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Africa, America, Countries, Culture, Europe, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK, Wine

Hungry and Thursday – the off-sales

26th March 202026th March 2020 funtime65

It’s what I use my one walk a day for… to go to the offie,

No. that’s not a misprint… I’ve been isolating from the office for nigh on a year since branching out on my own.

You may know it in your country as the liquor store or the wine store.

I was relieved then to hear that the offie ranks along the chemist and the supermarket as one of the stores that can stay open during the Coronavirus crisis.

Ned in Glasgow and NZ

Now we each do things a little bit differently and, at its rawest, the Glasgow offie is a cultural touchpoint in itself.

Now unsurprisingly I never saw a bottle of this New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon, The Ned, in my offie when I was growing up.

It has gooseberry tastings don’t you know.

The drink du jour of The Glasgow Ned (the Non-Educated Delinquent) was, and still is, I dare say, Buckfast tonic wine.

Buckie is best drunk from out of the bottle and wrapped in brown paper while sitting on a park bench.

Not perhaps what the monks in the West Country of England had invented it for I should imagine.

The sight of a Ned. or Dublin gurrier, or whatever you call them in your country, swigging booze on a park bench might not be what you’d want to see…

When you’re pushing a pram.

Boston, full of beans

And I was reminded of how the good folk of Boston deal with that dilemma when I was watching the movie Ted 2 the other night.

Mark Wahlberg was drinking his can, which was wrapped in brown paper, with his Teddy bear on Boston Common.

And it took me back to the English guy who had attached himself to our group, Nick, on our post-University summer in Boston.

And didn’t know about the rule about drinking in public and the need to cover it in wrapping which he had some trouble in explaining to the cops.

‘OK to throw tea into the harbour and blame it on the Indians but God help you if you drink a can of beer without the brown paper covering it!’ Officer.

That Boston summer remains a glowing memory and Beantown came back on the radar yesterday when I was invited out for August, COVID-19 allowing.

With a tour of Fenway Park included and the chance to sit on the Boston Red Sox Green Wall. See https://www.boston.gov/visiting-boston and https://www.discovernewengland.org.

South African township

Of course while I say that every country’s off-sales is different my eyes were opened by the familiar grill bars at the South African shebeen.

In the Port Elizabeth New Brighton township in South Africa where we stopped off for a braai Day in the life of a township and https://www.southafrica.net/uk/en/.

And a braai is a barbecue and a shebeen what started out as an illegal Irish drinking den.

More high-brow perhaps is the Tenerife wine shop https://www.visitingtenerife.com on our walking trip with CanariaWays www.CanariaWays.com where we ordered Shakespeare wine…. A walk through the ages… Tenerife

Is that a Malmsey I see before me?

That’s the court wine Malmsey, or Malvasia, which the Bard references in his plays and is still sold there.

Me, I’ve finished off my Ned wine and have resorted to draining the schnapps miniatures in my globe drinks trolley.

From the schnapps shop in Ehrwald in Austria https://www.tyrol.com.

So whether it’s Prost, Failte, Salute, Na zdravi or just Cheers I’m looking you right in the eye and toasting our holiday providers… #DontCancelPostpone.

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

A big Squeezy for Mother’s Day

22nd March 202022nd March 2020 funtime65

I kid my Dear Old Mum that she IS Nan, the Catherine Tait character who is as sweet as pie one minute and then lays into that person the next.

I came up with the nickname ‘Squeezy’ Teasy (short for Teresa) for her after one incident.

She had let one young family through in the ice cream queue in the local park.

Only to then turn on them a second later. I knew it was coming when she raised her hand to give me a squeeze on the shoulder.

And on this occasion she was regaling that woman from the poorer side of the park and their accent… ‘Brendan, stay away from the wahhhhter!’

We’ve had our moments, me and Mum and on this Mother’s Day when I’m not allowed in to see her at her Nursing Home…

Here are some of our adventures…

Home for the holidays

Ireland: My mother’s homestead and more adventures than clumps of peat in her beloved Donegal www.govisitdonegal.com

Of course she always gets bold when she’s back among her own people.

Like the time we were staying in our go-to hotel Jackson’s In Ballybofey.

And my Mum turned to my cousin and said: ‘I have four brothers and three sons and James (my Sunday name) is the most selfish of the lot.

All within earshot of me… me who had brought her all the way up from my home in Co. Wicklow www.visitwicklow.com.

Star in stripes

America: The Oo Es of Eh was always the Promised Land for my Mum.

Whose aforementioned four brothers had emigrated there in the late Fifties.

She only abandoned me when I was just 13 for three weeks so she could go out to see them.

Never mind that she cooked three weeks of meals for us… the cleaning woman who came in to look after us while Dad was at work made off with half of them.

We went back, Mum and me, together ten years ago for my cousin’s wedding in New York… www.nycvb.com and www.visitusa.com.

Where she insisted on paying for every meal (a very Irish trait) and treating me like a wee boy) – see above.

We had promised to get down to see Fave Cousin in Washington, and I did… Easy DC. Mum had been there before and the National Guard remembered her!!!

Viva Espana

Spain: One year it was Ireland the next it was Spain, that was how it was with summer holidays as a kid.

My Mum is more than likely Black Irish, a descendant of Spanish Armada sailors who were washed up and intermingled with the locals.

And she liked little better than tanning herself on a Spanish beach.

When she wasn’t trying to stop my elder brother teaching me to swim by throwing me in the deep end.

And, of course, it has left me with a lifelong love of Spain… visit https://www.spain.info/en_GB/.

And walk this way A pilgrim’s prayer and A walk through the ages… Tenerife with www.CaminoWays.com and www.CanariaWays.com

Scotland the motherland

Scotland: And she has been repeating her desire to come home to Ireland, and that Scotland isn’t her place despite being 70 years away.

There’s been a lifetime of experiences from her rearing me in Scotland where I’ve now returned to to live.

But as I’ve relocated to Scotland’s Golf Coast then here’s one from when I took her to the Open at St Andrews.

And my Mum sent a randomer into the Portaloos because I was taking too much time.

I got my own back by giving her the slip at the Swilcan Burn when I rushed with the crowd to the apron of the 18th to see Tiger Woods sink the winning putt.

See www.visitscotland.com and My Sporting Weekend – Golf and social distancing

HAPPY MOTHER‘S DAY TO ALL OUR MUMS

And remember…#DontCancelPostpone.

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

My Sporting Weekend – Golf and social distancing

21st March 202021st March 2020 funtime65

Because I’d often be deep in rough when my playing partner was down the fairway – yes, golf is the best sport for social distancing.

And also because nothing makes you want to keep your distance more than having to listen to your boss on the course talk about his share options or his new car.

Ir’s not that I dislike golf, or professional or amateur golfers. In fact I used to cover golf.

And was happy to revisit the Open when it returned to Northern Ireland www.discovernorthernireland.com last summer for the first time in neatly 60 years.

And even joined the legendary Gary Player around Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, as he played a round of golf for Japanese television.

It’s just social golfers that I try to avoid like the, er COVID-19.

Not the social golfers like my Dear Old Mum and Dad, you understand, who used to play on my Dad’s half-day.

The Golf Coast

Not that my Dad seemed to enjoy it all that much… he’d mutter away to himself and shake his head all round.

Here in North Berwick on Scotland’s Golf Coast https://scotlandsgolfcoast.com and www.visitscotland.com. you can play on 21 of 30 coasts.

Another home of golf

There was little that my Dear Old Mum and Dad liked better than playing golf in my Mum’s homestead of Co. Donegal www.visitdonegal.com and www.tourism.com.

While my old stomping ground of Co. Wicklow www.visitwicklow.com is more than a match.

If you like your golf then join me as I swung my way through…

The Old Course in Mandelieu-La Napoule in the French Riviera www.france.fr and The Boat D’Azur.

And at the Paul McGinley Golf Academy in Quinta do Lago www.quintadolago.com and www.visitportugal.com.

Just off the Strip in Las Vegas www.lvcva.com and Strip… the light fantastic.

And in the Turkish Airlines Business Lounge of Istanbul Airport www.turkishairlines.com and Wham bam, thank you Hamam

MEET YOU ON THE COURSE… AT A SAFE DISTANCE

#DontCancekPostpone.

Canada, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Hungry and Thursday – Tablet what the fudge!

12th March 202012th March 2020 funtime65

Home is home because of the comforts, and since coming back to Scotland from my second home in Ireland that means sweet things like tablet.

Tab-what? you ask? Well it’s like fudge only it’s not, and it’s what wee Scottish laddies and lassies get for treats.

I don’t know who taught Daddy’s Little Girl, maybe her English Mum who perhaps asked her Irish mother/in-law.

But she knocked out a tray (I’m claiming that as the collective noun) of tablet this week.

So how did she make it? You want sugar, condensed milk and butter which is boiled to a soft-boil stage and allowed to crystallise.

I recall at home, and my Mum added pink colouring.

Althougb my research tells me you sometimes get whisky too.

And I’ll be letting my Mum know the next time I see her there… what do you mean? They have kitchens at nursing homes, don’t they?

I’m always keen to promote a country’s Travel industry so see www.visitscotland.com.

While Aberdeen rolls are different from what you imagined… Aberdeen – a light in the north.

It’s always nice to have a nibble at sweet things on holiday and you’ll often be surprised at something that reminds you of home.

Such as Tayto crisps in the shop at Tobago’s airport.

Or the Tartan wrapping around the Eet-Sum-Mor biscuiits in South Africa… What’s new pussycat?

Now while Tablet is undeniably Scottish and is first referenced in the Household Book of Lady Grissel Baillie in the 19th century….

The traditional recipe had cream and sugar, and I’m glad that they dropped the cream, I can’t stomach it.

It also has its cousins in other countries:

The Netherlands: And the Dutch love boorstplat so much they eat it around their Christmas festivities Sinterklaas.

And I lap up anything Dutch… Pictures of Amsterdam and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel and www.iamsterdam.com.

Canada: While Quebecois which is sucre a la creme is almost identical to our tablet.

South America: And then there’s tableta de leche, and the clue is in the name.

Back in the day it used to be milk with my tablet but the older Bandanaman prefers a lager or whisky.

EAT YOU ON THE ROAD

Adventure, America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Women’s Day – my own heroines

8th March 20208th March 2020 funtime65

And by order of the management my heroines are – The Scary One, Daddy’s Little Girl and my Dear Old Mum.

All of whom have been wonderful (and challenging) fellow travellers on life’s unpredictable journey. Never my fault, of course.

Where do I start? I give her one thing to do, remember my dates for our weekend away in Monaghan Monaghan’s country roads.

While we almost ended up by taking the wrong bus from Hamburg, to east Germany rather than Kiel.

En route to our MSC cruise www.msccruises.co.uk up the Norwegian cruises where we almost missed our ship in Bergen. Moi???

It was always going to be a challenge on the slopes with Topflight www.topflight.ie to Soll Soll Mates.

But we stayed out of trouble in Central Portugal, Secret Portugal all down to our perfect host Jose https://www.madomistours.pt.

While we were on the same wavelength this time in Amsterdam Pictures of Amsterdam and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel.

Because the previous time, 23 years earlier, when there was a fork in the cycling route and we ended up going 10kms out of the way.

Then there was the adventure of 13 and a half years in Ireland with The InterCon… what a Ledge! a particular highlight.

Mum Champagne

My first holiday companion… I was in her belly en route to her homestead, Co. Donegal https://visitdonegal.net and we’ve been back countless times.

Latterly when I would take her up from my home in Co. Wicklow.

On one occasion I was tasked to drive her and my Auntie Ronnie who was grieving her husband, my Uncle Tom, up from Dublin… in Ronnie’s automatic sports car!!!

Then when I accompanied her to New York https://www.nycvb.com/about/ for my cousin’s wedding… and suddenly I was back to 12 years old again.

While she wimped out of the Red Hot Chill Pipers concert when we were VIPs in my home town of Glasgow https://peoplemakeglasgow.com at the World Pipe Band Championships https://www.theworlds.co.uk.

Daddy’s Little Drinking Girl

Now there are only good memories… from the time in England’s Lake District https://www.golakes.co.uk when she asked me to find a friend for her.

To a family camping trip in Co. Wicklow https://visitwicklow.ie… when she was nine and she swigged from my whisky flask and claimed that she thought it was tea!

There was no pretence when we attended a cocktail night at the Dylan https://www.dylan.ie…

Well, she is her Grannie’s grand-daughter… and don’t even get me started on the other Grandma, the storied Bamba.

*And now I’ve got started I’ll move onto my heroines from my own personal Travels.

Culture, Deals, Europe, Food, UK

Desperate Dan and Murty the Minx in Dundee

4th March 20204th March 2020 funtime65

And if you know your cartoon heroes and heroines, you’ll know I’m in Dundee.

Where I’ve been channeling my inner Desperate Dan, and even Minnie the Minx, during a few days working for DC Thomson Newspapers.

Dundee is known in many quarters as the City of Jute, Jam and Journalism.

Jute, you say?

Well, it’s fibre for carpets and don’t you know the Dundonians were famous for producing it?

Jam now? Well, more accurately marmalade but then where’s the alliteration in that?

The story goes that a Spanish vessel carrying oranges washed up on the shores of the River Tay.

And a grocer bought the oranges, only that they were too bitter and he got his wife to boil them in sugar.

Hence the marmalade you’re spreading on your toast just now…. from Pittsburgh to Port Elizabeth.

Journalism … and I guess that’s where this scribbler comes in.

DC Thomson’s is at the heart of Dundee life.

They’ve been here for well nigh 120 years and their redstone building in the city centre almost 100.

And they boast a stable which contains The Sunday Post, Dundee’s The Courier, Aberdeen’s Press & Journal and the Weekly News.

A cast of heroes

And a host of cartoon characters we grew up with:

Desperate Dan, the strongman who eats cow pie.

Minnie the Minx: the tearaway with the catapult.

Oor Wullie: Scotland’s favourite wee laddie who sits on a bucket when he’s not trying to knock PC Murdoch’s hat off.

The Broons: Scotland’s answer to The Waltons with Grandpaw and the Bairn at opposite ends of the spectrum.

And Jackie, the Beano, the Dandy and the Commando war comic.

City of Discovery and more

Dundee has another name too, the City of Discovery. It was here they built Scott of the Antarctica’s ship.

And which you can see… https://www.rrsdiscovery.com on the river front.

Next to the spanking new design museum, the V&A Dundee https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee named after Victoria and Albert.

And I’m sure the latter, a modernist would have approved.

And then, of course, there’s more jute… https://www.verdantworks.com.

Now, I know you all want to know where I’m staying.

And yes, I normally wouldn’t get out of my bed (triple, of course) unless I had a Caribbean panorama.

But Scotland Beds hostels are comfortable and reasonable at £18 a night.

OK you have to make your own bed and may have to share a room although my four-bed room was vacant.

But it’s quiet, there’s a shared bathroom with shower and toiletries provided.

And cereal, tea and coffee and bread and marmalade, Dundee, of course.

While you can bring in your own food to cook.

Then there’s a TV and Netflix in the room.

And it seems Susie who was here before me had the same idea.

Crocodile Dundee, anyone?

And for more on Dundee see https://www.dundee.com/visit and www.visitscotland.com.

For more Scottish meanderings stay on the train for my old stomping ground, Aberdeen Aberdeen – a light in the north.

And my new old one Edinburgh and North Berwick Edinburgh – an old friend.

And here are my favourite statues… before Dundee!… Putting these statues on a pedestal

Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK, Uncategorized

My Sporting Weekend – More Muirfield please

29th February 202029th February 2020 funtime65

Now I’m not just saying this because I want regular Open golf from Muirfield which is near my new home in North Berwick. OK, I am.

But I’m only a week back here and already I’ve discovered that there is a real threat to Muirfield’s regular slot on the Open rota.

My old mucker, golf scribe extraordinaire Martin Dempster, of The Scotsman https://www.scotsman.com, tells us…

That Muirfield and Carnoustie have fallen behind others in popularity with the R&A https://www.randa.org.

North Berwick, and Scotland’s Golf Course

To the likes of Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland where last year’s Open was held and I was the guest of the Northern Ireland Tourism board… www.visitnorthernireland.com

200,000 is now the figure given as the target which courses must now which apparently stands against the two Scottish courses.

And it is Marin’s contention, and his instincts are usually bang on, that Muirfield and Carnoustie will be in a 15 to 20 year loop with Royal Lyrham & St Anne’s.

Now just on Muirfield, near Edinburgh on Scotland’s Golf Coast, didn’t do itself any favours with its policy on women’s members.

But that has changed now and other esteemed golf courses have had questionable policies too: – the WASPish Augusta anyone?

Now judging courses on their winners how about this list of winners, all of them in my lifetime: Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice), Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.

While before that there was Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the latter who I followed around Hoylake.

Not a duffer among them.

Now you’re wanting to know how my game shapes up… well, here’s how The Boat D’Azur, Strip… the light fantastic.

And because I’ll always support Scotland www.visitscotland.com.

So here’s my pitch… protect Edinburgh’s Open, Muirfield Edinburgh – an old friend and Aberdeen’s Open, Carnoustie Aberdeen – a light in the north.

Where one of the greatest pieces of theatre played itself out… when Jean de Velde thrashed around in the burn.

And Aberdonian Paul Lawrie came from eight behind to lift the Claret Jug.

MEET YOU ON THE COURSE

Countries, Ireland, UK

My Sporting Weekend – Rugby’s VAR and away days

8th February 20208th February 2020 funtime65

The rugby Test match has come a long way since my days in the Schoolboys Enclosure at Murrayfield.

When programmes were 20p… they’re now about €15 although I’m grateful to the Irish Travel Agents Association for paying for me.

Both that and the ticket for the Ireland v Scotland match at the Aviva and the lunch before.

And the earpiece that hooks up to the referee and the action on the pitch.

As football tears itself apart over video assistant referees it seems that rugby has had the answer all along.

This magic earpiece, which you can buy at the ground, lets you into the decision-making on the pitch.

Both the referee and the captains’ response.

That the players eff and blind a bit so be it… we’re all grown-ups.

And I’ve got the kiltie on: With my Travel pal Michelle Jackson

That the crowd can hear the decision quickly and with clarity keeps us all informed.

And surely that is all we ask for.

Of course it can’t stop Scottish captains dropping the ball on the try line.

So here is my answer… let the spectator talk to the players on the pitch via a mouthpiece.

So where are we on a Travel blog with this? Edinburgh that is… where I now live again.

It’s the great thing about life and Travel…

Last week here I was at the Aviva this week I’m watching the Scotland v England game in Edinburgh.

Now I know the Scary One will get me back for that!

It struck me though, and my brother reminded me of it, that my adult life has spanned Britain and Ireland.

If only I’d progressed from being captain of the C team at school.

See https://www.visitlondon.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4JqL2cHA5wIVF-DtCh1BsQ7HEAAYASAAEgLTtvD_BwE And read The London life and Carole King… you’re Beautiful.

Africa, America, Europe, Ireland

Elections – a general view around the world

7th February 20208th February 2020 funtime65

Ireland has a proud record as a democracy, one of the oldest in Europe with its first elected MP, Constance Markiewicz.

And this weekend Ireland goes to the polls although whichever parties form the next government they will have to do it without me.

Contender: He’s had three parties already

Because I’ll be back in Scotland… anything happen in the 13 years since I’ve been gone?

I always vote.

Not just because it’s hard to keep me quiet but because of the struggles my forebears and others have endured for this privilege.

Gone, but not forgotten: Saddam in Jordan in the Middle East

I heard first hand from the black South Africans in the Eastern Cape how they queued overnight in the Voting Line in 1995.

Any visit to South Africa will bring you nose up to the glass of Apartheid history. www.southafrica.net

And where better to start than in Nelson Mandela’s home province of the Eastern Cape… What’s new pussycat?

Where you can learn the unique Xhosa clicking language… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KZlp-croVYw.

Of course democracy is a fragile way of life.

And it is eerie to think that you can see Saddam Hussain propaganda in peaceful Jordan… The water of life, Petra, and the sands of time.

On a G Adventures trip www.gadventures.com to Jordan www.visitjordan.com.

I had also been around four years previously with la famille.

For a New York Halloween www.nycvb.com where they were carving Obama’s face into pumpkins.

And visited the Austrian Tirol on the day of their election. And Gamisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria where Hitler held the 1936 Winter Olympics.

With Topflightforschools… www.topflightforschools.

But this on German National Day where it was as quiet as a monastery.

MEET YOU IN THE BOOTH

America, Countries, Cruising, Europe, Food, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Hungry and Thursday – funny food

16th January 202016th January 2020 funtime65

Food should be fun and taken out of the hands of foodies… and chefs.

I’m writing this while eating my Swedish ‘vacuum cleaners’ or dammsugare for fika. These are named after the tube-shaped vacuum cleaners of the Fifties.

I had been given them in my godispase, or goody bag.

Clean sweep

The godispase had come courtesy of the Stena Estrid, Swedish ferry cruise company‘s http://www.stenaline.ie and www.stenaline.co.uk maiden journey between Holyhead and Dublin.

It is, in truth, the closest I will get to a vacuum cleaner but it shows the Swedes’ sense of fun.

To name this sweet after a common household gadget.

And it’s good to see that the world has been watching because it’s not for nothing that Jim Henson looked to Scandinavia for his madcap Swedish Chef.

Music is the food of life

Now if that gives you a taste for Swedish food why not visit http://www.swedishfood.com/swedish-food-recipes-biscuits-cakes/376-arrack-rolls-or-vacuum-cleaners-punschrullar-eller-dammsugare?

The dammsugare got me thinking about other funny food you can pick up around the world.

Every city with a well-known red light district obvs like Amsterdam Pictures of Amsterdam and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel.

Where they also have Middle Eastern food skewered on an actual scimitar in Bazaar, a remodelled old mosque in fashionable De Pijp http://www.hotelbazar.nl/en/restaurant-bazar-amsterdam/ And www.iamsterdam.com.

Get a grip

But also unexpectedly in Portugal Centro Secret Portugal and www.visitportugal.com where I found a shop selling chocolate penises.

While this mug gives a new spin on your hot chocolate.

What else is out there I hear you ask.

And where are the sweetie cigarette, cigars and pipes we used to have as children?

Probably replaced with chocolate joints.

And, of course, any excuse to plug this fun for food fixture from my trip on Celebrity Edge around the Bahamas… www.celebritycruises.ie.

With I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out To Here.

The Germans are funny… full stop. Which gives a lie to the myth that they have no sense of humour.

And there is no elegant way to eat a hamburger… ich bin ein Hamurger Hamburgers and ships and www.hamburg-tourism.de.

While the Norwegians have a playful relationship with their trolls… The call of the fjords and www.visitnorway.com.

With my very own Scary One… and MSC Cruises www.msccruises.ie.

While I love the taste of the sea too and few do it better than my own wee country Scotland and my adopted one Ireland, north and south…

That’s www.visitscotland.com, www.discovernorthernireland.com and www.tourismireland.com.

With a tasting menu of the best of Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

America http://www.visitusa.ie and http://visitflorida.com and is the country who put fun and funk into dysfunction and my safari food out with Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com in Florida brought me this nature feast below… it’s all natural.

And seeing we’re talking food then let’s finish on the country that leads the way on food… Italy.

With Italy specialists Top Flight www.topflight.ie and Catherine Fulvio at her cookery school in Ballyknocken, Co. Wicklow www.ballyknocken.ie

And some amateur cuoco…

OK, OK… mes amis in France http://www.atoutfrance.fr will disagree. And I don’t know what I was eating here but I was smokin’…

Send in your Fun With Food, what’s amusing to eat and where.

MEET YOU AROUND THE TABLE