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Elizabeth, Queen of New Jersey

12th September 202212th September 2022 funtime65

Whether the Queen’s death had any extra significance in the towns of Elizabeth, whisper it but they, and even some parts of the world, are getting on with life again so here’s to Elizabeth Queen of New Jersey.

Most of us never see more of New Jersey than from across the water in New York or Newark.

And that s why I’m taking you today to Elizabeth Queen of New Jersey.

Elizabeth,which I’ve been keeping from you isn’t actually named after royalty which in this case would be Queen Elizabeth of England.

And for Scottish royalists there is an important distinction here with the Elizabeth who has just died being their first Queen Elizabeth.

The English, of course, assume that England and Britain are the same place.

And they just slapped on the Elizabeth II and the world followed on.

Another Elizabeth

The New Jersey Elizabethans take their name from Elizabeth, the wife of Sir George Carteret.

The settlement between the Raritan River and the Passaic River, extended westward from Newark Bay.

The tract extended about 34 miles between the two rivers.

And about 17 miles westward from the Bay including what is now the City of Elizabeth.

Permission to purchase from the Indians was granted by Colonel Richard Nicolls who was Governor of all the territories in North America, in 1664.

God Save America

We all know what happened next more than 100 years later when the Colonies rose up against the King and went on to form the United States of America.

Now there have been many contenders for the most famous woman in American history.

But Lady Liberty probably still stands taller than all of them.

And Elizabeth is within easy reach of Liberty Island in New York which makes it a perfect base for exploring.

Of course, the Elizabethans and ourselves recommend taking a look around the New Jersey city.

Ferry across the Jersey

And that means taking the scenic NJ/NY Elizabeth Fast Ferry to the Elizabeth Waterfront Marina.

Just minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport.

And iconic attractions, shopping, dining and lodging accommodations.

Upon disembarkation, head to tax-free outlet shopping at SIMON the Mills at Jersey Gardens.

And grab a bite to eat and enjoy a diverse dining scene with over 70 cultures represented.

Stay the night at half the price.

Of NYC, at Country Inn & Suites, Courtyard by Marriott, Crown Plaza, Embasy Suites, Hampton Inn, Extended Stay America, Holiday Inn Express, Hilton, Renaissance and Residence Inn.

And the Elizabeth Fast Ferry has extended its Presale of 50% round trip.

Battle hymn of the Republic

By George: The Commander-in-Chief, Issy and an Americanophile

Of course Elizabeth has this and much more to reveal of itself, not least its history from the Revolution.

George Washington passed here and Alexander Hamilton lived in Elizabeth as a youngster.

Liberty Hall Museum Arboretum Gardens was home to New Jersey’s first elected governor William Livingston, who was a signatory to the United States Constitution.

And the 14-room Georgian-style home evolved over time into a 50-room Victorian mansion.

If like me, your American Revolution journey leads to another staging post.

Then you’ll see Livingston’s name on the scroll of signatories at the National Archives Museum in Washington DC.

All of which is in easy reach on your Eastern Board odyssey.

The world’s Elizabeth

Elizabeth, New Jersey, may be one of 18 places around the world named thus.

With 15 in America, one in Namibia, one in Guyana and one in Australia.

But the Elizabethans of New Jersey are the ones who have taken us in as one of their own.

And on that I too, like you, woke late last week to discover that I too had been renamed.

I’m told I am now an Elizabethan, of the Elizabethan Age, of Elizabeth the Great.

That is before we all become Caroliners, but that’s a different story.

This story for today is for Elizabeth, Queen of New Jersey.

America, Countries, Ireland

Mother’s Day Mother’s Way and New York

25th March 202225th March 2022 funtime65

It was inevitable. Mother’s Day Mother’s Way and New York and The Happy Wanderer knew just how to play me.

The bould Teasy had taken me as her Plus One to my cousin Eddie’s wedding in the Big Apple.

Where she would preen her feathers and not just those on her hat.

The Irish Diaspora, of which I am of the Scottish variety, know well the awe in which the American wave is held.

And growing up in the Grey Glasgow of the Seventies New York City and my relatives were always held up as the idyll.

Alongside, of course, my Mum’s homeland of Ireland.

Broadway Mammy

This year’s blond: With ‘The Donald’ in New York

I’m in a New York State of Mind today after my old friends from Click&Go flagged up their NY offer to give your Mum for Mother’s Day.

To stay for three nights £619pp in the 4* Row NYC Hotel in the heart of Broadway in May with return flights Dublin to NY.

My wee Mammy will be right at home too as she is the biggest diva of them all.

The rule of Mum

Double trouble: And two of my Irish Mammy

But some ground rules this time…

As a seasoned travel professional I know my way around an airport (OK, she doesn’t know the truth so indulge me).

And when your relatives offer to put you up don’t think for them or look a gift horse in the mouth.

It’s an Irish thing! As is demanding to pay the dinner bill.

And I’m reminded of the Irish advert where two oul’ ones batter the hell out of each other for the right to pay.

Shop till you drop

Shopped out: And the only time she’s quiet

Shopping too with any woman is a Herculean ordeal.

And in NY where that means Macy’s then my modus operandi is get in, get out.

Particularly as you can get lost in there.

And there’s no use denying that you had any part in choosing The Scary One’s souvenir.

BTW she still uses the candy pink Guess handbag.

While there’s no talking to a woman who insists on wearing her stilettos on the hop-on, hop-off Manhattan bus.

An Irish homecoming

Donegal calling: At Ballybofey’s Jackson’s Hotel

And as I alluded to The Diva is even more empowered in her homestead of Ireland and her village of Brockagh, Co. Donegal.

Where she was wont to stride down the road with her sisters in her fur coat back on their return to the Bogs of Donegal back in the day.

And all of us, the next generation, revert to (or are reverted to) childhood when our parents have been around.

A Ballyhoo

Green, green, grass of Ireland: And two peas in a pod

Such as in our old stomping ground of Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey.

When in the hotel where here, not Shannon, was where Irish Coffee originated she shared this gem with my Dublin cousin Monica…

‘I’ve four brothers, a husband and three sons and James (my Sunday name) is the most selfish man of them all.’

And this after I’d taken time off and driven her all the way up from Greystones in Co. Wicklow!

Silly old woman had forgotten.

That with her hearing aid in she was speaking louder and I could hear her.

Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday, ye mad thing.

And for context think Catherine Tate’s alter ego Nan from Nan The Movie.

Meanwhile I’ll daydream about Mother’s Day Mother’s Way and New York.

And much, much more.

Countries, Culture

Lego building blocks for 2022

2nd January 20222nd January 2022 funtime65

And as we all aim to build back better (the official mantra) how about Lego building blocks for 2022?

With a prompt from my old pal Mr Orlando himself Kevin from Universal who has showcased his Lego Friends apartment.

Lego is the world’s favourite toy and there are ten LEGOLAND parks around the world.

Anyone for fussball? Joey and Chandler’s pad

But first our own sets, and as The Son and Heir drops in on on us (or rather drops his washing in on his Mum) a reminder of a time when he called them Talls.

And he spent hours building them.

While Daddy’s Little Girl spent her childhood watching Friends… now if only there had been an exam in that.

Kevin’s collection includes iconic moments from the series including when Joey put on his entire wardrobe, his and Chandler’s fussball table and screechy Janice.

Friends for ever

Friends for life: Kevin and his Friends apartment

The Seventh Friend, of course, is New York.

And while the show was filmed in LA the Big Apple is where the Super Six are set.

And Friendies will want to check out The Grand Army Plaza in Midtown West in Manhattan which is believed to be the inspiration for the opening credits dance.

While Bloomingdale’s where Rachel worked as an assistant and The American Museum of Natural History (Ross’s workplace, the Museum of Prehistoric History) are actual well-visited and much-celebrated landmarks.

As is the Friends’ apartment block, well the outside anyways, where you must get a selfie outside 90 Bedford Street, Greenwich Village.

A history of Lego

Lets’ go back to the start then with Leg Godt, as they say in Danish but which isn’t an exhortation to the Almighty but actually means ‘play well’.

And it is of course where the name derived.

Great Dane (and isn’t everyone from that peninsula and its islands thus named?) Ole Kirk Christiansen built his company in 1934 into what has become the most enduring toy on Earth.

And how he isn’t remembered with his own statue (made out of building bricks we’d expect) as Hans Christian Andersen is is an injustice which should be put right.

But there was a set of Ole Kirk’s house from his birthplace in Billund given to Lego employees in 2012.

The beauty of Lego

Petra lego: In fine detail of the Jordan landmark

And the beauty of Lego is obviously that you can build whichever world you like to live in around you.

That applies, of course, too time and history as we were treated too when we emerged out of the first lockdown to visit the Ancient Wonders of the World at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, East Lothian, near Edinburgh.

Mini-Grand Canyon: In East Fortune in Scotland

And also boarded a real Concorde interior and the next best thing got selfies next to a Lego version.

The world’s Legolands

Billund in Southern Denmark is the mothership and has its own hotel.

And although it is not made out of bricks it is a celebration of all things building blocks.

With plenty of surprises for adult and child alike.

My old stomping ground of Berkshire in the south of England is the home of Legoland in England where once I visited the Windsor Safari Park.

Carlsbad (significantly Scandinavian sounding) an hour south of Anaheim is Legoland Central in California, 51 miles from Tampa.

While go north-west of New York City and you’ll get to Goshen for the NY version which is rollercoaster happy.

A tall order: But not for The Son and Heir

Around the world between Stuttgart and Munich in Germany you’ll find der Legoland.

While in the land of the talls, Dubai, they celebrate all things Lego.

And in Asia where they love to celebrate the childish, you’ll find a LEGOLAND in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.

Now if you like the world in miniature, check out too the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, the world’s biggest miniature railway museum.

And with that I’m back to dig out the talls for the Son and Heir.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe

Submariners and life under the sea

6th November 20216th November 2021 funtime65

You been keeping Vigil these nights and got to thinking about abut submariners and life under the sea.

Well thankfully we don’t have to plunge the depths to get a sense of what submariners had to go through.

I’m sure there’s one sitting down in the port near you…. or somewhere in your country.

New York Up Periscope

I stumbled upon mine in New York as a ticket in my CityPass book.

And I spent a couple of hours out of the Manhattan heatwave at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

Walking through the cramped USS Growler with others.

And ducking your head through the doorways gives you a sense of the challenges these subterraneans faced.

Without of course seeing the sky for weeks on end and worrying that you could get blown up at any minute.

Of course Manhattan has the advantage of being an island surrounded by water.

Jordan jumps

But you can find submarine anywhere even landlocked countries as long as they’ve got a stretch of water.

And so in Jordan on my G Adventures trip they have the Dead and the Red Sea.

Now I’m no scientist but would the sub not float to the salty surface… this sub(editor) certainly did.

But the Jordanians did drop a submarine in the Red Sea to encourage marine life (and snorkelers) to swim through.

Now, while we’ve all been hibernating they’ve been up periscoping in places we wouldn’t expect.

Swiss subs

Such as Switzerland, bang in the middle of Europe.

So let our Swiss friends take it away just like they took me away with Swiss Air.

‘Dive into the mystical darkness deep below the surface and glide weightlessly through adventure-filled underwater worlds..

‘Visitors can explore old wrecks in Lake Lucerne on an unforgettable dive.

‘Go to depths of up to 120 metres in Switzerland’s only passenger submarine.

The P-63

The P-63 submarine is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and safety systems.

‘And it offers passenger trips for one to three people.’

America, Countries, Music, Oceania, UK

Keep On Running

2nd August 20212nd August 2021 funtime65

And as the Olympics really kicks in with track and field, the songs on my running machine… Rainy Days and Songdays Keep On Running.

Go ahead

Jump, Van Halen: And a random story to accompany this slice of Californian rock.

From my schooldays and a sadist PE teacher.

Hessy would take pleasure from spanking our arses with a sandshoe if we forgot our kit.

And in the long jump heats for sports’ day he swiped his foot when he was taking off for the pit.

Bar, bar, bar

Raise the Bar, Bonnie Anderson: You’ll know her better as Bea Nilsson from Neighbours.

But Bonnie (and she is) was marked out from stardom early when she won Australia’s Got Talent at 12.

There’s lots of good Aussie music that never comes to our shores.

Not sure this is it but she looks Bonnie.

Born To Run

Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen: Baby, we were born to run and I was too.

Although my specialised discipline Cross Country Running isn’t one of the sports included which is quire hard to do.

Not sure either if muddy public school grounds was what New Jersey‘s Bruce had in mind either.

Nae havering now

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) The Proclaimers: And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more for Fife‘s finest.

And there are some who do, the waddling Olympian penguin people.

Now having been a member of a running club as a kid walking was giving up.

Put it there

Big Shot, Billy Joel: The Wee Noo Yoiker might struggle to lift, never mind twirl that big iron ball.

Billy is more in his element tinkering ivories than the shot put.

But who knows, he could have nailed it because it’s still track’n’roll to him.

Keep on running.

America, Countries, Europe, Music, UK

Get Bach to The Beatles

28th July 202128th July 2021 funtime65

There have been many candidates for the Fifth Beatle, George Martin, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston. But we want to Get Bach to The Beatles.

Johann Sebastian Bach died on this day 171 years ago more than a hundred years before The Beatles formed in Liverpool.

Bach in Liverpool

But Paul McCartney credits the great Saxon (no, not the band but the state) for inspiring his work.

Merseysider Macca cites Bach in Blackbird while the trained ear will pick up a Bach piccolo trumpet on Penny Lane.

That Baroque sound is also unmistakable on the orchestral section in All You Need Is Love.

But it wasn’t just The Beatles who caught the Bach bug.

New York Bach

If it feels like Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water and American Tune are timeless.

Then it is because it has its roots 100 years before as Rhymin’ Simon tells us on a US chat show.

In the Liepziger’s four-part chorale O Sacred Head Now Wounded.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale sounds like the title of something Bach would rattle it out.

Californian Bach

Because it pretty much is and repackaged as Procul Horum’s Sixties classic.

While The Beach Boys’ melodies from California also borrow from Saxony’s finest.

You’ll hear it in their reworking of his Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring for Lady Linda.

Of course, a good toon is a good toon and we’re sure if Bach has done words he’d have found a rap rhyme to Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

Modern-day Bach

Detroit’s favourite rapper Eminem sampled the great German in Brainless.

Only to be followed up (upBached) by Bonkers from Yonkers Lady Gaga and her Bad Romance and its harpsichord intro.

So Get Bach to The Beatles and a host of music royalty.

So think on it the next time you’re going to write a classic… dig out Johann Sebastian Bach.

America, Countries, Ireland, Music, UK

Tapestry 50 years

19th July 202119th July 2021 funtime65

My life has been a tapestry

Of rich and royal hue

An everlasting vision

Of the ever-changing view
Carole King (Tapestry for 50 years)

The richest of rich tapestries and officially the best-selling by a female artist, Tapestry, was cut 50 years ago.

Rainy Days and Songdays, our weekly music feature that transports us in our minds to exotic places, today celebrates Tapestry.

Brooklyn’s finest

Proud New Yorker Carole had gone west in 1971, following the break-up of her marriage to Gerry Goffin.

Her pal James Taylor had urged her to put her own voice to her tracks after pumping out classics for others through the Sixties.

The push and pull of home and away informs Tapestry as Carole takes us on a journey we all can share.

And Californian too

Making a new home for herself in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, Carole pines for home in the early tracks.

In Far Away a clearly homesick Carole asks:

‘Doesn’t anybody live in one place any more/It would be so nice to see your face at my door?’

Further down the line back playing in NY she elicits home support with a nod to Brooklyn.

A Real Homebody

But showing how timeless Home Again is Carole updates it here for our Covid times.

Of course Carole occupies a place for her listeners which is universal.

Which is where You’ve Got A Friend resides and that friend is ours too, James Taylor.

Oh heck here they are again in another place we all know and all go in Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

We’ll Love You Tomorrow

And, of course, she famously wrote it when she was 17, gave to The Shirelles, took back, slowed down, and dropped the ‘Still’.

Carole professes that she ‘always wanted a real home with flowers on the window sill but if you want to live in New York City, honey you know I will’.

Amusingly Carole confesses she went cold on the song as she grew and considered Where You Lead belittling.

Momma and daughter

Until she reinvented it as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin.

For her Hyde Park concert which was the same year as me and my Natural Woman, my Sadie, rocked up for her musical Beautiful in London’s Theatreland.

It’s as is she was shouting out to us with her ‘If you wanna live in London, England, honey you know ai will.’

The Richest Tapestry

Yes, 50 years on Carole King, where you lead I will follow.

And I’d urge you if you haven’t got Tapestry your collection go out and buy it.

And you’ll have a friend. For me it’s Tapestry for 50 years.

America, Countries, Culture

A flight of fancy on Superman’s Day

30th June 20211st July 2021 funtime65

And doesn’t he still look good for 87… it’s a flight of fancy on Superman’s Day.

This day in 1934 The Man of Steel burst into public consciousness in DC Comics’ Action Comics Series issue #1.

As we all know Kryptonite Kal-El exploded into the Mid-American wheat fields if Smallsville.

Only it wasn’t Kansas in the Oo Es of Eh but Beynon, near Calgary in Alberta in Canada.

A man can fly

The Beynon Canyon is pivotal in the Clark Kent story.

It is here that Martha and Clark bury his adopted father Jonathan and the young Kent decides to leave for Metropolis.

Another better-known canyon, the Grand Canyon, hoves into view when Superman saves the day.

And Daily Planet photographer Jimmie Olsen from the crumbling Hoover Dam. And trust me a good Press photographer is hard to find.

On the right track

We all know too that Superman flew through the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

While Metropolis we all automatically associate with New York.

How could we not when Clark and Lois go for a night-time spin around the Statue of Liberty?

And we would be right to see NY as Supes’ town… in parts.

Dam impressive

The Hoover Dan set up. http://www.superman1978.com

The Daily Planet where Clark works can be found at the art deco News Building, 220 East 42nd Street.

Moved, though, from the Los Angeles City Hall, 200 North Spring Street. Yes, La La Land.

Lex Luthor’s lair we are led to believe is below the Grand Central Station although whisper it it is Pinewood Studios, Berkshire in England.

Superman’s origins may lie somewhere entirely different, the Eiger in Switzerland and Friedrich Neitzsche’s imagination.

Man of Letters

Is it a Bird? No, it’s Bandanaman in Orlando

Of course we have all channeled our own Superman on the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal Orlando.

Before back to work as the pictures show.

And as then as now… of course Superman is a man of letters too, a journalist.

So I’ll continue to be inspired by The Man of Steel and enjoy a flight of fancy on Superman’s Day.