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Unfinished Melbourne: Day 1
Soundtrack: “Hong Kong Garden” Siouxsie and the Banshees New trip, 5 days in Melbourne to shop, eat things, and most importantly, see Massive Attack. An early morning, and much inclement weather on my drive to the airport (the airline sent an email the night before advising of possible delays). It took some time to find a parking spot some distance from the shuttle bus, and I was a little damp by the time I got to the stop. After checking in and security, I settled in for an expensive coffee and breakfast based on a croissant (in the same way movies are based on a true story — Paris has…
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Iberian Spring: Day 15 Helsinki to Singapore
Soundtrack: Lady Gaga medley It will come as no surprise to anyone who has taken a flight in the last 30 years that standard economy seats are not designed for comfortable sleeping for any normal sized person. So when I say that the Finnair flight from Helsinki to Singapore was pretty good, it should be read with the above caveat, along with airline food generally not being the best food ever, and stuff like that. Finnair fed me an ok pasta, and an acceptable sweet and sour chicken and rice, enough to break the chicken rice curse before I got to Singapore. The aircrew were among the best I’ve encountered…
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Day 15: Islay
The last full day in Islay, a day of just bits and pieces. Today was Ardbeg day, so just about everyone here for Feis Ile headed to the south end of the island for that. So we headed west, first stop the no-longer newest distillery on Islay, Kilchoman. This distillery generally produces a peaty, a little oily spirit, for me it works better in bourbon barrels but they do spend a lot of time using sherry. After several full days of whisky, plus cheese and spicy foods, and some ibuprofen, I found myself with a bit of reflux so I passed on doing any tasting. I was content just to…
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Say it slowly tour Day 08: Edinburgh, Irn Bru and defying gravity
Woke up feeling better that I probably should have, but maybe it’s one of those things: whisky drunk in Edinburgh during the festival doesn’t give hangovers. it’s a theory anyway. Head a little fuzzy, but nothing that a full breakfast and Irn Bru at the Whiski Bar on the Royal Mile couldn’t fix. Full breakfast wasn’t really full, no black or white pudding, but the bacon was perfect. Admired the whisky menu, too. Then I went off and climbed the Scott monument, all 270 steps or whatever. Rankin calls it a gothic phallic symbol, or something similar. It’s a fair description. Having climbed the Wallace monument, built around the same…
