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The joys of Joyce

3rd February 2022 funtime65

The artist and the young man have grown up with this week marking 100 years since the release of Ulysses, the joys of Joyce.

And it has given us the chance to flag up his beloved Dublin yes.

But also the other key cities in the Irish author’s life.

The Joyce of Dublin

The second thing that everyone remembers about Ulysses is that it is about the day in the life of a middle-aged Dublin man.

In 13 years as an adopted Dubliner I can’t say I had any of the adventures Leopold Bloom experienced.

But we both frequented the famous Forty Foot swimming area of the Irish Sea at Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown).

Mine was less salacious although it was hot and sticky when I swam there one sweltering Dublin day.

And even with that I was in and out in two minutes flat.

Ireland holds a Joyce Day every June 16, the day when Leopold and his pals had their perigrinations (the type of word he might use) which they call Bloomsday.

But for the rest of the year Joyce is celebrated daily.

Aand I dare say as regularly as has been possible throughout Covid at Sweny’s Pharmacy on Lincoln Place, near Merrion Square.

Where the great Oscar Wilde reclines opposite the house where he grew up which is now the American College Dublin.

So a culture feast. For Bloomish fare hit Davy Byrne’s on Duke Street, off Grafton Street,.

Where Leopold guzzled down his burgundy and ate his gorgonzola sandwich.

Before, of course, returning to Swenys (Joyce didn’t like apostrophes… see Finnegans Wake) for a bar of yellow soap as a souvenir.

All across Dublin you can indulge in Joycean joys but did you know that he lived and was celebrated across Europe?

The Joyce of Trieste

The bespectacled one so loved the Adriatic city that he lived here on three separate occasions.

And in fact there is compelling evidence that Bloom is based on a Jewish paint seller Ettore Schmitz.

Joyce had been invited to Trieste to teach his daughter Letitza English.

Joyce is said to have used Ettore as a sounding board for the Dublin Jew Bloom.

You can see the great author throughout the Italian city…

In the Museo Joyce, Cafe James Joyce and the James Joyce Statue.

The Joyce of Paris

The bold young ambitious James headed for Paris when he was 20, and of course, to the Left Bank.

He had hoped to meet his hero Charles Baudelaire but alas the poet was dead.

Joyce channeled the Frenchman’s inner monologue style for Leopold.

And Ulysses was first published in France, and the rest as they say is history.

The Joyce of Zurich

The Great Wanderer found his forever home in Zurich… he is buried there.

The Augustinergasse, an alley leading off Zurich’s most prestigious street, Bahnhofstrasse. is where you want to for your Joyce fix.

That’s where you’ll find the Zurich James Joyce Foundation.

And the word on the street there is that Joyce peppered his writings with Swiss references.

Try this reference from Finnegans Wake… ‘mean fawthery eastend appullcelery, old lady he high hole’.

When spoken aloud, its sounds like a Swiss-German song Min Vatter ischt en Appezeller’ (My father is an Appenzeller), with a yodelling refrain tacked on.

Ah, yes the joys of Joyce.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Flying, Ireland

Ryanwhere is Scotland?

29th January 2022 funtime65

Ryanwhere is Scotland? A question asked by one of its staff to a Polish family returning to Scotland from Portugal.

It was all to do with different Covid regulations applying to Scotland and England.

And fair’s fair because it’s complicated too for those of us who share this island of Britain.

It is of course an occupational hazard of being one of Jock Tamson’s Bairns (that’s being a Scot).

And on my first visit to America nearly 40 years ago the young people I’d meet would ask me if Scotland was in England.

The capital of North Dakota

It irked me then until my American History tutor I learned under when I got back and studied in Aberdeen asked me what the capital of North Dakota was?

And like all lessons in life it’s stuck: Bismarck.

All of which ramblings brings us to Ryanair‘s flash sale which ends tomorrow, midnight, Sunday, January 30.

Michael O’Leary’s empire, of course, is built on a model of flying to out-of-the-way destinations to cut down on prices for the punters.

And so Scots (and non-Scots) have had to become educated in towns we’d never heard of before.

Some of them are also in the same country as the destination we want to visit.

Some out-of-the-way places

For our Ryanair pal Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, which is the northern country of the island of Britain.

And it, and Scotland’s largest city Glasgow, is €9.99, from my old stomping ground of Dublin (Ireland that is, not Ohio).

But like Geography Gio we had to look up the map to find some of these others.

Billund in Denmark is the cheapest destination on offer at €7.99.

The good news for kids (and big kids alike) is that Billund is Legoland.

The bad news is that if you wanted to see Copenhagen then you’d have to island hop and it’s 261kms away.

Eindhoven, 122kms south of Amsterdam, too comes in at €7.99.

And while I’m sure that Eindhoveners are very friendly, their centrepiece the Philips Electronic Museum is always going to be a hard sell.

Do you know these cities?

Happy Hamburg is in the same price bracket and is instantly recognisable for anybody who has seen the map of Europe more than once.

Now I’ve had the good fortune to attend the German Travel Mart in Dresden and stay abreast of most of what is going on in Deutschland but Memmingen? Sorry.

Well, the old Roman fortress town is 116kms west of Munich and is clearly a smaller airport than the Bavarian capital which you can get lost in (trust me).

We dare say too that in Lublin‘s fair city the girls are so pretty.

Only it’s pronounced Looblin and is in Poland, 170kms south-west of capital Warsaw.

And you can get there for €12.99 where film buffs may recognise if from the film The Reader.

So the next time an airline worker asks you Ryanwhere is Scotland (insert your own country) then take five.

And reflect on the fact that we don’t all know where each other live.

And it’s all the more exciting when we find out.

MEET YOU IN THE AIR

Africa, America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Food, Ireland

Pie are squared and round

23rd January 202223rd January 2022 funtime65

Excuse the grammar but the gag doesn’t work otherwise so on today’s National Pie Day let’s say Pie are squared and round.

And we’ll pick out six pies from around the world.

All because we’re an island here of pie lovers in Britain, and Scots up and down the country have grown up on Scotch pies and beans.

Then long before American fast food pork pies were the go-to snack in England, and not just for ploughmen.

Mr American Pie

Eat your heart out Prue Leith: In Colorado

Apple Pie: National Pie Day was started in the mid-1970s by a nuclear engineer, brewer and teacher (talented man) Charlie Papazian.

It was then that he declared his own birthday, January 23, to be National Pie Day and it took on.

So now fast forward to a Can’t Bake, Won’t Bake visitor to Ginger & Bake in nearby Fort Collins under the watchful eye of the ever-patient Deb.

Say it loud and say it stout

More please: Jamie Oliver’s Steak & Guinness Pie

Beef and Guinness Pie: If you’re like me (and the Irish) and feel that drink is the food of life then read on.

You see this variation on the British steak and ale pie in Ireland naturally is enriched with Guinness and bacon and onions.

And it s on every bar menu in Ireland… and inevitably in the ubiquitous Jamie Oliver’s cookbook.

Custard with that?

Bobotie pie: It’s a different world in the one-track town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape In South Africa.

That’s where the owner of the Die Tuishuise & Victoria Manor has put on a buffet of Karoo food that fuses easy.

So let me give you Bobotie pie, a curried raisin-infused Shepherd’s Pie with a savoury custard topping.

Pie Irie

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby: Cooking and baking in Barbados

Macaroni pie: And something from the Old World embraced by the new in the Caribbean.

It is known there just as pie or Bajan Pie in Barbados this is island comfort food.

This tubed pasta with creamy cheese sauce is served either as a main dish in Bim.

Or more likely to the side of their favourite chicken and fish. Irie?

Pizza and understanding

Pizza pie: So when we first got a taste for the Italian staple on this island we would call it pizza pie.

The best pizzas which we know are in Pizza City, Naples.

But a tip here for those who might otherwise be stung dining out near the Spanish Steps or Pantheon in Rome.

Instead pick up the long miniature pezzos from stores scattered through the Eternal City.

Sweet pie

Key Lime Pie: Now just as many pies are sweet as are savoury.

And in the land of American pie there are as many variations as there are numbers after 3.14.

But as it’s darn tasty and the Florida Keys are on the radar.

For a long rescheduled road trip it’s Lime Key Pie for me.

And so whatever your pick it’s good to know pie are squared and round and make the world go round.

Countries, Ireland, UK

A tale of two new cities Belfast and Derry

22nd January 202222nd January 2022 funtime65

It’s a tale of two new cities Belfast and Derry 50 years on.

The two powerhouses of Northern Ireland are marking 50-year milestones just now, for different reasons.

Belfast’s name is up in lights, on billboards as award-winning luvvie Kenneth Branagh celebrates the city of his birth on film.

While Derry too is looking back too, but to the saddest episode in its modern history.

To Bloody Sunday when British soldiers shot dead 23 unarmed civilians.

Love letter to Belfast

This weekend has been about Belfast and the 50th anniversary of a much-loved institution and survivor, Europa Hotel.

Where the cream of Irish Travel, my old muckers, Big Jim Gallagher and Muriel Bolger among them, were taking in Branagh’s love letter to Belfast.

From the Europa Hotel which was extending its 50th anniversary celebrations of last year by putting on a special showing of the film.

The Europa holds a special significance for Belfastians as the-then most-bombed city in the world.

But which the bombers never did level.

A tale of two hotels

Today it is a shining gem in the city, alongside the Grand Central Hotel, with its distinctive seahorse symbol.

And visitors can enjoy the charms of both as we did on our Belfast Chilled tour.

When we stayed at the Grand Central and took in Van Morrison at the Europa.

This week past met present as Guinness flowed and they drank in the nostalgia of the crossroads year of 1972 in Northern Ireland.

Van’s the man: Van Morrison at the Europa

Seventy-one miles north-west in Derry the locals set out on a Civil Rights march on a sunny Sunday.

At the end of it 13 lay dead and 15 wounded, the story of which you can follow at the Museums of Free Derry.

The history of those times may be a foreign country to those of us not from the Walled City.

Derry Girls

But it is being played out in a more uplifting fashion in the glorious Derry Girls, the tale of an English boy thrust into a girls’ school.

With a muriel (sorry mural) of the Fab Five main characters a beacon of what Derry is now post-Troubles.

Near the border too of my Dear Old Mum’s beloved Donegal in the Republic, Derry is a delightful destination for tourists.

And yes Hastings as everywhere in Northern Ireland is where to stay.

Yes, it’s tale of two new cities Belfast and Derry

Where, you say to stay in Derry? The Everglades Hotel.

Ducks on parade: And Hastings to the fore

How do I know? Well, a little Hastings duckie told me.

Countries, Culture, Europe, Ireland, UK

Yappy 150th Anniversary Greyfriars Bobby

15th January 202215th January 2022 funtime65

Yappy 150th Anniversary Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog who slept by his dead master’s grave, and let’s put more animals on pedestals.

There were pipes and prayers to mark the milestone in the Edinburgh kirkyard.

And I dare say a whisky or two in his memory at the local inn, named after the West Skye Terrier who Walt Disney brought to the world.

Bobby’s statue is, of course, the best in the Scottish capital, nay the world.

And, yes, those no-name figures of Empire should be taken off their plinths.

Pets on plinths

And let’s be radical here… women.

And animals.

So here’s our menagerie of all creatures great and small.

And on the grounds that we’ve got the best wee doggie, here in Scotland.

And that all God’s creatures have a place in my choir let’s sing the praises of…

The Puck stops here

King Puck, Killorglin, Ireland, Now we’re not acting the goat here.

And I’m all about the goats, from my time racing them in Tobago.

In Kerry, in the south of Ireland they have been crowning a goat and throwing a festival around it since the 17th century.

When a goat alerted the village of Oliver Cromwell’s coming.

King Puck is in truth a better fit than any of the chinless wonder monarchs England imposed on them.

Before they broke free a hundred years ago.

On the Bosfurus

Tombili, Istanbul: And no, I’ve not lost my dictionary… and if I had I’d always return to the book section of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

Cats have a special place in the hearts of Turks, and none more so than diva Tombili.

Tombili became a global hit after she was photographed reclining on a pavement… give her some Kite-Kat turkey treats.

Bear with us here

Winnipeg the Bear, Canada: The silly willy-nilly all stuffed with fluff is, of course, more prone to napping than scrapping.

This is the real Winnipeg, a Canadian military mascot bear cub, whom AA Milne and Christopher Robin visited at London Zoo.

The Wolf of Rome

Capitoline Wolf, Rome: And where’s a she-wolf when you need her?

Rome, that’s where. And lucky that she was for Romulus and Remus.

Because she rescued the babes from the Tiber and they went on to found Rome.

The Romans have never forgotten, and you’ll see fountains adorned with wolf taps around the city.

While they’ll wish each other well with the time-honoured greeting: ‘In bocca al lupi (in the mouth of the wolf).

Those wacky Germans

The Town Musicians of Bremen, Germany: And why celebrate one when you can have four?

The story goes that four old domesticated animals, a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, escape their mistreatment.

To go in search of their fortune in Bremen as musicians, obvs.

They get distracted by a house robbery, take over the gaff and live there happily ever after.

And so as we say Yappy 150th Anniversary Greyfriars Bobby and all your furry and feathered friends.

All of whom are deserving of being pets on plinths.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Happy Euro Year

1st January 20229th January 2022 funtime65

It was the perfect start to 2002, we were being given money… so where are we now as we mark Happy Euro Year 20 years on?

And what has it meant for those of us whose every instinct is to travel?

The truth is that for millions of millennials in Europe they won’t have travelled with anything else.

While for everyone who travels under a British passport we’ve always been told to look at it as board game money.

I say that, though ex-pats, of which I was one for 13 years living abroad have had to adjust quickly.

It usually starts when you’re buying booze in the supermarket.

And it’s only when you stop baulking and having to make mental adjustments at the price of a bottle of wine.

It’s more than a tenner… that you’ve truly assimilated.

Europhile, Eurosceptic

So as this day is designated Happy Euro Day, was the Euro a good idea and is it right that Britain stayed with the pound?

Like everything there is the economical argument and then the emotional one.

And whenever that arises the emotional always prevails.

In countries too that have come over to the Euro there is still a sentimental attachment to the old currency.

Now if you’re a Fortysomething, Fiftysomething or later then you’ll probably remember well the frank, Deutschmark, peseta, escudo, lira or drachma.

And if you’re like my Dear Old Dad then you’ve probably got a box somewhere with all that old coinage.

A careful man, I imagine that he thought he might have use for them again if the Euro experiment failed.

Dinar time

Anyone want an old note: Foreign currency

So what do we miss about our old foreign money?

Well, it was the only time in our lives that we could really feel like a millionaire…

When we got our hands on lira.

The trouble was working out that it cost thousands to buy groceries.

And if you did try the lingo a queue would quickly form as you’re asking the teller how much you’d get for your few pounds.

Of course more of the world is outside of the Eurozone than in it.

Now I’m not about to go all numismatic on you but I do have a Jordanian dinar stuck on the side of my bookcase. And old Turkey notes too.

A souvenir of my Istanbul adventures with Turkish Airways, and with G Adventures trip to the Middle East.

But in truth just some money of such little value that I couldn’t get rid of it.

Any old money

Airports do take your old money in those glass boxes in the terminal.

And the descendants of the Nabataeans too in Petra where a trader tried to flog us notes from Iran with Saddam Hussein’s face on them.

Now doubtless there would have been many who would exchange dinar for Hussein.

But they had more than the look of a Monopoly note with Saddam’s face drawn on.

Working for the Yankee dollar

By George: Issy, Jimmy and the First Prez

There are some notes which are gladly accepted wherever you go and they’ll grab your hand off in the Caribbean for the Yankee dollar.

And there are 39 currencies around the world pegged to the dollar.

As a guide your yellow reggae bus in Barbados cost half of the Bajan dollar, $1, when I rocked it there a few years ago.

In the States itself you can buy Confederacy money at fairs in the Deep South on your road trip.

But the real money is in the Union dollar.

And the more Benjamins (Franklin), or $100s, you have in your pocket the luckier you are.

Conversely, the $1 note is named for the Greatest American of them all, George Washington.

So be careful when you’re tipping.

Me? I always make sure I keep a fistful of dollars with me!

Happy Euro Day everyone or whatever currency you deal in… just, maybe avoid Saddam notes though.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Oceania

Virtual tour de force of guides

22nd December 2021 funtime65

Jose, Ingrid, Zuhair, Simon, Siseko, all introduced me to their worlds, but in these times we will make do with the virtual tour de force of guides.

As more and more of our leaders close more and more of our borders our immediate concern is how and when we can rebook our holidays.

We should though also give a thought to our dream makers, our travel providers, for whom this is their very livelihood.

And for the tour guides, the above mentioned for me who gave of their every waking moment to show me…

Portugal Centro, Dresden, Jordan, the World War battlefields of Flanders and South Africa.

And, of course, there have been many, many more.

So what do tour guides do when they don’t have tours to guide?

Well, they still take them virtually.

And that is where ToursByLocals come in.

With 231 live virtual tours in 39 countries, those spending more time than anticipated stuck indoors in the coming weeks can escape with local guides all over the world.

And they pledge that 100% of the value of a Live Virtual Tour (to a limit of $150) can be redeemed when travellers book a future, in-person tour with the same guide.

O little town of Bethlehem

Bauble of Bethlehem: And your guide will take you further

Ramzi is a born and bred Bethlehemite.

He begins his tour in the old city of Jerusalem where he will introduce you to each of its four quarters: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian, before journeying to Bethlehem.

You will ‘visit’ Manger Square with its giant tree where locals sing carols.

Virtual visitors can also spot the Mosque of Omar and The Church of the Nativity.

Yes, that one, the birthplace of Jesus… you’ll probably spot it because of the star above it (although I can’t verify that).

ToursByLocals offers a one-and-a-half-hour Jerusalem and Bethlehem live virtual tour for £113 per tour for up to 10 users. Guiding Services provided via an online video conference system.

Silent Scandinavian night

Fairytale of Copenhagen: With Tom and My Little Mermaid

My old American uni buddy Tom gave us the city tour of Copenhagen on our whistle stop visit to the Danish Capital when cruising around the fjords with MSC.

And like so many of the breaks you take your gaze is often drawn to the close horizon and the next place.

While in Jordan with G Adventures (Zuhair country), it was to Palestine and Israel, in Denmark it was to Sweden.

Per is your man in Stockholm.

He’ll take you around the winding streets of the canal-snaking city.

Start this virtual evening tour at the illuminated display windows at Stockholm’s famous department store, NK, and stroll past “gingerbread” style houses with festive lights.

You’ll get to see the Parliament, the Royal Palace, Royal Opera and Lutheran Cathedral.

Navigate through medieval alleyways, passages and tiny squares, virtually squeezing through the 3ft wide Mårten Trotzigs gränd (alley), before ending at an iconic site in Old Town, soaking up Swedish history and picturesque buildings.

The one-hour Swedish Christmas live virtual tour comes in at £172 per tour for up to 10 users. Guiding Services provided via an online video conference system. Tours can be customised according to interests.

Dingle bells

Everyone I met and befriended in my 13 years in Ireland, and in a lifetime visiting with my Irish mammy, is a tour guide.

In Dingle in Kerry the foremost of them is Deirdre.

Get a taste of why Dingle is one of the top foodie towns in Ireland by meeting resident producers and be inspired by a mouth-watering local recipe to try at home this Christmas. And keep an eye out for most famous local, Fungi the dolphin.

The one-hour live virtual Christmas in Dingle tour for £88 per tour for up to 10 users. Guiding Services provided via an online video conference system.

Fairytale of New York

Yes, you’ve been listening to it on a loop these weeks, and with apologies to Shane and Kirsty, it’s too good to ignore as a label to dress up this virtual tour.

Ibrahima is your gal in the Big Apple.

She knows Central Park like the back of her hand.

Grab a mug of hot chocolate at home and join Ibrahima on a virtual tour gazing at pretty lakes and waterfalls with highlights including Belvedere Castle and the Bow Bridge.

Guests might even spot a horse and carriage for a magical Christmas touch.

The one-hour-30-minute Central Park Hidden Gems live virtual tour for £140 per tour for up to 10 users or £218 per tour for up to 50 users. Guiding Services provided via an online video conference system.

A Down Under Christmas

Awesome: Melbourne is hot, hot, hot at Christmas

Christmases for the Scary One when she was just a lass were in Australia when it was still Roast Turkey despite the roasting weather.

Delve deep into Melbourne’s vibrant Central Business District with Leanne.

Be wowed by the street art and ‘hole in the wall’ cafes selling the best coffee in town and hidden bars.

The one-hour Melbourne’s Laneways and Arcades live virtual tour comes in at £61 per tour for up to six users. Guiding Services provided via an online video conference system. Guests will also be provided with a digital resource pack to complement the tour itinerary after booking.

So treat yourself this Christmas to a virtual tour of the world.

I think you’ll agree it’s a virtual tour de force of guides.

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

A kick in the baubles

18th December 202118th December 2021 funtime65

A kick in the baubles… I’ve lost my battle with The Scary One and her apprentice.

It’s five years since our MLK50 group was serenaded with Merry Christmas Everyone by a Southern singer at an antebellum guesthouse.

The Southern Ball

Southern baubles and belles: Mississippi

And every year when I see the Fairview Inn bauble from Jackson, Mississippi, I think of that Deep South Family…

Her, her husband and their eight kids.

This year though I have to crane my head around the back of the tree to see the Mississippian bauble.

Because The Scary One and her mini-me have decided to hide it there behind glittery shop decorations.

It is a daily ding-dong to get my baubles on the tree…

My belle and her baubles

We both love Venice so the Grand Canal bauble makes it.

While my Irish harp (an extra greening this year didn’t go down well).

Countered, of course, by the red phone box, a symbol of Englishness.

And a sorting hat and Harry Potter’s Gryffindor scarf.

Tigger doesn’t deserve to sit below Potter but I expect him to get up the tree.

He has the bounce after all.

A Christmas laaf

Up there and deservedly so are my favourite urchins, the Laafs I fell in love with in Ireland.

But who hail from the Netherlands.

Baubles were born in Germany as was the Christmas tree.

So if you were able to get to one of their Christmas markets then you know how tinseltastic they are.

Birthplace of baubles

Lauscha is the birthplace of the bauble and celebrates it every November with its kugelmarket.

Yes, you guessed it, it translates as bauble market.

And it all started in the glassworks of this German mountain town near the Czech border.

With craftsman Hans Greiner moulding the ornaments into the shape of fruit and nuts in 1847 and exporting them to Britain.

Neither of which would work with Santa’s little helper in Chez Murty who clears the tree of hanging chocolate every year.

Before moving my keepsake… it’s a real kick in the baubles.

Countries, Ireland

Liam Neeson promoting Ireland and he will find you

9th December 2021 funtime65

I have a very particular set of skills I have acquired over a very long career. Not me (well, yes me) but another superstar.. Liam Neeson promoting Ireland and he will find you.

The big Ballymena man has that distinction which all the greats possess…

You can instantly recognise that it is him as soon as you hear his voice.

And he also possesses the gravitas and charisma which means that he can act as an ambassador both for his native Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Heck, he sees it the way he feels it, very Bryan Mills, as an Irishman and he wants to promote the island on which he was born and which developed him.

Because for as much as we on these islands know about the challenges and divisions that the two parts of the island of Ireland have had.

The rest of the world doesn’t want to make a traveller’s distinction.

They want to visit them both… and why not?

Taken star Liam has lent his voice to a new giant-screen documentary film.

It’s called Ireland which is produced by McGillivray Freeman Films and is sponsored by Tourism Ireland.

And it will go on release in select IMAX and giant-screen theatres across the US in February.

This is your pilot Liam talking

In another’s tongue it might sound cliched to talk of emerald islands and paradise but when it comes from Liam Neeson.

The Neesonathon celebrates the island’s rich history, culture, arts and music, as well as Ireland’s spectacular scenery.

It takes its American audience across Ireland.

Following writer Manchán Magan and others on an action-packed journey from Dublin to Belfast.

And from Kilkenny to Cong.

Viewers will see breath-taking footage of places like the Cliffs of Moher, the Giant’s Causeway and the Skellig Islands.

Ireland’s call

The Big Man and big-time Ireland rugby fan said: ‘There is a movement in Ireland to reconnect with our heritage, to rediscover what it means to be Irish.

“And I am delighted to help bring the joy and diversity of all that Ireland has to offer.

“Both the old and the new, to IMAX and giant-screen audiences worldwide.

‘As viewers experience Ireland’s great beauty and humanity on the world’s largest screens, they will fall in love all over again.’

And

A previous film produced by MacGillivray Freeman Films for Brand USA (destination marketing organisation for the US), called Natural Parks Adventure, was seen by around 8 million people in IMAX and giant-screen theatres.

And a sneak preview

And for those who want to get a flick of the vid and drown in Liam’s voice here’s a taster.

So here it is Liam Neeson promoting Ireland and he will find you.

Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

8th December 20218th December 2021 funtime65

And they’ve been a revival stories of Covid… but where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

You see it’s something that gets us out of ourselves and travel.

All when our leaders have us all shut down.

Only some manufacturers (let’s call them Gibsons) still seem to have a British empirical view of the world.

Despite Ireland having broken from the British yoke 100 years next year.

Although the new state of Northern Ireland remained (and still remains) loyal.

Jiggery-pokery

I was stopped in my tracks this week when browsing the shelves in the retail park.

And I discovered that we we were back in 1921.

With the two words United Kingdom spanning these two islands.

For some, unfortunately too many, it’ll be pedantry on my part.

But it’s lazy, dismissive, erroneous and outdated.

And to project a hypothetical would it be as easily brushed over were there to be a jigsaw on sale with the UK still in Europe?

To be fair I’d probably buy that!

Where in the world?

Loose geography has long been a bone of contention.

Probably since my primary school days.

When we would be given a borderless map and tested on where countries and capitals should be.

Growing up in the UK’s northern country, Scotland, was a challenge too.

And not just because of the weather, religious regression and our misfiring football team.

No, because Britain, that’s Scotland,England and Wales, being abbreviated in conversation on TV to England.

The UK you ask? Well, that’s when Northern Ireland gets included.

Also while we’re here, can somebody look at scrapping the British Isles topographical misnomer?

A new world

Get the Braai on: Port Elizabeth township, South Africa

Because we have caught up with post-colonial name changes around the world.

Although we do appreciate that it is a constant updating exercise.

With my old favourite Port Elizabeth in South Africa now needing to be changed to Gqberha.

It wasn’t all bad on my shopping expedition though for a helium canister for balloons (party at ours!).

The great erections

Barcelona prayers: At La Sagrada Familia

Next to the world and a jigsaw of Britain was a collection of great 3-D erections (steady!) from Revell.

There was Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria.

And those of a certain age will remember it from the credits of Wonderful World of Disney.

Me, it was running up its hill to clear my boozy Oktoberfest head.

La Sagrada Familia I visited during the height of a European heatwave a couple of years ago.

And the joke would be that you would never be able to finish it!

The Tower of London sits alongside it on the shelf.

Although I can’t confirm whether they had intended to give us London Bridge but it kept falling down.

Last but not least is the Colosseum.

And yes, you’ll want to check that there are no missing pieces.

When Ireland was my world

Final piece of the jigsaw: With Laurie in Malahide

And so after collecting the photographic evidence and brazening it out as the stern-eyed shop assistant restocked…

In time-honoured fashion I made my excuses and left.

And on my return home I rummaged through the garage for an old jigsaw with a fond memory.

Where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

It was in fact our whole world then.