream with my friend Yun. We have said goodbye at least a couple of times before, but this time was for real. He flies to Korea tomorrow, and when he gets back to do his art course in Paris I will have left for New Zealand. He is a very nice young man. This afternoon I am getting my hair cut. It is almost long enough to plait. And tomorrow I fly out to London for a week. Looking forward to it! Catch you when I get back.

This is Joan and Bill at their front door.

Moving on.

And yes, so we move on.... On Sunday morning I got up and started getting ready to leave. "Let Roger pack your suitcase Alison," called out Kathy. Well, I've been doing it for a while now and I'm sure I can... but hey, why not? Well, he is a Suitcase Magician! Honestly, I couldn't believe how clever he was at rolling and folding and putting things inside other things. I mean, I do that too, but whereas I do Shopping well, Roger leaves me in the dust when it comes to Suitcases. (And after my year of very little shopping I think that Jane will have added qualifications to her already impressive list and I will never catch up!)
Anyway, he took me into Boston and dropped me off at Logan International Airport which was very calm and stress-free. On to the plane and I sat by a pleasant young man called Thomas, on the 5 hour first leg to Reykjavik. In fact we had a seat in between us so that was cool. I was able to explore a bit more of Iceland's airport this time and there were some nice shops. It still isn't a place high on my priority list for a return visit, however. On leg two I found that I had been put in the sort of upper middle class section. Better then economy, but not quite business. It was fine by me! I should have tried to sleep but instead watched movies. Well, I was on Massachusetts time!
OK. So I had landed in Paris and it was 6.15am. My flight to Edinburgh was scheduled for 9.30pm. A long day. Nowhere to sit comfortably, no luggage storage facilities, nothing to do, and I needed some sleep. I really had no choice. At great expense I checked into the Hotel Sheraton for the day! It is right inside the airport - no shuttle required! Normally breakfast in the restaurant is 37 euros - eek - but I had somehow managed to find myself in a Club Class room so I got free breakfast thank goodness. I ate that - and stashed away some odds and ends for lunch at the same time, just like a real country bumpkin! I had a lovely bath and then slept till 2.00pm. It was just wonderful really. It was dead quiet and really peaceful - amazing when you consider where it is! So I just lounged about in their bathrobe until it was time to get ready for my flight to Edinburgh. This check-in also went very smoothly. EasyJet can be a bit - well, less than satisfactory, but the queue moved very quickly and the people at the front line were very friendly and helpful. It was great.
More to come.

Mass #7

Phew!
On Saturday July 11th Roger, Kathy and I set off in a northerly direction. Our first stop was Salem, famous, or indeed infamous, for the Witch Trials of 1692. We went to the Tourism Centre and saw an excellent video which played down the Witch Trials and played up the rest of Salem's history, such as its seafaring past and present. The reality is of course that Salem is associated with witches and that's that. Briefly, the Witch Trials were early examples of 'witch-hunting' and required a scapegoat for something which was difficult to explain. Intolerance was rampant - what has changed I wonder? To read about what actually happened and how innocent people can be so terribly vicimised by the power of gossip and lies, try this site. http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/
We visited the Witch Museum which had good tableaux and provided an excellent overview of events. It wasn't slickly organised but it was certainly interesting. The photo of me being a witch is a bit silly I guess, as Grimm Brothers witches and the like weren't anything to do with the nonsense that went on, but I need to lighten up as it happened a long time ago! :-) So here I am being a witch!
In fact I was terribly tempted - in the Gift Shop, where else? - to buy a wonderful door stop which was in fact a pair of legs wearing red shoes. I loved it, but it was VERY expensive!
We went on to Gloucester where we had lunch - beautiful fish and chips. We just happened to be there at the same time as a large tour group and it was interesting to watch the dynamics as they sorted out where to sit. One woman didn't settle for at least half an hour while she tried to accommodate all her friends with her at the same table, despite the fact that there were just single and double spaces left. Like, she was going to be separated from them for... how long? Anyway, in another one of those serendipitous moments, the restaurant owner had obviously been asked to speak to the group. So we got to listen too. He was hugely entertaining and had a wonderful knowledge of the local history. Frozen foods began in Gloucester, when a local man by the name of Clarence Birdseye noticed how food didn't spoil when he left it outside in the winter! I won't recount all the tales, but they were very interesting and well told.
We then drove to the lovely little town of Rockport. It is quite charming and has a great atmosphere, despite being full of tourists just wandering up and down. As we were!


I'm tired just writing all this, so as you can imagine we were pretty tired too after a very full day. Lots to see, and lots of driving. Roger and Kathy really went out of their way to provide so many interesting experiences for me over the week and a bit, and I had to work hard to convince Kathy that I was very happy to stay at home some days! She would have rustled up a further schedule had I wanted that. I thought that I was probably staying a bit too long, but Kathy was disappointed I hadn't booked to stay another week or two as there is so much to see. True! Another time perhaps. In fact Kathy is already saying, "When you come next time...." :-) Can you just imagine New England in the autumn? Glorious.

Mass #6

A chipmunk!



Yep, I'm still in New England! On Friday afternoon, July 10th, (in fact, the 10th of July - this year!) Kathy and I went to a replica pioneer farming community and village called Old Sturbridge Village. Wikipedia says: Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) is a living museum located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, which re-creates life in rural New England during the 1790s through 1830s (the Romantic Period).
It is the largest living museum in New England, covering more than 200 acres (80 hectares). In the early nineteenth century, the land on which Old Sturbridge Village now stands was a farm owned by David Wight. The farm included a sawmill, gristmill and a millpond which survives to this day.
It's a hands on place and there are the usual costumed guides going about their business. You can see a tinsmith, women making quilts, a gardener,
a printer with his press, a blacksmith, women dying wool from plant extracts, etc.
I especially loved the old general store.
It reminded me of the same kind of store that was in Alexandra when we used to stay with Grandma as very small children!
Now you are right to think that it probably isn't much different from the likes of Shanty Town. It's on a much larger piece of land and there is a real sense of it really being a rural community, but apart from that I guess these types of places are much the same everywhere. Which doesn't mean that having seen one you shouldn't visit another! It was a lovely day and Kathy and I enjoyed wandering around in the tranquil surroundings. And - here's the exciting bit - it had a Gift Shop to die for!! There were 4 parts to it, all the stuff was of good quality, and a person with shopping in her blood could easily spend quite some time there. Not that I did, you understand. But I know that it was good, because I am a Gift Shop Connoisseur. It's a skill one is born with. :-)

Mass #5

I am assuming you understand that Mass is an abbreviation for Massachusetts, and that you aren't thinking that I have had some sort of American divine intervention. :-)
Wednesday was another 'at home' day, which was good. On Thursday we were off again to Cape Cod. Kathy and Roger had some business to do down there, and of course it's a great place to visit, so it worked out really well. Now, another place name that conjures up a bit of magic for me is Hyannisport. The Kennedys and all that. And that's where we went! Hyannis first of all, where we had lunch in a great cafe, decorated like a 50s Diner. I had Clam Chowder because you have to really. And it was good.
We wandered along the street and I went to the Kennedy Museum.
The man on the door thought I was Irish as I had a musical lilt to my voice. I suspect that he was the Irishman - full o' the blarney! :-) I HATE hearing my throaty voice warbling away on tape - I don't hear a musical lilt myself! Anyway, I really enjoyed the museum. There was a video to begin with which was very interesting, and several other videos dotted around. They were such a wealthy family that they did things like filming family activities and taking lots of photos, which other families may not have done at that time. So great records were kept. My god, JFK was handsome! I have always thought that of course, but it just served to reinforce my point of view! Yes, I know he was a womaniser. But I thought he was wonderful, and that's that! :-)
After that, we drove to Hyannisport which is where the Kennedy Compound is. We walked along the beach and it was just lovely.
I walked up some little wooden steps at one point and looked across - rudely I guess! - at one of the Kennedy houses. There was a man sitting on a chair - a Cape Cod chair in fact! - and I'm SURE it was Teddy Kennedy. He has that square sort of frame that is quite recognisable. I think he's ill - is that right? But he could still have gone to the bach for a holiday. (Cute little bach really. Hahahaha!)
Gosh, it just oozed wealth around there, but the beach and general area was still quite simple in a way. In fact Cape Cod in general wasn't nearly as upmarket as I had expected. It was quite unspoiled in many places, and even a bit old-fashioned. But nice.

You did know you were in a popular tourist spot because the traffic on the Cape itself was very heavy.
Roger and Kathy caught up with the man they needed to see, and so we headed home again. A great day.

You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod!

Oh, I just had a thought! If Hayden can do a Stadium World Tour (well, it was just the West Coast of the US really) then I could do a World Tour of Songs. You know, Cape Cod, Loch Lomond, Sur le pont d'Avignon, I love Paris in the spring time.... Oh hang on. I've been to those places! But I still like the idea, so I'll try to think of more good lines!