Povey Prattle

Royal Navy Bases and Stations just before WW I (This map includes the installations of the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Indian Navy). Controlling the Trade Routes eh?

I enjoyed lunch today at the Mar Vista Restaurant on Longboat Key FL., see: http://marvista.groupersandwich.com It was my joy to be with former Pittsfield MA parishioners Pat and Jack McLaughlin.  They now live in Wolfeborough N.H. (a dandy town!). Jack and Pat visit LBK every year - we worked out today that this was a our ninth annual Sarasota/Manatee reunion. We opted to eat indoors rather than wait in line for an outdoor table. There were five   fifty something / sixty something men at a nearby table. They were using their "backyard barbecue/three beers/horse-shoe playing" voices.  They were noisy. They were very noisy. After about five minutes of this when   "I could  hardly hear myself think" noise, I approached their table. "Excuse me" , I said, "could you please use your quiet voices" . One of them glared at me.  Four of them grinned at me. One of the four said "of course". A couple at another table sm...

Viking North  Utsire South Utsire Forties Cromarty Forth Tyne Dogger Fisher German Bight Humber Thames Dover Wight Portland Plymouth Biscay Trafalgar FitzRoy Sole Lundy Fastnet Irish Sea Shannon Rockall Malin Hebrides Bailey Fair Isle Faeroes Southeast   Iceland British ex-pats of my generation, British citizens of my generation (and younger), and friends fro  other lands who have lived in the U.K. will recall them as referring to the coastal areas around the United Kingdom  and the Republic of Ireland which feature in the BBC's "Shipping Forecast". In my childhood and youth I would hear the Shipping Forecast": just about every day as it was broadcast on the BBC "Light Programme" (1500 m Long Wave). The forecast itself had little interest for me, but "oh those names" were mesmerising.  They had   a magical effect on my mind.  Indeed they were giving me a...

Senior Dudes Of Course. Friends John and Gordon gave a lovely dinner party this evening. I was there,  together with my regular pals Ben and Bob, plus Rick - a good neighbour and Church friend. It was a feast fit for Kings (or perhaps this care for Queens). John used this recipe for the main course http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-sole-meuniere-recipe.html Yep, Sole Meuniere, with boiled baby red potatoes, and glazed carrots. 'Twas as good as, if not better than that which would be served in any of SRQ's finer restaurants. And our Table Fellowship was grand.

Alma's is  a neighborhood cafe on North Beneva Road  - a four minute drive or twelve minute walk from my home. Alma's is run and owned  by husband and wife couple Alma and Benny.  They are from Albania. Like most immigrants they know the value of hard work. It's just the place to be for superb breakfasts, wonderful lunches, and simple dinners.(BYOB - no corkage fee). When my niece Beth and her boyfriend Jordan visited from England last October, Alma's became their favourite hang-out. In the same vein my two older sisters and their husbands visited me (also from England) last November, they too thought that Alma's was the tops. After one busy day I announced that I was too tired to cook, so we'd be eating "take out" from Alma's. I ordered three "Fish and Chip" take outs, knowing that there would be more than enough for five people  -  and the chips are superb! Here is what our local newspaper had to say about Alma's in its ...

I was in the Raleigh/Durham area recently.  There I rented a car for three days. I used one of those photographic toll booths for a 75c road toll.' Yesterday I received a bill from Dollar Rent a Car for the toll. The bill was for $15.75. 75c for the toll $15 for Dollar's"Administrative Fee". Extortionate eh?

Last night I dreamed that I was with various family members and other friends alongside a wide river. In my dream I thought that we were alongside the Solway Firth (the western border between Scotland and England), but my brother Martyn told me that we were on the banks of the River Tyne (not far from the eastern Anglo-Scottish border). I saw a Whale as it surfaced (but no-one else saw it). I saw  low flying plane, about to land at Newcastle's Airport. I saw three sky-divers.  They were setting off fireworks and flares as they descended to the ground. WE - (by this time including my niece Anne) wandered into town .  We observed many old and gorgeous Victorian Churches, Civic Buildings and Homes.  Some were in terrible disrepair, others were as gorgeous as when they were built by those marvelous Victorian architects and builders. WE entered a crowded room.  There I joined in a vivid and lively conversation with some of Anne's Church friends (I ha...