Last week we were asked to do a TT on the theme of places we have been to, but I’m afraid I didn’t see the instruction until I had already posted mine. So, just one week late, here is my list of…
Thirteen Places I Have Visited
Portmahommack on the north east coast of Scotland. We spent an Easter holiday here when I was a child. It was (probably still is) a charming little fishing port. We rented a cottage right up by the harbour – I think its the one marked in the photo – and during that 3 week period we explored all over the north of Scotland. On one of the last 
evenings there, there was a huge storm. My sister and I ran out of the house and were having a great time standing on the harbour wall in a howling gale, as huge waves crashed over us until my mother came out and in an utter fury ordered us back into the house. At the time we thought she was making a lot of fuss over nothing, but thinking back, and imagining seeing my own daughter doing that, I suspect Mum was terrified!
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Mousehole
(pronounced “mowzell”) This is another charming fishing village, at the other end of the UK. It’s in western Cornwall. We spent several Easter breaks here. I love Cornwall. Time was, I entertained thoughts of moving there, but I’m not the only one and the county is getting pretty crowded. It was here that I saw what many small boys like to imagine – my sister falling into a sewer! It’s ok – we fished her out.
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Ventimiglia I think that means “twenty miles” in Italian, because that is about the distance that this Italian coastal town is from the French border. 
We were spending our summer on the French Riviera and friends who were spending their summer in Italy asked us to join them for a few days. I remember it was very warm but windy, and after several weeks of seeing red, white and blue tricolours on every flagpole in France, I kept doing a double take at all the red, white and green ones there.
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Waikiki 
How could I not include this one? I was here for a week. Somewhere I never thought I’d go. I swam at Waikiki beach, and was surprised at how shallow it was. 100 yards out I could still walk on the bottom. Behind me was Diamond Head. Memories of the opening titles of a certain TV show. “Book ‘em, Dano!”
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Monastir During a 4 week holiday in Tunisia, in north Africa, we spent about ten days in this town. It was my first experience of Arab culture, and though there was quite
a bit of tourism it had not swamped the local way of life,
as I rather think it may have done by now, a couple of decades later. Tunisia is a secular state, of course, so there were hardly any women in burkhas, but we still used to hear the muezzin calling the faithful to the mosque every day, from the top of a minaret. I was very disappointed to find out it was a tape recording, played through a couple of big speakers! The town was very clean, and there was plenty to see, including (pictured) an old pirates’ fort dating back 300 years.
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Gozo This one of the three islands that make up the country of Malta, situated in the Mediterranean, about midway between Sicily and Libya. When we were there, there was not much to Gozo but small villages, 
one so-called town, an unspoilt rural life for the locals, lots of beaches and coves with hardly any tourists. So it was ironic that on the second day there we were in the local market and bumped into someone we knew from back in London!
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Waterville The loveliest part of Ireland, in my opinion, is County Kerry, and Waterville is a coastal town there. We were there once, on holiday with another family.
We explored the whole southwest corner of Ireland in a minibus big enough to hold both families (11 people in all). One of these days I am going to get my Dad’s collection of 8mm cine films which he took during those 2 weeks and have them converted to DVD, so we cam see them again.
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St. Paul de Vence This village in the south of France dates from the middle ages, and is still surrounded by a centuries old stone wall. These days homes there are very sought after and some of the hotels here are among the best in all of France, with 3 Michelin stars.
We did not visit often because my family has never been made of money, but occasionally we ate there. The house we were renting was across a valley from St Paul, so we used to see it from our patio every day. Once a year they have a night-time festival to commemorate the time the town was ransacked and burned by Saracens in the 12th century. They let off fireworks, followed by a pyrotechnic display that make it look as though the whole town is ablaze. Amazing!
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Labrador The full name of this Canadian province is Newfoundland and Labrador but every Labradorean I spoke to was at pains to point out to me that Labrador had nothing to do with Newfoundland, except in name. Some even wanted Labrador to break away and become a province in its own right. I stayed in Happy Valley, many years ago. Lots of nice people, and not too many amenities. There was only one TV channel there then (CBC) and every weekday at 3.00pm the whole town came to a halt to watch “The Edge Of Night”
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Bombay Yes, I know I should call it Mumbai, but that change had not happened when I was there. It is apparently the most modern city in India, but even so, 
alongside the new office blocks, and the majestic stone buildings that were built during the Raj, I saw unbelievable poverty too. India fascinated me. I can’t wait to go back and have another look.
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Grindelwald My one and only winter sports holiday (so far). We stayed in Wilderswil, in Switzerland, and did our ski-ing on the slopes at Grindelwald. That was a 30 minute drive away, along alpine roads, through the snow. I loved it, but we never went again. I don’t know why.
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Taipei The capital of Taiwan – the Republic of China, as it calls itself. I spent a few days here when I was on a round the word trip. At that time, I didn’t know anyone who had been here and didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was a rather lovely place. All the street signs were in Chinese, of course, and I didn’t find it hard to get lost! But I was never worried, not even at 4.00am, wandering the streets. I knew I’d be ok. I felt perfectly safe. I can remember to this day the sound of Mah-Jongg tiles clacking away coming through the open windows of so many houses I passed. People stay up very late there, it seems.
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Pacific Highway I was in San Francisco, and loved the place. I wanted to see what LA was like, and I decided not to fly but to drive down there, and the route I took was the Pacific Highway. I took my time, it was a wonderful day for it, and I am very glad I went that way. It was beautiful. In fact, the route to LA was far more attractive than LA itself, which was a bit of a sprawl.
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I found a new store the other day, or shop as I will always think of such places. It is in one of those strip malls that people seem to drive by all the time without ever stopping, and as it is fringed with trees you can never see what establishments are on offer there. I did, however, see there was a thrift store and on impulse I pulled in , to see if there was anything worth buying and then reselling on eBay for a few dollars profit. There was, and once I had bought it and put it in the car, I decided to see what else was there. The mall itself is L shaped, and some establishments front onto a side street. One of these was a little place that calls itself a “European Supermarket” Now I know Europe is smaller than the USA but even there the supermarkets aren’t that small! This place was smaller than my living room, but every shelf was crammed full with various European goodies. I should say, continental European (nothing British except Twinings tea bags), with a strong bias towards Eastern Europe. The proprietor is a Russian gentleman and so was at least one of his customers, because I heard them talking in that language. I bought myself something, as an indulgence really, and went to the counter to pay for it. Now, I took Russian in school for 2 years many, many centuries ago, but until this day I had never said anything in Russian to an actual Russian person. I remember very little, to be honest, other than a few words and sentences. I could have told him that I have a sister, or that the book is on the table, or I could have asked him for directions to the railway station (though I would not have understood his reply). Instead, I asked him how much my purchase was, and when I go the change I thanked him. Then we reverted to English and I asked him how long he had been in town, and how things were going. Four years. So how come I had never heard of this place, since it is only half a mile in a straight line from where I live? He said he never needs to advertise. Anyway, I shall be going back from time to time. I wished him goodbye in Russian, but he answered my “Na zdarovie” with “Hasta la vista, baby!” which I strongly suspect is not what they say to each other back in Minsk or Pinsk or Omsk.
