Well for the second morning this week, we’ve woken to some much
needed, and very welcome rain. It’s still
raining now, which is good news not just for gardeners but also because it will
help replenish dwindling water supplies. Without wishing to appear over virtuous,
we have tried to limit our use of water a number of small ways. Still, every
little helps as “the lady that pissed in the sea” said, but moving swiftly on, we’re
banking on the rain stopping for Bank Holiday Monday and beyond.
This is because 
Mrs PBT’s and I are off on another jolly. It’s a Round Britain cruise similar to the one
that we did a couple of years ago on Cunard’s Queen Anne. This time, we’re sailing
on the smaller Ambience cruise ship, operated by Ambassador Cruises, and whilst
it’s a similar route, the itinerary, is quite different, as the only ports that
will be duplicated are Stornoway in the Hebrides, and Cobh in southern Ireland,
pronounced “Cove”, as we’ve recently discovered.
The cruise will take us to destinations
like Belfast, Kirkwall
in the Orkney Isles, Tobermory in Mull, plus St Mary Port in the Isles of
Scilly. Landing at the latter two destinations depends rather on weather
conditions, as we’ll be leaving the boat by tender. Effectively this means one
of the ship’s lifeboats will transfer passengers ashore from the ship, because
there aren’t adequate birthing facilities at these two destinations.
I’ve been looking at pubs in these destinations and the Crown Liquor Saloon is the obvious must visit stop, in Belfast.
It’s facing competition though, as Mrs PBT’s has her sights set on the Titanic Belfast set in the docks area of the port. This is highly appropriate,
as the doomed ocean liner was built at the nearby Harland and Wolff shipyards. There’s
obviously sufficient time to enjoy both attractions and perhaps experience a
bit of the city as well. An Irish colleague
of mine isn’t over enamoured with Belfast, but as she’s a Derry girl, that’s perhaps
understandable.
That’s Belfast sorted, but I’d welcome recommendations for
classic and unspoilt pubs in Kirkwall, Stornoway, Tobermory, and the Scilly
Isles. (Cobh is already sorted, with a visit to Professor Pie Tin’s former
local). As for Mull, it’s an island that I’ve visited before, back in my
student days, when I took part in a Botany field course. That was at the end of
the second-year summer term, which saw us camping out in the grounds of a faded,
former stately home. We spent two weeks on the island pretending to be botanists,
and as a break from looking at the local flora, we nipped across to Iona, a
small island just off the western tip of Mull, with a much greater religious significance, due to its connections
with early Celtic Christianity. However, with a two hour journey by road, each
way I won’t be doing that again, although I noticed that the cruise line is
offering excursions across to Iona, from Mull.
It’s worth mentioning that whilst Ambassador is a budget
cruise line, the price of this particular cruise wasn’t as good value as the voyage
we experienced earlier in the year. That, of course, was our cruise to Norway –
the one with the strong winds, high seas, and stormy conditions. Mrs PBT’s is keen on it this trip and I too
am looking forward to what will be a welcome break, especially after all the brown
stuff that’s been flying around recently at work. As with the Norwegian voyage,
Ambience is sailing from Tilbury so, Bank Holiday traffic willing, it should be
a relatively straight forward drive, from Bailey Towers.
I doubt that I’ll be posting much, if anything, whilst we’re
away in view of the previous IT issues I’ve had with password recognition,
Wi-Fi connectivity etc, but I shall be taking a good old-fashioned notebook
with me, to record the salient parts. It will be good too to enjoy a digital
detox, although as my good, lady wife is an unashamed telly addict I doubt I’ll
get much relief from the incessant outpouring of so-called “news” coming from the
cabin’s TV.
Finally, I shall be taking a couple of books with me,
although rather than the usual works of fiction, both are biographies of two
very contrasting people.
Stalin’s Englishman: The
Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie is widely praised as the
first truly comprehensive, deeply researched biography of Guy Burgess, one of
the five infamous “Cambridge Spies” who betrayed their country to the Soviet
Union, both before and after World War II. Burgess leaked high‑level
intelligence, which influenced major events, from the Nazi–Soviet Pact
to the Korean War and comes across as one of Britain’s most chaotic yet
effective spies. He was also a right shit, by all accounts, although I shall
reserve judgement until I have finished the book.
Too Close to the Sun: The
Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton is widely
regarded as an atmospheric, and well researched biography of one of the most
enigmatic figures of colonial East Africa. Author, Sara Wheeler reveals a fully
knowable man, who nonetheless remains elusive, despite the myth, and the magnetic charm
that made him legendary. During his time in East Africa, Hatton enjoyed a
passionate relationship with Danish settler, coffee grower and author, Karen Blixen, who wrote
about her experiences in the best seller, “Out of Africa“.
