“Ve vill schtop for zirty minutes...” No, we’re not on a coach tour of the Rhine, the Tyrol or the cantons of Switzerland. We’re in Canada. We’d expected to be sharing the ride with other English-speakers but didn’t anticipate having a Tour Director who was Swiss with an Irish surname. However, our ears having become attuned to her accent, we've found Swiss-Canadian Margarith an efficient, knowledgeable and convivial guide with a good, albeit unusual, sense of humour. As you’ll have read from previous blogs, we’d flown from London Gatwick to Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Thomas Cook’s generous 34-inch seat pitch on their Airbus-330-200 had now been mirrored by that in our big, six-wheel coach under contract to the local operator Jonview. Its former 48-seat configuration had been reduced just a few months ago t... read more

Aren’t airports strange places? They’re unlike anything in the real world. People hurrying to get in a queue of a hundred others who hurried there before them. People in clothes they’d never dream of wearing in public anywhere else - the vivid-pink jogging suit with matching trainers, the bright yellow-and-red-check cap with the oversized peak, the Rupert-like golf trousers with sandals. People of all shapes, sizes and colours, speaking languages you’ve never heard before. Pints of beer from the bar at eight o’clock in the morning. Fast-food, slow service, ‘have a nice day’. Harrods, Accessorize, Boots (et al) in an up-market high-street with prices to match. Like casinos in Las Vegas, there’s only artificial light, so it could be daytime, it could be night. Who knows? Who cares? It’s an airport. The signs all proclaim that ... read more

'Croeso i Gymru - Welcome to Wales', said the road-sign as we crossed the boundary from England into the land of daffodils, leeks and red dragons. Then, the heavens opened! That was last September, when we came to look after our son's house, dog and cat while he took his family away for a well-earned holiday. Exactly the same thing happened on our way here again last week! The only difference so far is that, last September, the torrential rain was replaced by a succession of mainly sunny days (when the accompanying photos were taken). As I write now, at the end of May, our car is getting a daily wash to rival anything that the local filling station could provide with their Jet Wash machine. It’s also so windy that the resident jackdaws hover almost ... read more

Hands up all those who've circumnavigated that London racetrack known as Hyde Park Corner... Come on, you can do better than that – I was hoping for some audience participation! So, once again: Hands up all those who've circumnavigated that London racetrack known as Hyde Park Corner... That’s better – quite a good show of hands this time. Now, hands up those who spotted the large white arch that's planted in the middle of the racetrack (Clue: It has a huge statue of four horses and a chariot on top). And now, how about the big, cream-coloured house with an Acropolis-like portico that stands grandly on the opposite side of the road - just before the chicane that takes you into Park Lane and down the long straight to that other arch, the Marble one, where ... read more

"Where I'm standing right now", said the Wellington-booted historian, "was a detonation chamber - from which I could have blown up you and the bridge on which you were standing until a few seconds ago". We were in the grounds of Audley End House, an elegant manor with a history dating back to the 12th century, near Saffron Walden in Essex. The estate, purchased for the nation in 1948 for the princely sum of £30,000, is managed by English Heritage. On this occasion, we were attending a members-only event tracing the house's contribution to the defence of Britain during World War II. Our tour of the grounds and some of the behind-the-scenes areas normally prohibited to the visiting public was an eye-opener to a wartime secret of which we - and local residents of that time ... read more