Month: January 2017

Coffee Time in Canterbury at Boho

/ cathyp

Boho is in the High Street so a seat in the window as you drink your coffee lets you watch the world go by.

Bo Ho interior

But there’s plenty of room further back in the cafe if you prefer and a small outside area. The decor is unusual but fun.

Loved the brightly painted walls and chairs.

That apple tart was delicious just the right amount of sugar and spice. I’m told the breakfast was brilliant too.

The scrambled eggs were spread over a very large part of the floor by my granddaughter but the waitress kept smiling!

 

 

  • Perfect location for a shopper, right in the middle of the High Street
  • The service was excellent, fast and friendly.
  • A great place to sit for a while with quirky decor.
  • The coffee was excellent.
  • There is a large menu including all my favourites like roast veg and goats cheese.
  • Prices are reasonable.
  • The toilet was clean.

scrambled eggs

Verdict

Really liked this place and will definitely go again. There are several things on the menu I would like to try.

Coffee Time in Canterbury at The Local

/ cathyp

Not really in Canterbury and a pub not a coffee shop but worth a mention anyway.

coffee cups

No coffee choice, this is a pub not a cafe, but very nice and hot chocolate was available.

A nice place to stop on a long walk.

  • Good location if you are walking around the area.
  • The service was excellent, the landlord was welcoming and friendly.
  • There were plenty of comfortable seats.
  • The coffee was really good.
  • No elevenses but there is an extensive lunch menu with Indian food or more traditional items.
  • Good value for money.
  • Toilets were clean .

The Local pub sign

Verdict

This was a lucky find on a long walk and we got a good welcome.

Might make it back for lunch in the summer. Definitely have coffee or a drink if we are nearby again.

A postcard from Timbuktu

/ cathyp

 

 

On Getting a Postcard

Today I got a postcard, not any old post card  from a standard holiday destination, but a postcard from Timbuktu.

Not many people get a postcard from Timbuktu in Mali mostly because you have to be seriously deranged to actually travel there. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.

Going to Timbuktu

 Going to  Timbuktu means going to  the ends of the earth. Its mysterious, romantic, inaccessible and remote . On the edge of the Sahara its the oldest city in Africa, the spiritual and intellectual centre of Islam on the continent.postcard from Timbuctu

Its hot and dry all year, in the summer the temperature reaches 40 ° F and in the winter it never goes below 30° when the Harmattan trade wind blows sand into everything.

I would happily put up with this to see the Djinguereber Mosque which is made entirely of mud and is of course a UNESCO World heritage site.

However there is worse.

In 2008 Al Qaeda began kidnapping tourists and in 2012 many religious buildings were destroyed during rebel occupation. The kidnapping goes on and the Foreign and Commonwealth office advises against all travel to Mali. This means your travel insurance is invalid. I think I would be a very bad kidnap victim, I cant sit still or shut up and at my age insurance is very necessary.

So we won’t go.

But back to the postcard now sitting proudly on my mantle piece.

There is a guy called Phil living in Mali who arranges for postcards to be sent from Timbuktu post office. For ten dollars you get your message written out by an  unemployed tour guide and sent to you.  I hope one day it will be safe to visit and maybe if I was younger I could wait for this to happen but for now the postcard is great.

postcard from Timbuctu

 

As you can see my daughter made her feelings clear!

 

Gambia is closed

/ cathyp

Closed for Business

Sometimes it feels like the world is closing for business. The Foreign Office advises against travel to parts of :-

Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Cameroon,

Colombia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Haiti, India, Iran,

Israel, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia,

Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Saudi Arabia,

Sudan,Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda,

Ukraine, Venezuela and Western Sahara.

Of course I’ve been to the safe parts of many of these countries, often with mainstream travel companies without a problem (and without telling my children of the F.O. advice!)

But worse than this the Foreign Office advises against all travel to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic,

Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo,Iraq, Libya,

Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan,

Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and now Gambia.

This means for your own safety  you really have no choice, you just shouldn’t go.

Some of these countries were (apparently) safe not that long ago. We had a fabulous holiday touring Tunisia a few years ago but I missed the boat on some of them.

I wasn’t any good  at the hippie  thing even in England and I’d never have made it to  the hippie trail’s ultimate destination of Afghanistan.

Now many of its treasures are destroyed even if you could go there safely.

I left it too late.

And Now Gambia

on the Gambia
monkey
Gambian village

While it’s OK for me to moan about places I can’t go to its the Gambians I really feel sorry for. This wonderful country is sometimes known as Africa Lite because English is widely spoken and there are western standard hotels.

Its only six and half hours from London with no time difference and as a cheap winter sun destination its unbeatable.

I am sad for the lovely people we met when travelling around the country.

Now thousands of tourists are being brought home.

The tourist industry that provided 20 % of the countries income will be lost, maybe for years.

Everywhere we go I try to ignore the politics of the country – we have no right to an opinion about the politics of somewhere we only spend a week or two. But just by talking to our young guides the tensions within the country were clear. Now amid a state of emergency many Gambians have fled across the border to Senegal.   Senegalese troops are waiting  hoping to force  Yahya Jammeh to step down and hand over the presidency to the rightful election winner.

This may happen quickly or the country might descend into civil war.

Either way for the moment the lives of people we met and befriended just a short time ago are being destroyed.

We can only hope they can recover and that one day soon we will be able to return.

 

on the Gambia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Time in Canterbury at Nadines

/ cathyp

Didn’t know Nadine’s Coffee House was here but it was a great find.

Its a really nice place and surprisingly big inside.

Nadines

 

There are sandwiches and an excellent range of homemade cakes, they had a Victoria sponge, chocolate cake , carrot cake and a couple of others when we were there.

The menu also has options for lunch and there is wi-fi.

All the staff were very friendly and helpful and there is a nice outside space at the back. There is even a marquee for the smokers.

 

outside at Nadines
outside at Nadines
outside at Nadines
Victoria sandwich

 

 

  • Nadine’s is in Ivy Lane but this is only a short walk from the high street  once you know it is there.
  • The service was outstanding , the staff were genuinely friendly
  • The seating was spacious and comfortable.
  • The coffee was delicious.
  • Best cake in a cafe for a long time and the others looked as good.
  • Very good value for money.
  • The toilets, like the rest of the cafe, were spotless.

 

 

 

Verdict

 

Absolutely loved this cafe.

I noticed a poster for afternoon tea and we will go back and try that sometime.

 

Featured Trans sib train travel

You’re doing What! at Your Age!

/ cathyp

Someone actually said that to JP last week. Its the first time but have people been thinking it for years? All he’d done was sit on a train for a very long time. Is there an age limit on that? True it was a long way from home- Siberia in fact and for a very long time – days on end between our stop off points but he wasn’t climbing a mountain or swimming the channel, just sitting down.

When I’d got over being indignant I wondered what the aged were supposed to do gardening?  knitting? stamp collecting?

 

 

fantasy gardengate

My fantasy garden gate

Peoples Expectations

The person who said this was a highly educated middle aged man. What will he do when he retires- be bored I’m guessing. Surely retirement is the ideal opportunity to do the things work and family responsibilities stopped you doing when you were younger. Some people love being retired and see it as a good chance to wind down and relax. I still haven’t found out what you are supposed to do all day. But I do know if I ever say” I don’t know how I found time to go to work” I’ll need shooting!

I do garden – its hard work and in my opinion not the best thing for elderly arthritic ladies. I do it because I like gardens not gardening. If I could afford a gardener I’d have one and just potter around cutting roses to put in my trug.

Got carried away there but what a brilliant thought.

 

 

I haven’t graduated to knitting yet.

but I don’t think I’ll be good at it.     crocheting

I can crochet but that only takes one needle.

The co-ordination required to use two is probably beyond me.

As for stamp collecting everyone my age did it as a child.

I remember Helveta or Swiss stamps were my favourite along with Magyar Posta

so I don’t need to go back to that.

 

 

 

 

So what to do?

 The obvious answer is more of what I’ve enjoyed doing for years and top of the list is travel. I have been lucky enough to have lots of time of to travel over the last ten years but being retired allows you enough time for the extra long journeys that have always been on the list.

A couple of months travelling around America, going to Australia the long slow way with no long flights and most recently the Trans Siberian express and on to Japan and China.

These are the journeys of the gap year for the young but the good thing about getting older is that you don’t care as much about what other people think and you don’t have to pretend to be cool.

So we do these things trundling along with our suitcases often surrounded by eighteen year olds with impossibly large rucksacks.

old map

Long may this continue.