Cliffs of Moher

We were welcomed to the Cliffs of Moher by a small building with a door at the side. Inside there was a large bowl full of pebbles with a trickling fountain of water. You are encouraged to use this space to meditate. It is provided by the Samaritans.

Further on are shops, and a visitor centre built into the hillside. The visitor centre was state of art with interactive displays and an exciting animated film of life on the cliff face.

The cliffs round the visitor centre are well protected so you cannot easily get too close to the edge of the cliffs.

Further up there are more signs by the Samaritans, and then a gap in the fence. 'Need to Talk? Samaritans'.

Beyond this point a lot of tourists were taking daring photographs on a zig zag rocky ledge. It has to be said that portions of the rock face can collapse without warning. According to one local we spoke with, the life boat comes this way two or three times a week to search the bottom of the cliffs.

Visit Father Ted's House

Father Ted is a much loved TV character in the UK and Ireland. By chance we found ourselves on Craggy Island and visited his house.

We were not only offered cups and cups of tea but we were plied with sandwiches. Try to refuse and Mrs Doyle, the housekeeper, would insist 'Go on Go on Go on'.

Lisdoonvana - too late for the Folk Festival and too early for Matchmaking

We got here a few decades too late for the Lisdoonvana Folk Festival where many of our old favourites performed: Van Morrison, John Martin, Loudon Wainright III... Back in the late 70s and early 80s festivals were free and easy. But after a group of young people died swimming in the sea this particular festival came to an end.

There is still a big festival in Lisdoonvana in September. It is where traditionally people would come to be matched by a professional matchmaker. Today, the only true Matchmaker left is Willie Daly, who writes details of hopeful couples in a book, and gets the passion going by getting couples dancing together. There is a lot of dancing at the Matchmaking Festival. We just got here too early for the dancing as it starts in September.

Ulverston Gill Bank Closed

Work is underway on the town beck in Ulverston. The work is to reduce the risk of the beck flooding houses and commercial properties, as it did in 2009. So we could not follow the beck up Gill Bank into the hills round Ulverston.

Instead we went via Town Bank Road passing a house that was both picturesque and decrepit.

Then back onto the footpath towards the Hoad landmark that can be seen on the approach to Ulverston and the hills roundabout.

Central Library Oxford Closes for a year and a half

The Central Library in Oxford was open for the last time until the Westgate redevelopment is complete - late in 2017. The front is to be rebuilt as part of that redevelopment.
There will be a temporary library with less facilities from the end of March in the Oxford Castle area.
The current library looks quite different from the Central Library I knew ten, twenty, and thirty years ago. It is far more open plan.

Montreal

Just a few of the things we saw passing through Montreal

A fun train near the St Lawrence River

A tattoed Mannequin at the same time

Then in town at night: fountains

and a free fashion show.

The Brick store - New Hampshire

The Brick Store in Bath, New Hampshire, is one of the oldest general store in the United States, and serves lots of interesting foods.

It is like a time machine almost, except the baby boomers and records from the 1950s and 1960s are vintage now.

Just behind it a historic covered bridge crosses the Ammonoosuc River.

A Boston Terrier in Boston

 Trinity Church, Boston from the steps of the library.

 Boston Library.

And A Boston Terrier in Boston seen in the Street near where JFK grew up.

Arrive in New York

 
Yellow taxis. High buildings. Crossing places.
 
Crowds and bright lights at Time Square.
 
 Cool people in Central Park.

Cowley Road Carnival

The Cowley Road was closed today (Sunday 5th July 2015) for the Cowley Road Carnival.  There was a lot of loud vibrant music, some outside concert venues and pubs, some outside more makeshift venues, and some from sound systems on people's front steps. There was also a lot of food outlets, and other entertainments.
 
The theme of the parade was ‘Creating our Future’. Oxford Brookes University is celebrating a 150th anniversary.

The groups in the procession, included many school children.


 There were wild and wonderful costumes.

So colourful! So much hard work went into the costumes!
Dance and music groups were in the procession including Horns of Plenty, with their Street Jazz. They were at Alice's Day in Oxford yesterday, and back at the Cowley Road Carnival,
It was a wonderful colourful parade, lots of fun, although some had a more serious message for the future ....

Time is running out.

I know it is for me. Can it really be 33 years ago that I lived off the Cowley Road, not far from the Divinity News Agents (long since disappeared). But Tesco is still there, as a Tesco Metro.