General Chat

Mary, what a fascinating piece you have written for us all. I am going to need to read it over and over again.
The descriptions of your emotions, the little boy who proposed to you, ( did you stay in touch with him.), the picture of your parents sitting trying to work out what was best for everyone, your dislike of being in a foreign country, in a new school where you did not feel comfortable etc etc I could and will read this over and over again.

I am the person in my family who always wanted to travel,. When I was about nine my father who was always involved in politics and came from Dublin, Ireland in late 1945 to England. He met some rather senior people from South Africa who were interested in politics. They offered my father a very good post and to provide a house, maids etc if he went to South Africa to live. Oh how he wanted to go will remain with me forever, and I also was very excited but......my mother had been married before and had a daughter who had just come back into our lives, she was 19 nearly 20, and mum could not think of loosing her again. Even now I so wish we had gone.

My first husband was offered a very lucrative deal to move to the USA , we all went over several times but at the last moment he decided to stay in the UK...I guess it wasn't to be.
We did go to many countries , as I have said before but only for short periods.

Now I live in Spain and have had no regrets about moving here.

My twin sons went to Cardiff Uni and at the time I thought no one from our family had ever lived in Wales. They fell in love with the country, bought a house between them which they still own. One now in the army and the other is in business and still in Wales.....then we discovered that he was working about 200 metres from where a great great cousin of mine had worked in Swansea ! The building still stands so I asked for a photo...... The ground floor is now a Chinese Takeaway but the rest of the is the same as it was when ancestor was there!!

Sorry everyone, I am on a roll again.

Merlin, did you live near to this Hotel, where you on holiday, please write about your experience there, this is turning into a fascinating thread. I feel that I am learning so much about various places and why people left their original place of abode, either short or long term!

Well time to go now but I will be back later

Bridget in a warm, sunny, and still quiet Spain.

:-D

Thank you Mary, that is so interesting. You really should write a book you know. I can quite imagine that, once under your skin, the beauty and tranquillity of parts of Wales would never leave you, even though you have left 'it'.

Well I suppose it's about time I put my few thoughts down. here I am in Canada, about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls, but that's the end of the story. I was born in Cardiff, and spoke both Welsh and En glish as a small child. My father was Welsh, Mum was English, so my Welsh language conversations were with my Dad generally. Around the age of 5 years my parents decided that as cardiff was mainly English speaking, we should only speak English at home.
I loved our home and the proximity to the mountains, our regular walks and visits to the 'bluebell wood' at St Ffagans and my Dad's stories about a giant who lived in Castell Coch. My Dad was a prof at the South Wales Baptist college, and went "up the valleys" on Sundays to preach. Then the world turned upside down. He travelled to Chicago for a convention and while there was asked to preach at Yorkminster church in Toronto. That Sunday led to an invitation to become the regular minister at Yorkminster (yes it is patterned after Yorkminster cathedral in York). Dad flew home and we left for a week of holidays at Amroth. I recall vividly playing with my net in the rock pools with my little brother, and seeing my parents sitting on the pebble beach with big sheets of paper, looking VERY serious. Now I know that those sheets were covered with pro and con lists about possible emigration to Canada, and the pros won.
I did not want to leave. I was 7 y/o and my "boyfriend" asked if he could marry me so I didn't have to move!! Needless to say my Dad refused LOL.
We sailed from Southampton on Dec 28,1950.
Integrating into Canadian life was a nightmare for a small girl whose accent was different, hair, shoes and clothes were different. I was teased unmercifully at school and was very lonely and very sad, to the point that our doctor told my parents after 6 months to take me home. We went home every summer for the next 10 years until my grandmother died in 1960. Perhaps this exacerbated my desire to return home or perhaps it saved me from crippling depression.
Regardless I met my future husband at 18y/o and decided I had to consciously accept the fact that I now was living in Canada permanently. It is now 2011, I am no longer seven years old, but have never yet felt completely settled. My Welsh heritage is evident in my home, my children all have a Welsh name, and my son has now developed a love of Wales and Welsh culture, and music is the blood in his veins.
Enough about me, I hate the extremes of weather we have, I was absolutely flattened by the heat wave the past 2 weeks and loathe the excessive cold of the winters. But that's the way it is.
I am heartbroken at the state of things in the UK, especially this week in London. I recall in the 50's we were in London and my uncle, a building contractor, took us the see the Roman sun temple which his company had unearthed, in the middle of London, while still attempting to remove and rebuild after WWII. I was struck by the fact that I was looking at Roman architecture, Victorian architecture and a modern tall building all within the same small area. I loved London in those days, vibrant and always something interesting to see or do, rides on the double deckers, and those amazing doors at the science museum which opened when you walked in front of them LOL. Puffing Billy was my brother's favourite exhibit. Walks on Hampstead Heath, floating our wee boats on the Serpentine in Hyde park, (was that land owned by Sir Thomas Hyde? - one of my kids paternal ancestors) we experienced London as moist visitors didn't. In 1953, as we were now living in Canada, we were allowed to sit in the 'Canadian stands' opposite the entrance door to Westminster abbey for the Coronation, and my mother attended a garden party at Buckingham palace, making her appearance in the newspaper as she was photographed walking just behind prince Philip.
I have travelled extensively in Canada and the USA over the years, and been to Norway,Denmark & Sweden with an international Girl Guide camp in 1959, been to Bermuda, Nassau, Curacao and New Zealand, seen the Rockies all the way to Victoria,BC. But given my choice, I would travel to Wales. It has a huge emotional impact yet to walk where my grandparents did in Llangollen, Froncysyllte and Trefor isaf.
Intellectually I know am home here, this is where my family live and I love them. Emotionally Wales will always be home. Perhaps this may sound ridiculous to others but it's just the way it is. Like London, Cardiff is not the same now, and when I visit there, I feel like a stranger, like I don't belong. But set me in north Wales and I feel peaceful.
Other family members have emigrated to far off lands as well. Most notable is one 3xgreatuncle whoi emigrated from Scotland to Grenada and fathered (are you ready for this???) 26 children, 13 with his wife and 13 of varying shades of tan! Another of the same name was a doctor who became mayor of Kingston Jamaica, one in another line died in St Helena while returning home from India, another died of yellow fever in Jamaica,the list goes on. There was some migration from Scotland to Northern Ireland and the republic, Eire. Some who left for Australia, and my cousin who was born in India,(while her father was with the British Indian medical service) grew up in Liverpool and emigrated to New Zealand,. Another line emigrated to the USA, on my kids paternal side we have one who travelled on the Mayflower, one whose family was scalped by Indians in the USA and documented descent from King Alfred the Great.
No wonder this is such a fascinating hobby, it's my mission I suppose to put the family back together, figuratively. Obviously a love of travelling has existed for many years in my tree, I suppose we have cousins in widely spread parts of the globe. I am in Canada, initially under protest, now by choice, though if my family decided to move to somewhere more temperate, I'd be tagging along.
Sorry to ramble so long, think I'll copy this now I have it all written down, perhaps it could become my obit LOL
Mary

Yes Ladies That was the one, Lovely Place, just have to rely on memories,same as The Hong Kong Club, completely replaced,never recapture the ambience of these places,Even Raffles has Changed,and none for the better.Thanks. Merlin. :-S

Just nudging this up to see if there is any more interest.

Good morning to you all.

Such a sad time in the UK. My OH and his colleagues could see this coming as thet py were in the Immigration services, it has been brewing for a very long time and was one of the reasons in our list when we were considering leaving the UK.That is all I shall say.

The birds are twittering the trees are gently swaying, Jet and Joe have had their breakfast and are now basking in the sun. OH is busy on the computer and I am, well I am writing to you all.

My grandson who wants to go into the Army in a couple of years is away for a week is some where in the North of England, seven coaches of young people are on army training and I hope that they all come home without any broken bones etc. However what a great way to learn discipline. Comradeship, working as a team and evaluating.

I felt sorry for his mum who was busy sewing on name labels on every item of clothing whilst grandson was checking everything he needed was in good condition and packed away....then he called his army uncle to say he could not fit everything in the luggage required. It was a wise decisicion as he left with all correct!
How sad that more young people are not involved in areas they could enjoy, learn from, make lifelong friends etc.

No plans for today, I am getting used to doing not very much.
Why is it easier to relax when the sun is shining? My thought of the day.

Having watched the terrible demonstrations in the UK I wondered why it does not happen here. Now it is not perfect in Spain but parents are still very strict, families pull together, the police are very active and no 'pussy footing arround" as my mother in law used to say. The police will use force if an instruction is not carried out immediately, prisons are not the same is those in the UK, which are like some very good hotels.
I feel much safer here than I did in the UK as do many of our friends here, so another reason for being here.
Have a good day and I will be back later.

Bridget in Spain 09.08 hrs

Girls - I know just what you mean by price of English language books....sheeesh they cost a lot here too.
I bring as many as I can carry when i come back from UK, and then try to swap amongst others here , but it is difficult isn't it.
I was ok when we lived in a resort hotel on the coast, all the guests would bring the latest and leave them in the 'library' when they left....I had the pick of all the latest bestsellers and was spoilt for choice! But that was then!! :-(


K

I have a feeling Merlin's going to be disappointed if he remembers the Shepheard's that was, the one which featured in in The English Patient. That's long gone, as confirmed by Bridget, it was burnt down in the riots....as were a lot of the beautiful buildings in downtown Cairo at that time. It used to stand near Ezbekiah Gardens.

As for the new one, Merlin, which is known here as the Helnan Shepherd (Helnan being the hotel chain) well that stands nowhere near the original location, has nothing like the old splendour of the original Shepheards, and is hardly recognisable from that lovely description given from Bridget's tourist book!!
In short, the Helnan Shepherd is a modern hotel which bears the name of a one time grand establishment, whose good reputation it must be surely hoping to cash in on by trying to fool the tourist!

If it's the original Shepheard's which you refer, then you were here some time ago.. ;-) ....in which case you might also know the Hotel Windsor, which was very close by. THAT is still standing.
It was originally purchased as an annexe to Shepheards, and was known as Hotel Windsor-Maison Suisse then. I think it was a British Officers Club for a long time.
It has seen better days, admittedly, but I love going there because time and the years have hardly changed it. Until recently the white robed waiters in the lounge bar stil wore a red Fez. Sadly they don't anymore, don't know why, but the place still oozes charm, and I wouldn't mind betting that some of the furniture was there in the 1930's!!

Merlin, if you were here at the time of the original Shepheard's, then you might enjoy reading Woman of Cairo by Noel Barber.

K

Anninglos.
Thanks for the advice. Will have to look into it before the winter sets in,although as far as technology is concerned, Menorca is still dragging itself into the 20th century, never mind the 21st.
We have been promised fibreoptic cables within the next 2 years, but with the credit crunch, I´m sure there will be better things to spend the money on.
Marion

Merlin is this the hotel you mentioned ?

I am looking fowrad to reading all about it from Karen.

Welcome to the Shepheard Hotel

Few hotels in the world can claim the rich history of the Shepheard Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. Originally established in 1841 by Englishman Samuel Shepheard, the hotel quickly became Cairo’s leading hotel and one of the most celebrated in the world between the middle of the 19th century and 1952. It was famed for its grandeur and opulence and where the day’s international aristocracy and celebrity elites sipped tea on the terrace, to see and be seen.

Withstanding several renovations and serving as the British headquarters in World War I, and as the the rendez-vous place for prominent allied officers, politicians and spies during World War II, the hotel finally succumbed to the devestating Cairo fire of 1952.

But in 1957, like a pheonix rising from the ashes, the hotel was rebuilt on its present unique location in classic style. In keeping with it’s namesake, and with it’s continued goal of offering superior service and hospitality, so the new Shepheard Hotel continues to proudly commemorate its predecessor.

Today’s Shepheard Hotel is a classic 4-star hotel ideally located on the banks of the Nile in downtown Cairo. Centrally situated near the grand Egyptian Museum, the Cairo Tower and the Opera House, the hotel is an ideal base from which to explore the glorious city and it’s many historical and cultural attractions.

All the restaurants & bars along with most of the 297 guest rooms and suites have panoramic views of the Nile and city skyline. The accommodations are spacious and comfortable with modern amenities. Guests will appreciate the many facilities including 24 hour room service, gym and business cetner, including several banqueting halls and services. The hotel also features a world-class casino.

The Great Pyramids


How the Great Pyramid was built is a question that may never be answered. Herodotus said that it would have taken 30 years and 100,000 slaves to have built it. Another theory is that it was built by peasants who were unable to work the land while the Nile flooded between July and November. They may have been paid with food for their labor. The flooded waters would have also aided in the moving of the casing stones. These stones were brought from Aswan and Tura and the water would have brought the stones right to the pyramid. This pyramid is thought to have been built between 2589 - 2566 BC. It would have taken over 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tons each. The total weight would have been 6,000,000 tons and a height of 482 feet (140m). It is the largest and the oldest of the Pyramids of Giza



Chephren is the son and successor of Khufu and Hensuten. Khufu's other son and also successor, Ra'djedef, started constructing his own pyramid at Abu Rawash, which is north of Giza. Chephren's pyramid is designed more modestly than Khufu's. The Chephren pyramid originally was 10 feet (3m) shorter and 48 feet (14.6m) more narrow at the base. The estimated weight of all the stones in the pyramid is 4,880,000 tons. Because it is built higher on the plateau, it looks taller from most angles than Khufu's pyramid. The slope of the angles is higher, 53 degrees compared to Khufu's 51 degrees.

The Pyramid of Menkaure' (Mycerinus) is the smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza and shows the beginning of the decline in workmanship in the Egyptian pyramid building. The attention to detail is not as it is on the earlier pyramid.




The Egyptian museum
I couldn't manage to down load the photos...sorry but still interesting

I am supposed to be making som afternoon tea!! HAHA

I use my iPad to download books and it is not expensive. Some really good books available as well. I do sometimes have a nice surprise when friends come over as the often leave their paperbacks for me and soetimes bring a new book just to say Thanks.
Must go and make the tea now,
Bridget

Marion, re the Kindle. If you bought one with 3G connectivity it would mean you could download straight to the Kindle without using your broadband. However that is true for UK. You would have to check that for Minorca. I know that I can download books to mine in Tenerife and they are only the amount of VAT different to paperbacks (VAT payable on e books, not paperbacks). And some books are really cheap, those from first time authors etc. Have a look on Amazon at the Kindle store and see what you can get. I know Tenerife Sun who (obviously) lives in Tenerife, found a Kindle a huge help as she had the same problem as you regarding books.

Hey Karen,just noticed you are in Cairo, Wondered if Shepherds Hotel is still going strong,Had many a Bevy in there years ago.**M**.

Karen.
Ramadan & prayer times???. Sounds like parts of Birmingham where I come from. The City Council even opened a prayer room in the Council House for the Muslim staff.. Not that I have any objection to people following their religion, but it all seems a bit odd to an ancient born & bred Brummie.
Bridget.
Menorca is very fortunate in it´s rock formations. We have huge underground lakes from which our water is extracted & as far as I know, they have never run dry. It does mean that the tap water is undrinkable because of the mineral content, but we all buy bottled water instead. I don´t even give tap water to the cat. It does mean though that we always have water for other purposes. Wish we could say the same for electricity.
Books are a problem here too. There are a couple of charity shops where I buy them in the winter because people going back to England donate them. There´s also a second hand book shop which sells them quite cheaply, but the last new one I bought cost me almost €12. Can´t do that very often. Friends coming from England used to bring them, but can´t any more because of the weight restrictions on luggage. I had considered buying a Kindle, but from what I understand, the books cost almost as much to download as they do to buy & only having a dial up internet connection, downloading them could take several days (I´m prone to exaggeration). Generally I beg & borrow them from all over.

Marion

Goodmorning,

London aside for a moment, as I could ramble on for pages having just watched this morning's TV news, I am so angry.....anyway, that aside just now, I've enjoyed reading over the last couple of posts, Bridget and Marion, in which you tell us of your tranquil havens!! Sounds just heavenly, I can almost FEEL the peace and quiet. Bliss.

Quite the opposite for me, currently a city dweller, where there is constant noise (current population of Cairo is approx 7.5 million). First thing to start is the dawn call for prayer, which I don't mind, and am used to, and then the daily noise starts.....the traffic noise is the worst thing I think. I still can't get used to the fact that drivers all have a compulsion to peep the horn - constantly, and often at nothing. When they are stuck in traffic (which, in Cairo is almost always) they are far worse, not having one iota of patience. I am sure that if they found the horn didn't work one day, they would deem the car broken down!
Taxis are the worst - no matter that the dashboard, radio, window winders, door handles, springs in seats, suspension, engine, gear box etc are all either non-existent or hanging on by a thread (MOT? never heard of it!) but as long as the horn is working, then that's ok!!

On occasion, hubby & I get away for a few days to the coast, and we savour our time just lying on the beach, basking in listening to nothing, and counting our lucky stars that we are able to escape the chaos once in a while.

On a par with you, I too try and get the chores done in the mornings before the real heat of the day penetrates the rooms. We do have a/c but I don't keep it on in the rooms we're not using, in my quest to conserve energy! And windows are opened in the winter months here, not the summer!
I try to get to the shops as early as possible in the summer, even though it's barely a 10 minute walk - amittedly not far - but hard going when it's over 35C outside!! Most shops open at 10 or 11, but we live near a big supermarket which opens at 8 (except for now because it's Ramadan).
One advantage of the extreme heat is that washing takes barely an hour to dry!! And mopped floors take a mere second! Sorry to mention the dreaded HW.

I chuckled at Marion's comment on the opening and closing times, nodding my head in agreement, because neither can I get used to going to the dentist at, say, 7pm!!
Don't get me started on opening and closing times in Saudi Arabia, where everything must shut at prayer times - shops, restaurants, banks etc....and how many times a day are prayer times?
Just the 5.

Cheerio for now,
K

Marion
I have also always been an early riser but also generally speaking I do not need a lot of sleep.
I use my time in the early morning to watch the sunrise, to enjoy the tranquilty and to add to some threads.there is something calming about the sunrise along with hope which we all need for one thing or another.
Do you live near to shops?

Your day sounds very much like mine,and I have my cyber friends as I call them to thank for my tranquilty these days. Some people were so intuitive when I was so ill last year and I have not even met them!

What sort of books do you enjoy reading,do you find English books are expensive where you
I've.we simply cannot buy English books here nor within a reasonable distance and they are expensive.
I am thinking about buying some books about the countries that people who have added to this thread live in. I wonder if anyone can recommend such books.
I would try to have them on my iPad or ask my friends who are coming to see us at the end of the month
.
I am very thankful that I am not in the UK and at the moment praying that situation will improve very quickly, it sounds like anarchy.

Do you find that you could dust all day, because one of the drawbacks living here is the constant dust!! I could be dust all day, but I am not once a day is enough for me.

Have you heard anything about low water levels in the reservoirs? The very large one which is some kilometres away but is the one that serves us is still very very low. Rather worrying really.I wonder how others cope when water is scarce. Never really thought about it in the UK.

Enjoy your day everyone

Bridget

Morning All
It´s quiet & peaceful here too. The "rush hour" is more or less over for the office workers who start between 7.30/8.30 am.
One thing I have never got used to here are the working hours.
I tend to be an early riser & find it very frustrating having to wait until 10 am for the shops to open. Then they shut again at 1.30 for 3 or 4 hours, then the day starts again. Going to the dentist at 7 pm is something I will never get used to.
It´s a lovely sunny morning with a cooling breeze. Looks like being a nice day with comfortable temperatures. Up to about 30c I can cope. Over that & I start to visibly wilt , which is another reason why I like to get "done & dusted" as early as possible, so that I can sit on the patio with my book & not have to do anything more energetic than fetching the washing in when it´s dry.
Have a good day everyone & be thankful you´re not in the UK at the moment. Very worrying for family & friends who are.

Marion

Good morning to you all.

It is 06.53 here in Spain and the silence outside is almost over powering. The trees are still, I cannot hear any birds and even Jet and Joe are laying on the veranda . For those who do not know Jet and Joe, they are my lovely Cocker Spaniels.

The sky is slowly changing from grey blue to a real blue, just as one expects in Spain. Did they know I was writing about them...the birds have just started twittering, they never let me down. So far I have only heard three different birds but no idea what they are.

I am shocked and somewhat ashamed at the spread of the anarchy spreading across the UK. What can any government do to change this ongoing situation?

If this was happening in Spain the police would have taken a very different approach. I am not saying it would have resolved anything but I truly believe it would not have spread as it has in the UK.

On to a different subject.
When we moved to Spain we made the decision to sell our home in the UK and not buy another place in the UK, as we felt that this would mean that we had to make a real effort to make our quest succeed. What, I wonder, did everyone else do?

Life is so different these days or so we think to the times of our parents and grandparents, but is it really so.? My maternal grandfather spent most of his working life in the army. He also spent most of his career in India and was definitely an English man who truly believed that he and his men and other officers were superior to the indigenous population. I even have photos of him and some other officers sitting in the shade with young Indians keeping them cool with fans!!

An uncle of mine the son of the grandfather above went abroad a great deal and eventually became a Buddhist, can' recall right now exactly where he went for about three years. He never changed his belief in Buddhism but sadly died when hevwas quite still quite young.

Another of my uncles was what is today called Gay. He had a very difficult time in the UK but when he was sent to France by a famous Hotel in London where he was the senior Cocktail Bar manager he found a very different view and made many friends there, learnt French, Italian, and German. He lived there for around two years and then returned to the UK and went straight back to the London Hotel.
My great uncle, my grandfathers brother emigrated to Australia, cannot recall the exact year, married a widow with children and died there. As a young girl I used to correspond with him every couple of months.

Now you are most likely thinking why am I sharing this with you all, and my reason is simply to demonstrate that whilst we may think that we were/are brave to go and try living abroad others have done the same.......many years ago.

Do you have ancestors who moved abroad, is moving abroad in our genes?

Well after that little effort I am looking out ofbthebwindow and the sky is becoming brighter, although still no sound finding it's way up the hill/ mountain. The bakers will have just opened and the older Spanish men will be buying the bread and them sitting with their friends, discussing the day, the weather and of course how to put the world straight. They will not be speaking in Spanish as I know it but in local speech, and they will all be talking at once. If you saw them you would think that they were very poor, some will have string to hold up their trousers, others will have holes in their jumpers, and as for shoes.....well I leave it to your imagination!!!
When we first lived here my husband would pay for some of their coffees as he thought that they were poor......then our builder who is Spanish but lived and worked in Surrey for more than 20 years that these men own most of the land in the area, have beautiful homes etc but do not flaunt their situation, how they laughed when he told them what he had just told my husband, so the Spanish myth of not having a sense of humour is quite wrong!

The widowers still dress in black after the death and stay dressed mostly in black for the rest of their lives. I can recall when in England people would stop in the street and the men would take their hats or caps of and everyone would stand still until the hearse had passed......does anyone else recall this.

I was surprised, because I hadn't thought clearly, that when the Spanish die almost 95% of people are cremated, now I was brought up as a Catholic and no one was cremated. Low and behold why were't people cremated??
Of course one reason in Spain is because of the heat in the summer and of course because it is a mountainous country.

Once again I have lost myself, writing away as if I had nothing else to do, and possibly boring everyone, so will say goodbye for now but I will peek in throughout the day.

Oops, just thought of another good reason for living in my part of Spain, the tranquility of each morning, no motor bikes screaming along, no traffic jams, no noise to moan about, neighbours and friends who smile and look for the positive side of life....

Bridget in tranquil Spain and just in case you want to see where I live it is in
Peniscula.






:-D :-D

Dear Karen and Ann

I wrote a long reply to your last few entries which I found fascinating, however when I read through I deleted it.

I am definitely not a racist however London and the surrounding areas have been allowed to become segregated by immigrants some from recent times and others from several generations ago. I do not forget that in the 1950s people from Jamaica etc were encouraged to come to the UK to do the work that the indigenous population did not and would not do. For example road cleaning, domestic staff in hospitals, heavy manual work. As the years went by their families settled and became an important part of society. Soon they wanted others to do the work they no longer wanted, various governments did not agree with each other. The UK became known for it's sympathy for those who fled from their country of origin, and often fleeing because of what they had done to others. I will not say more, except my husband had to retire because the work he was in trying to protect the UK caused him to collapse and he was lucky to be resuscitated.

These young people are not being educated are being brought up by parents who are unable to find work, who have the view that "the country will pay them yo stay at home and if you want something and cannot afford it then steal it?

I do not know the answers, the hands of the police are tied, the education system cannot cope, the family unit has disintegrated, and where we not warned of this many years ago.." the rivers of blood" springs to mind.

I am not racist, there are many foreigners in my family, and I am a foreigner in another country. This is about planning for the future, learning from the mistakes, being firm and fair to everyone and having strong laws which are understood and implemented.

I am not trying to point fingers or indeed upset anyone, the UK has many beautiful places, people from all parts of the world and in all types of work

Bridget