[QUOTE=Hank;671748] Baffling why someone would post this and then remove it so quickly.
He has no doubt been told to by the do gooder in chief, Justin Welby.
[QUOTE=Hank;671748] Baffling why someone would post this and then remove it so quickly.
He has no doubt been told to by the do gooder in chief, Justin Welby.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
I once spent a nervous night in a British registered campervan in a layby just outside Belfast having arrived on the 0200 ferry. After that, without exception, everyone we encountered was friendly and welcoming (especially to our two small children) and seemed grateful that we were prepared to come. I'm sure not everyone felt the same, but either we were very lucky or the ordinary people of Northern Ireland and Eire are decent pleasant people- I suspect the latter.
Funnily enough I couldn't find this bit of news on the BBC TV page, strange that.
Seems he's got form https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...list-cult.html
Am Yisrael Chai
I had several cycling holidays in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. I don't think I had met anyone from NI before I went to university; but I met many Northern Irish there (at St Andrews) and, as you say, they were all decent pleasant people. So at the end of my first year (in 1976), I told my parents that I would be cycling home, but didn't tell them that my route would involve a Stranraer-Larne ferry and another ferry from Dublin to Liverpool. They got a postcard from Dundalk, i.e. after I had crossed the border.
I visited NI again in '81 (when the black flags were out for the hunger strikers), '84 (when I was there for a job interview at the University of Ulster), '88 and '90. Never any unpleasantness from anyone.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
We spent quite a bit of time in the north and along the west coast over a few years. Apart from the numerous elderly men dressed in suits riding ancient bicycles who invariably gave us a friendly wave as we passed them we had some great welcomes. On one occasion, looking for somewhere to spend the night we squeezed the van down a very narrow twisting road to a pier with a very small parking spot, half of which was taken up by bags of mussels. I'd just decided that in all fairness we couldn't stop there when the occupant of one of the few nearby houses (who had waved as we passed) came walking around the corner. I expected to be told to clear off. Instead he told us we would be fine there for the night, nobody would bother us. Shortly afterwards a tractor and trailer arrived to collect the mussels. As he tried to turn round in the by now very small space I offered to move the van out of the way - 'No, No, your just fine there, no bother'.
We had some splendid wild camps - waking up one morning to see an otter catching fish right in front of the van, another time two basking sharks circling the bay and one memorable evening watching dolphins playing in the surf for hours. Its a splendid place and when I last went it reminded me of Scotland from 40 or 50 years ago - more laid back, less developed and pretty quiet in most places, most of the time. When I first went as a child in the 1960s the local farmers were still delivering single churns of milk on donkey carts to the dairy beside our campsite - then staying for hours to have the craic with their mates.
Last edited by Mark G; 06-02-2021 at 12:54 PM.
The mention of "ancient bicycles" reminds me of one incident in Ireland, on one of my cycling holidays in my bachelor days when I never booked any accommodation ahead. It was 1988, and during the Troubles the Army had blown up or otherwise blocked many of the roads across the border that weren't approved crossings.
It was past 7pm, and I was on the road along the Co Leitrim shore of Lough Melvin, hoping to find a B&B. The nearest village was Garrison, but that was across the border in Co Fermanagh, and the road wasn't an approved crossing. I decided to try it anyway. When I got to the border, there was a concrete wall across the road, although there was a narrow gap on one side of it. I stopped to contemplate my next move. Soon a lady on a moped came past, and disappeared through the narrow gap. A few minutes later, a man on an ancient bicycle, who I had overtaken a few miles back, came along. I asked him if it was possible to get through. "Follow me", he said, and he led me through the narrow gap and along a path that had been trodden out by many feet and wheels to where the road became passable again. He even told me where I would be able to get a bed for the night, at an outdoor activities centre in Garrison.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
I was working as a steeplejack/rope access worker in the 90's and we had a contract to paint a chemical storage sphere at the Dupont works outside Derry (London). This was just around the first ceasefire. 3 of us were over there for 3 weeks working all the hours of daylight to get it done whilst the weather held, We finished it on a Sunday morning and it was obvious that the pub was the next stop. We went into the local at about 1.30 and I've never been into a more intoxicated pub. Everyone was slaughtered and we had some serious drinking to do to catch up. I was talking to an old guy and his pint just slipped through his hand to smash on the floor. He was amazed and said that had never happened to him before. A bloke was sat on a tall stool by the bar and tipped over backwards to smash the back of his head on the stone floor. He lay there unconcious and bleeding and no one took any notice, just stepping over him.
We escaped at about 5.00 and went back to the campsite we were staying on so pissed. Lovely friendly crowd though!
We listened the radio a lot, in particular Gerry Ryan and a couple of lads called (I think) Colm and Jim Jim. They were hilarious and there were some fascinating phone ins. Eire had temporarily introduced a rule allowing learner drivers to drive unaccompanied due to a severe shortage of examiners. More examiners had been recruited and the concession was about to end. There was an irate lady demanding to know how she could be expected to take her children to school if she had to pass a driving test. Another one was a student who was running out of grant money after spending some of it on a drum kit. On national radio Gerry Ryan simply responded 'Well you're a fecking idiot then aren't you?' Radio 4 it wasn't but it was great entertainment.
I hired a surfboard at Keel. I'd chatted to the guy earlier. When I arrived he handed me a board, wetsuit, boots etc. At that point I hadn't got round to asking him the price but I'd hired a windsurfer the year before and that had cost me £15 - a reasonably hefty amount back then. I asked how much I owed him. 5 Punts was the answer (£3) - I said '5 Punts? How long for?' Straight away he replied 'Well, it's meant to be an hour. But to be sure, just take as long as you like'.
That was on Achill Island, spectacular place. A ridge a bit like Halls Fell on Blencathra rises straight up from a sandy bay to the summit of Slieve Mor. Some great running on that and nearby.
Last edited by Mark G; 07-02-2021 at 04:46 PM.
Can we have Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch for BBC Governor General please...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwH45WlpDoo
Am Yisrael Chai