Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2016-19

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Kate Brookfield continues her travel notes
• Mike Yeager posts another article about Vietnam
• The editor uses letters to refresh her memory of travelling
• Catherine Nesbitt forwards some interesting but useless facts
• Zvonko Springer shares Audrey Hepburn´s beauty tips
• Sites are suggested by Carol Hansen, Irene Harvalias, and Jean Sterling

Kate Brookfield continues her travel notes on her blog at Word Press:

SPRING HOLIDAY

This blog has not done justice to our two-day stay in Seville, or the interesting drive from Alcaucin to Seville. This is due to the poor WIFI connection at our Seville accommodation. This will attempt to fill the gaps for April 19 to 21.

April 19, Seville: The capital of Andalusia, Seville, is a sprawling historic city on the river Guadalquivir. It is a world heritage site with many places to visit. Like most ancient Spanish cities, its heritage is a mixture of old Moorish architecture and Renaissance Roman Catholic, Gothic, and Baroque.

We spent two nights here, not really long enough to do full justice to all that can be seen here.

The day we drove here was a beautiful sunny day. The first part of the journey from the mountain village of Alcaucin to Alquivera was the same route taken the previous day, when we went to see the rocks at El Torcin. Everything looks so much better in sunlight.

Driving into Seville was a nightmare because traffic was heavy. The road into the city parallels the river, with large bridges crossing it giving a similar appearance to Florence. More by good luck than judgement, we took the right bridge to the Trianna area and found the hotel immediately. We parked outside the door, but were almost ticketed, as it was a no-stopping road. The hotel staff offered no advice or suggestions, so Mike had to spend about an hour driving up and down narrow streets looking for a parking place.

Meanwhile, I had to wait while they cleaned the room. Although the hotel was quite big, with about 4-5 floors, we were given a pokey little room near the reception desk. I think it might have once been a broom closet! The space was less than we had in our cabin on the cruise, without space under the bed for the luggage. But we are travelling on a budget and all accommodation in Seville is higher than other places. So it was clean and convenient for getting to the cathedral and Alcazar Gardens. But as mentioned, and the reason for this afterword on Seville, is because of the lousy WIFI signal. Another reason is because we did so much in a few days.

April 29: We flew from Madrid to Edinburgh, arriving late, and it was snowing.

May 1, Edinburgh to Hartlepool: A very wet and windy drive down the east coast. We had rain, snow, hail, and some brief sunny interludes, but it was great to see the sea again. We stopped at Dunbar and took a walk to the cliff edge. We were nearly blown over by the gale-force wind. http://wp.me/p7neuK-7u

May 2: The weather has not been too good here, but we took a picnic lunch and went to Bowes Museum in County Durham.

John Bowes was the son of a lord with a local woman. He was acknowledged by his titled father and educated as a lord´s son, but never accepted in society in England. Although his father did eventually marry his mother for him to inherit title and property, it was disputed, and Bowes was not given title or all his father´s properties. But he was given this land in Barnard Castle and ownership of lead mines. He was very wealthy, but a social outcast with the aristocracy. He went to live in France, where he bought a theatre and married an actress, Josephine.

She was a clever attractive woman with a passion for all the arts. They bought this land and had this museum built to display the thousands of objects they purchased. Unfortunately, neither lived to see the museum finished, but they left this legacy for the British people to enjoy.
http://wp.me/p7neuK-8b,
http://wp.me/p7neuK-8M

May 3, Hartlepool: Have had a lovely time staying with my sister and her husband. My other sister and brother with their families, nieces and nephews and spouses and a cousin, joined us for a dinner on Saturday. The next day we met for breakfast, then toured the Historic Quay at Hartlepool.

Hartlepool is an old harbour and fishing port. In the mid 1800s, the harbour was extended to allow ship building, and the industrial town of West Hartlepool was founded. After the ship-building industry declined and the iron and steel works closed, the towns of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool merged.

The historic quay and marina is a popular tourist location that describes the history of the fishing and shipping in the area. The big attraction is the restored Trincolamee frigate. Part of the museum tour are diaramas describing life on board such a vessel. http://wp.me/p7neuK-7x

To be continued.

Mike Yeager continues his story of their visit to Vietnam:

MUI NE

April 28: We took a bus out of Ho Chi Minh City and were happy to leave and get into the open countryside. My basecamp during the war was in the country. As the bus rolled along, I recognized the Vietnam from my past, rice paddies with a background of lush green mountains. Our destination was Mui Ne, a tourist/fishing village 135 miles north of HCM City.

The bus dropped us in the middle of town and we walked up a narrow lane lined with small restaurants and hotels. Our hotel was near the top of the hill. Two gentle soft-spoken Vietnamese women checked us in and informed us that the budget room we had booked had been upgraded, for some reason, to a villa.

To get to the villa we walked further up the lane and then up two flights of concrete steps. Our room was perched on top of the hill with an ocean view in the distance. Meals were served by the pool. One of the waiters was a young man from Belgium. He told us he lives in Mui Ne now and that he was hired by the hotel because he spoke English. Mui Ne seemed like a travel destination for young people. Our hotel was filled with tall good-looking European women carrying backpacks and travelling in pairs. I didn´t ask him directly, but I assume our young waiter had found himself a little Shangri-la.

We took a taxi to the fishing village section of Mui Ne and spent the day walking around. It was a hot day, but beautiful. We ventured down a lane where the locals lived and down to the beach near the fishing boats. The area was primitive and beautiful, and trash and garbage was strewn all around.

We ate in a small restaurant. The women who ran it were very sweet and the balcony dining had a view overlooking the bay. We ordered fried rice and grilled squid, the most delicious food we´d eaten so far. In the middle of our meal, a big rat entered one side of the balcony, crossed by our table, and exited on the other side. None of the other diners took notice. Katie and I looked at each other, as if to say, what should we do? We were enjoying the food so much, we lifted up our feet up onto the chair rungs and continued eating.

A little while later the rat returned, and Katie screamed. He passed under our table and out the other side of the balcony where he had originally come from. The two European men sitting at the table next to us looked over, and I explained to them that a rat the size of housecat just ran under our table. One of them mumbled something like, "Is that so?" and kept on eating.

What can I say? Vietnam is beautiful, the people are sweet, and there are lots of rats and garbage.

ED. NOTE: To see Mike´s photos, go to http://aretiredboomer.blogspot.ca/2016/04/mui-ne.html

The editor continues her story from old letters of her first venture

TRAVELLING OVERSEAS

July 24, 1971, Douglas, Scotland: I am in dour, damp old Scotland, and the mist is seeping into me bones. I didn´a bring suitable clothes for this climate - but I should have been here last week! Warmest July on record! (or next week....)

There has been a bit of a gap since I wrote last, but I´ve been busy. Down at the Wilsons´ every day, practically all day - shopping or drinking coffee or eating, helping Ann get ready for their holiday by ironing clothes and washing dishes, etc. They are great people to visit and certainly made me feel at home.

They have a VW bus fitted with a stove and shelves and keeper, with lots of seats and lots of room, so I wasn´t really in the way on their trip to Scotland to see David´s mother. In fact, I amused Alistair, the two-year-old, for many miles, so I paid my way.

It took about eight hours to get here, mostly on the Motorway (a six-lane freeway loaded with trucks), so though we went through the Lakes District, I didn´t see even one lake. We by-passed them all.

When we arrived here it was bucketing rain. I got a room for one night in the local hostelry, but it´s only available for one night. So I phoned Jim Clarkson, the librarian, and he rushed down with his umbrella to pick me up. He and his father and brother live in the upper half of a duplex, and their sister lives just over the way. She cooked a stupendous dinner. ("Ye´ll no buy meals while ye´re here!")

They have already made plans for three excursions, one to Edinburgh, so I´ll be here until Tuesday at least.

Today I´m to change to a bed and breakfast with a friend of the Clarksons, and this afternoon we´re going shopping with Colin, the brother, and his girlfriend, Kathleen.

I´m beginning to count the days till I come home. It seems like a long time since I left, especially as I haven´t heard from you. I hope everything is okay and you are all well. Cheers!

July 27: This will probably be my last letter because I don´t know how long it takes for mail to get there, and since I´ll be home a week from today, I may be there before it arrives.

I´m still in the little town of Douglas, staying in a bed and breakfast with a verra pleasant woman, Jane, and buzzing about with the Clarksons. On Sunday, Jim´s father took us for a drive to Ayre on the west coast, where we visited Robert Burns´ cottage, and to Prestwick. The sun has been very coy, but it did shine that evening, and we had a verra scenic tour. Jim´s father is quite a humorist, and sometimes embarrassed Jim dreadfully, but I enjoyed him. As Jim says, "He´s not your father!"

Yesterday we took an excursion bus to Edinburg, which is picturesque and very old, and absolutely jam-packed with people and cars. We were there about seven hours, and I did some more shopping. After we got home, we had a "Tribute to Burns" record, so it was late when I got back to my b&b.

Today the weather is threatening again, but we have nothing planned. Jim wants me to see his library if we can get into the school, but there is nothing else afoot. Mostly eating and conversation, which goes on endlessly with an amazing number of people. Such overwhelming hospitality!

Lunch is on so I´m off. I will see you all on August 3rd! take care of yourselves until then.... Love, Jean

Catherine Nesbitt forwards these

USELESS BUT INTERESTING FACTS

Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn´t smoke unless it´s heated above 450F.

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean.

The domesticated banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.

Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.

The University of Alaska spans four time zones.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

A comet´s tail always points away from the sun.

The swine flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent.

Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers; that is why it is found in some medicines.

The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.

In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.

Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside.

Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.

The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.

The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.

Due to earth´s gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters.

Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy.

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.

Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.

For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off.

Zvonko Springer forwarded this piece, which was written by Audrey Hepburn when she was asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later:

AUDREY HEPBURN´S BEAUTY TIPS

- For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

- For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

- For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

- For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

- For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

- People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

- Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

- As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

HELPING HANDS

Elderly residents of Humanatis, a nursing home in Deventer, Netherlands, get regular opportunities to interact with university students. The nursing home offers free rent to students who agree to do volunteer work in the home. The students visit with the residents, take them shopping, and teach interested older folk how to use a computer. In return, the students are offered a spacious room with a kitchen and bathroom. While the elderly people enjoy the visits, the young people also love the chance to interact with and to assist the residents with their day-to-day needs.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Carol Hansen forward the URL for a video of rangers trying to help a cat in a trap:

Irene Harvalias sends this link to a video of a tightrope walker in an amazing performance in the Ukraine talent competition:

Jean Sterling forwards the URL for 31 pictures that only cat owners will understand:

In this video, a trained martial arts instructor shows how to defend yourself in a small space like an elevator:

Tell TripAdvisor to stop promoting and selling tickets to cruel wildlife tourist attractions. By taking action, you´re helping to protect elephants, tigers, turtles, and other animals from the cruelties of the tourism industry:

In this TED talk, Marco Tempest uses stagecraft and a little magic to demonstrate EDI, a multi-purpose robot designed to work very closely with humans:

This planned power plant in Wales will use the rise and fall of ocean tides to generate enough renewable electricity to power 155,000 homes for 120 years:

This video is a mashup of 66 old movie dance scenes - such energy!

This may be the best cat video you will ever see:

The technology exists to turn plastic into oil! Meet the oil conversion machine, developed in Japan, that converts one kg of plastic into one litre of oil.

To check out the features of the "freedictionary," which changes daily, go to