Back home again for the time being
Sir John Here!
I’ve been away for the past 5 weeks in England-shire and Brittany, France.
A mixture of a little (very) business and a much needed vacation.
We had a nice place in the mid to south of Brittany right in the heart of what was the resistance country in WW2 and you could almost imagine the thrust and counter thrust of the two opposing sides in this part of occupied France.
The scenery is very pleasing to the eye and this particular part of the country is just full of little towns and villages which all seem to be empty.
You very rarely see anybody out on the streets, but all of that changes when you one ventures into a cafe restaurant or bar, then it does seem like the whole of the local community is out in force.
Also the roads all through Brittany are just so quiet that you can travel for miles and not see another vehicle, so driving on the “wrong” side of the road for me, does not present that much of a problem……Just a little bit different to when I not so long ago drove from Cincinnati right into the Hyatt Regency in Wacker Drive in Chicago along the skyway, on a bucketing wet day, when it was almost impossible to see because of the spray from the juggernauts. The Wild Scotsman himself was nearly having kittens sitting in the passenger seat and telling me that I was going to hit the fender of the trailer in front. I just told him to keep the faith and he would be delivered safely into downtown Chicago. He then closed his eyes and thought of anything other than where he was!!! Me ?? I was ok I was driving the car!!!
Back to Brittany, the weather was just fantastic. 2 half days of rain in 4 weeks and a nice Temp of around 75 degs F most days.
We read a lot sitting in the garden…actually I read 7 books, that is probably 7 more than I read over the past few years. We also travelled around the area, visiting plenty of places of interest and enjoying good food and wine……Great!!!
We had taken the car across on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth which is also a major Royal Naval base and Dockyard and where Admiral Horatio Nelson’s (who defeated Napoleon at Trafalgar) flagship the Victory is moored and can be visited by members of the public. The crossing was of around 10 hours to St. Malo and of course it was the same on the return jorney, which we did in daylight unlike the outward sail which we did overnight.
Our time spent in sout east England was taken up visiting our kids and grand kids plus of course a few friends, and I must say how much I do enjoy the pubs and eateries in that part of the UK.
Al in al a nice time away, but now it’s back to work, beginning this week with the Wild Scotchmen Whisky School at Bladnoch distillery, then at the end of next week I depart for the US of A for almost 3 weeks taking in San Fran. NY. Phili, and Pittsburgh doing shows in all of these great cities, and as well as being out on the road hustling for sales.
I can’t wait to get going!!!
Cheers
Sir John