Out of Libya in the nick of time!

Monday 21 February 2011

Our archeology tour to Libya made it back home to the UK last Wednesday just two days before the worst of the anti-government demonstrations kicked off with such devastating results. We hope that there is a quick and peaceful resolution.

One email in my inbox today was gratefully received

Subject: Recent trip to Libya

I returned a few days ago from my holiday to Libya with Brightwater. With everything that has happened at the end of the week in Libya the timing of our trip was perfect! As people normally comment only when there's been a problem I thought I would email to say what a great holiday it was. Michael was an excellent Tour Manager, looking after us very well, nothing was too much trouble. The itinerary was superb and allowed us lots of time at the sites which were amazing. It was my first trip with Brightwater and I would certainly travel with you again.

Kind regards

Rita

Thanks Rita

Computer says no!

Friday 18 February 2011

A busy week started with a full day preparing a new PowerPoint presentation for my Thursday night 'gig' in Emsworth - the problem being that I only really have one talk that I do, but I had gone down so well there a few years ago so they invited me back! I thought the least I could do was prepare a new presentation. Anyway it took me a while to get to grips with PowerPoint, however like most of these things it is not too difficult if you make the time to play about with it first to get the hang of how it works (a bit like trying to get the photos in the right place on my blog!). Anyway it took most of Monday to prepare and load up the new presentation onto my laptop.

During Tuesday's Management Meeting with Kay, Alison and Ann I gave them a quick preview of the presentation and they were suitably impress to say that I ought to give it to the staff at the next staff meeting, as many of them do not know the funny background stories of how we set up the business and would benefit from seeing some of the lovely images of the gardens we visit.

We got through our meeting, wrestling with what to do with upgrading our Computer Server (running too slow much to everyone's dismay) totting up how much it would cost to renew and also new PC's to speed things up a bit as well. We also discussed all other departmental, staffing and operational issues - (amongst other things, but I'll spare you the details!)

Wednesday back in Somerset I thought I would just run through my new presentation one more time, but to my horror I discovered that I could not access it on my laptop due to the fact that I had saved it in the wrong 'G-drive' and not in 'C-drive' or some such similar extremely annoying and tedious reason - no matter how much I cursed the laptop and shook my fist at it - 'Computer says no!'

I could have wept!

I had to re-do the whole bloody thing! - anyway lesson learnt - and at least I discovered the problem with some time to do something about it.

Thursday driving down to Hampshire was a bright and sunny spring day (not like what the guys had in Fife, with fog lingering all day). I passed Stonehenge http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/ and the old hill fort of Old Sarum just outside Salisbury (need to investigate sometime, looks interesting). www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/old-sarum

I arrived at the lovely coastal town of Emsworth about 5pm and there was just enough daylight left to have a quick walk along the tidal path where I saw some wonderful birds grubbing around on the mudflats - loads of Brent Geese, Godwits and all sorts of other indistinguishable little probing waders.

I found the hall I was to speak at and realised straight away that it was going to be a class event when I saw that the local Racing Pigeon fanciers met there as well! I had been slightly concerned that I could not just give the same presentation as I had done before, but on looking through my papers I worked out that it was actually seven years ago when I was last in Emsworth - Seven years ago? no wonder I couldn't remember what I had said - no-one will ever remember, I thought - I'll be fine.

I was met at the door of the hall at 7pm with a enveloping embrace by a beaming Chairwoman who said she was delighted to have me back as she remembers clearly the lovely presentation I gave all those years ago and how funny my jokes were! In fact they were the only jokes she ever remembered! (Great! I thought - I'll just need to wing it then!)

Emswoth Horticultural Society is a thriving Gardening club and the hall was packed http://www.emsworthhorticulturalsociety.org.uk/ - I guess there could have been 120+ there. Brightwater Holidays have looked after their annual Garden Holiday every year for the last seven and have taken them to Herefordshire, The Lakes, Monet's Garden and Alnwick http://www.alnwickgarden.com/ to name a few. After an uneventful AGM I was on, and fortunately my presentation went down very well as I took them on a photographic tour of Scottish Gardens and explained how the company had developed over the years to incorporate tours to just about every corner of the world. Either I had managed to find a few new stories and jokes or they were just being polite. Other than my auto-slide changer running out of battery half way through, I think my digital PowerPoint Presentation is here to stay, and the old slide projector will go in the bin - progress.

I seem to have been driving along the A303 at midnight quite a lot this winter.

Abriachan, Inverness and a Theatre of Auriculas

Wednesday 9th February 2011

Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit the Loch Ness-side garden and nursery at Abriachan http://www.lochnessgarden.com/ this wonderful garden is run by Donald Davidson who took time to show me around. Set on and above Loch Ness the garden climbs steeply up from the busy A82 just north of Drumnadrochit. The weather was a step back into winter compared to last week in balmy Kent, with the A9 around Dunkeld and Pitlochry thick with snow.

 I stopped briefly at the House of Bruar for a quick look round and was amazed how it has developed over the years - it really lives up to its nickname of the 'Harrods of the Highlands' http://www.houseofbruar.com/ - you could spend a small fortune in there, however I was very restrained limiting myself to a nice little book on Otters.

It it probably fair to say that Abriachan was not at its best yesterday having been hammered by recent heavy snows and hard frosts, and when I arrived Donald was busy clearing away some storm damage - 'It's good to have a clear out' he said, 'It lets light into the garden'. We wandered around the winding paths with Donald's old dog for company; past St Columba's Font Stone (which was really interesting) and some spectacular seed heads on a dead giant lily - but what was a great treat was to see inside Donald's polly-tunnel packed full of rare and unusual auriculas. I also learnt a new collective noun yesterday - that of a 'Theatre of Auricula'. I was so impressed that I ordered a Starter Pack of 10 auricula to create my own 'Theatre' at home.

At the top of the garden there is a wonderful vantage point that gives splendid views over Loch Ness and asking Donald if this is where our passengers get to see the 'Monster' - Donald replied, calm as you like 'Well I did see something from here once, something I could not explain - and I had a real sceptic with me who saw it too. It was a large brown object in the water, and we could not figure out what it was. There is definitely something in that loch that we don't know about'. Well I hope it puts in another appearance soon before the start of the Tourist Season!

Later I had a meeting with the Inverness Courier who have just started to promote our holidays then went on to speak to the good people of the Inverness Horticultural Society who were a really nice crowd - particularly one lady who has travelled nine times with us! Thank you very much for your support Mrs Robertson.

The north/south divide

Friday 4th February 2011

I was parked up beside a beautiful cherry orchard in Kent yesterday high above Sittingbourne overlooking the Medway Estuary with the busy Dartford Crossing away in the distance. What a beautiful orchard it was - rows and rows of cherry trees marching across the countryside in regimented lines with Oasthouses dotted on the horizon. It was 11 degrees and at last the sun had some real warmth in it. I could easily imagine that in just a few weeks these trees would be laden with spring blossom. Then on my radio 'Sally Traffic' issued a warning to high-sided vehicles crossing northern bridges and about gales lashing the north of Britain - there were ferry cancellations to the Hebrides and the Northern Isles - Northlink had cancelled several sailings to Shetland because of the winter storms. I was extremely grateful that our 'Up helly aa' tour to Shetland last week made it there and back in relatively calm seas!

Before coming to Kent I had a business meeting at RHS Wisley - which is where their commercial offices are located - again it was like a spring day - mild and sunny - and I have never seen their car park so busy. The place was packed! I discovered that while the sun does bring people out, the main attraction was the current Butterfly exhibits in the garden's glass houses. This is the third year the RHS has had this attraction (from the middle of January through to the end of February) and I would heartily recommend a visit. I had a quick look round, and once my glasses had stopped steaming up I saw a fantastic array of beautifully coloured butterflies flying freely through the heated glass houses. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley

In the evening I was speaking to good people of Sittingbourne Gardeners & Flower Arrangers Society - they were a lovely crowd who alternate their meetings every two weeks between a Garden related topic and a Flower Arranging demonstration. http://sgfas.mysite.co.uk/

A speedy retreat down an empty (if windy) A303 listening to Radio 4 got me home by half past midnight.