On the lookout for stones, our trip through Dartmoor National Park turned out to be a real safari. No elephants, however, but cute domesticated ponies begging for food and spitting on our car’s windows.

About tripping in South-West England :: Sleep – Eat – Drink

Friday 2 Aprill 2010 ::
S ::
E ::

Saturday 3 April 2010 ::
SE :: http://www.thetradesmansarms.co.uk/ -

Sunday 4 April 2010 ::
S :: Roskear Farm
St Breock, Wadebridge, Cornwall PL27 7HU, United Kingdom
M 07748 432 013

E ::

Hello, hello, helllooo – oooo,

Is someone out there, is someone out there in the interwebuniversum listening to these words I am typing?
I guess not, so that is most reassuring. My own private space in the intervirtuactic world. Me like.

But just in case there is someone picking up this signal. One warning: I am back. Back to the old fashioned dumping thoughts, comments, views on this blog habit. I don’t even know why. So if you do happen to land on my own virtual garden patch, feel free to plant some seeds, play along with my thoughts or join me on the swing.

In case you’ve missed the Lounge Louche website by entering the site, we just would like to invite you to a fine party.

How to get rid of these extra kilograms after eating too much turkey or Christmas pie? We think the best way to do so is by dancing all night long!

So invite all of your friends and join us.

I was just about to get out of the taxi, when I discovered a mobile phone lying on the seat where we had been sitting. It must have fallen out of Koen’s pocket while reaching for the money. Lucky us! I was so glad we didn’t have to spend the rest of the evening searching for that thing instead of watching a movie.

All of a sudden while entering the appartement music started to play. At first we had no idea where that noise came from. It was a kind of magic. Soon enough we realised Koen’s pants were singing! Well actually it was the mobile phone in his pants. No not his personal mobile phone as that one only has an old fashioned ring tone. Koen magically pulled out a second mobile phone! So obviously I mistakenly had lifted the mobile phone of someone else out of the taxi.

Of course the dilemma to keep or not to keep never crossed our minds. So we did some Hercule Poirot detective work and not much later we had found the owner. And for those who expected an exciting ending, I have to disappoint you. A cab came and picked up the phone and returnded it to the rightful owner. He got his phone back and I got a thank you on the phone.

Plastic is soon to become the new street cement. Though that is according to Durakerb, the company that offers an eco-friendly alternative to concrete kerbstones.
These kerbstones – made from recycled milk cartons – could easily be cleaned by the street sweeper as opposed to their cement counterpart. In the republic of Ireland circa 30,000 metres have been laid so far. These kerbstones are said to be resistant to oil, petrol and … paint.

In Northern Ireland the Roads Service organised a trial of the new plastic in Lisburn but there has been no decision as yet about using it. If they do decide to go ahead with this, than this street image will soon be history.

Belgium is covered under a thick bright white snow blanket. Cheerful kids were making snow men, evil neighbours however have planted a huge fallus in front of someone’s front door. I noticed the master piece on my way to the railway station tonight. On my way back however, nothing but the scrotum was left. The fallus had fallen apart, probably with some help from the owner who might have never considered having a fallus as door keeper. Or to end this story with a hilarious Dutch word pun from Ariane: Riebedepiet!

chivalry (accoding to the Free Dictionary)

1. The medieval system, principles, and customs of knighthood.
2.
a. The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women.
b. A manifestation of any of these qualities.
3. A group of knights or gallant gentlemen.
noun 1. courtesy, politeness, gallantry, courtliness, gentlemanliness
noun 2. knight-errantry, knighthood, gallantry, courtliness

Now the horses in the street have been replaced by loud monsters on four wheels, you might think chivalry has disappeared together with the horses. However, maybe not?

Last Friday I wanted to jump on my iron horse to cycle back to work. But Belfast would not be Belfast without the freak showers unfortunately, so there I stood, no raincoat and a very rainy wet bike saddle. Using my coat sleeve to whipe the rain off didn’t really work out well. And as I was no longer suffering from a bad cold, I had no pile of spare tissues tucked away in my bag.

But out of the blue: my knight in shining armour (well it was more a bright fluorescent jacket, but anyway) came to the rescue. He pulled out of his pocket a brand new white paper tissue and dried my bike saddle speaking the words “there is nothing worse than sitting on a wet saddle with dry pants”. I couldn’t agree more! Thank you, my Belfast knight.

No, that is not the temperature outside here in Belfast. For the time of the year it is pretty warm actually.

Well anyway. 9degrees. My brand new flickr account name. And yes another password to remember! Once on the world wide web, it is so easy to drift off with your surf board. Too many accounts, you say? That is the least of my troubles. Again another site to update and more importantly anxiously check whether some other drifters have left comments. Arghh.

So far, one of the most spectacular pictures on Arne Quinze’s weblog on the The Sequence.

What about spending New Year’s eve up in the north? No not just a city-party-trip to Gothenburg (Sweden) but a real “road-boat-trip”. We head off by car, the 27th of December crossing the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark to reach our final destination in Sweden. We’re not simply driving back home, but we’ll try to get on board of a freight ship of DFDS Torline.

Depending on your choice we could get a boat to Ghent (leaving Gothenburg on January 3rd for a 36 hours sailing trip) or to Immingham (England’s east coast, close to Leeds) (leaving Gothenborg on January 2nd or 3rd for a 24 hours sailing trip).

We checked the availability of the mentioned sailings, but the company reserves the right to alter schedules and vessels or transfer to alternative sailings if this should become necessary, as they give priority to the freight drivers accompanying their trucs.  Let’s hope for the best!

Who’s up for the ride? Let us know?