Nov 5th, 2017

First snow of the year

First snow of the year on the mountains within 24 hours of when it appeared last year. A very, very beautiful day.

Nov 4th, 2017

Happy Birthday

I had my parents, my brother and my friend J over for my birthday. It being the 4th of November we also had some very impressive display fireworks with N risking body and soul to light them. I had a little medieval theme going and this was my “dragon hoard” cake. I may have overdone […]

Oct 28th, 2017

Sorrento and last day

Sadly this was our last day. We went to Sorrento – actually I think we should have stayed there rather than Vico Equense as it is more set up for tourists and is actually a more pleasant town. There were some beautiful views over the bay in the evening. Unfortunately we had to be up […]

Oct 28th, 2017

Capri

We went to Capri today. This must be one of the most charming places in the world. J was no overly enthusiastic about another major walk up a hill, but to do him credit he went along with it. We went to the Villa Jovis which was Tiberius’ residence as famed in Suetonius. I am […]

Oct 27th, 2017

Back to Napoli

After our rather scary first visit to Napoli we came back and this time I had no problem with the city at all. Possibly this was because we had the iPhone fully charged and therefore had unrestricted to Google Maps, and also were more accustomed to the awful traffic, but we genuinely enjoyed ourselves today. […]

Oct 24th, 2017

Vesuvius and Herculaneum

Weather now greatly improved. Sunny but not too hot at around 18 degrees. This would have suited R fine though unfortunately he is back in rainy Argyll looking after the cats. In the morning we went up Vesuvius. Personally I would have climbed it from sea level, but I don’t think that considering J’s performance […]

Oct 24th, 2017

Napoli part One

Today we went into Naples. I have been here before and have never been too sure about how I feel about this city. It is indubitably a very vibrant and sometimes beautiful place, but it is rather scruffy (definitely not Swiss Chocolate Box territory) and the traffic is something awful. We went on the Naples […]

Oct 23rd, 2017

Pompeii

The next day by way of a gentle introduction to public transport we went to Pompeii. For some reason the train was mobbed and we only managed to squash ourselves on with difficulty. I think the previous train must have been cancelled as none of the others we took subsequent to this were anything like […]

Oct 22nd, 2017

Off to Italy

My friend J and I are off to Italy for a week. Last year we went to Rome in September and it was rather oppressively hot. So this year we went in October and it was considerably cooler and more pleasant. On our way out we went to see the Jacobite exhibition at the Museum […]

Oct 20th, 2017

Two badgers fucking

This rather reminds me of an old joke. A native American goes to his shaman and asks him how he names the members of the tribe. He answers “Well my son, I look out from my wigwam in the morning and if I see a bird flying overhead I will name the child “Eagle Soaring” […]