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Friday 4 July 2014

Last few weeks.




Well I have not managed to add the photos of the yarn shop in Palermo so will put the pictures on the other blog and the words here. It was more like a haberdashers as there were sewing notions, patterns.  Certainly I wasn't impressed with the wool on sale nor the manner of display.

Our only purchase in Palermo  apart from refreshments were an alarm clock , we found we couldn't rely on the wake up calls from reception nor did we wish to switch on our mobile phones as this was before the roaming charges were reduced. Some days we had very early morning starts, cases had to be outside rooms by 7am with get away at 8am on a couple of occasions.

If this sounds complaining it isn't , we had never been on this kind of holiday before, unlike most of our fellow travellers so we were learning the ropes on a fast paced tour.  We learnt a lot about ancient history, Ian said he thought we might have an exam at the end, little odd gems of knowledge stand out such as learning that the Normans went to Sicily, an Island that is one third bigger than Wales. There were 39 other travellers, rather a big group, compensated by the fact that we all gelled very well.

I managed some knitting on the holiday, started a pair of socks for daughter whilst on a long coach drive from one centre to another, only knitted where the scenery was unvarying. Knitted on the plane coming home, we travelled on a scheduled flight, both departures were at civilised times, in addition we were transported to and from our homes as part of the package.

Back in England life has been busy again, we went to Dorset last Friday to see Ian's brother as well as linking up with Martha. Whilst Ian and his brother chatted Martha and I went off to view some of the villages in that beautiful part of the world. In Sicily the local guides kept on emphasising the beauty of their country but for me nothing can beat England for beauty. We drove through a village, because we were going slowly I was able to recognise a guy hedge cutting who had lived locally, he and his wife, Caroline attended the same church as we had, his elder son was in Martha's class at primary school. We were invited in for tea and catching  up on the ten years sine they had moved away.

Next day we attended church in another village, Caroline, a NSM covering an interregnum, took the service whilst another Caroline played the organ, second Caroline and her husband moved from here to Dorset a couple of years ago. Six attendees formerly from one London suburban church in a congregation of about 20 plus choir seems a coincidence. The service emphasised my feelings that even in ecclesiastical matters London is another country, so different in many ways from the rest of the country.

We returned home to face two days of upheaval as our boiler was replaced, not quite as bad as it could have been but new boiler is no longer hidden in a cupboard. Ian has painted pipes and walls so it blends in as much as white metal boxes and copper pipes can.


3 comments:

  1. Certainly the alarm clock function on your mobile phones is completely seperate from the telephone function - no charges unless you use it for phone calls and/or surfing the internet and sending text messages. It's a shame the wake-up service at reception was unreliable; it's not exactly rocket science to take note of which room to call at what time, and then do it, is it!
    Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed your tour of Sicily; I spent 10 summers on the island myself when I was younger, and have some fond (and some less fond) memories of those years. Today, if given the choice, I'd pefer England anytime!

    How nice you met the hedge-cutting guy you used to know from your neighbourhood. And all the Londoners to attend the same church, a coincidence indeed!

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  2. I'm glad your tour of Sicily went well in most respects, though I sympathise about the early starts. Glad to hear that knitting is now allowed on flights in Europe. It's nearly 3 years since I was last on a plane and it certainly wasn't allowed on British carriers then.

    As for meeting up with people one knew in a different place, I've stopped being surprised at the coincidences that occur and just enjoy catching-up with them again. :-)

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  3. I only use free wifi on holiday abroad, but I don't have trouble using the alarm.

    John Julius Norwich wrote two very interesting books on the history of Sicily some years ago - I'd known nothing of the Normans being there until then.

    I've got both blogs in my feed reader, so can see your pictures as well as the words!

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