Finally got to the Aix en Provence TGV station at 8.30 yesterday evening. As it’s a long way from the town and, although there is a bus, I was too tired to find it, I took an expensive taxi ride in a Tesla, no less, at way more than the speed limit all the way to the hotel. The bloke behind me in the queue … Continue reading Aix en Provence Day 1

I have to apologise for the excess holidaying this year. I started in January with two things booked and it just escalated from there. Not that I’m complaining at all. I am currently sitting in a cab in stationary traffic outside the Gare du Nord in Paris, wondering whether it would have been quicker to take the Metro. However, I would have missed my driver’s … Continue reading Here we go again

Started off today being woken up by rain on the roof at 5am. Bit of a surprise as none was forecast as far as I knew. Went to Holland this afternoon for a mooch around the shops, tea and general touristy type things. Holland is a small town on the coast south of here. It has a private religious college which makes the ambience very … Continue reading And today is my last day

Invited to Dan’s sister’s beach house on the edge of Lake Michigan. This is 200 miles north west of Detroit, near the city of Muskegon. Dan and Christopher are staying here so I have joined them for a few days. The journey (in a hired car) was long, boring and occasionally scary. They take their driving very seriously around here and people will do this … Continue reading Up north

I have been for two breakfasts, one lunch and dinner with various friends I haven’t seen for years. I have also bought a dress on the persuasion of one of these old friends. Sherry and I had dinner downtown with friends of hers after the history tour, went to a pub quiz with different friends (we came third) after I had been to Meadowbrook and, … Continue reading Additional things that have happened.

To continue the theme of 1920s opulence, off to visit a grand house, built on a country estate. The country estate is now on the fringes of the Greater Detroit area and belongs to Oakland University. One of the original Detroit car firms was Dodge, founded by the Dodge brothers before the First World War. Originally they made parts for other manufacturers but switched to … Continue reading Meadowbrook Hall

In the 1920s, Detroit was one of the richest cities in the US. Henry Ford had offered unskilled labourers twice the wages they could have got elsewhere and the population had jumped from 400000 before the First World War to 1.4 million by 1930. Along with all these riches came ostentatious building. We went on a tour organised by the Detroit History Club of three … Continue reading Detroit history tour.

First day – collected from the airport and fell asleep at 8pm. Wide awake to 3 am. I must be getting old. I used to be better at the jet lag coming this way. My friend Sherry lives in an extended 1940s family house, part of the extension of the suburbs during and after the Second World War. She has three dogs and an extensive … Continue reading In the suburbs of Detroit.

Before anyone starts tutting, I will say that this trip was booked months ago and, if I’d known then what I know now I might not have come. Enough said. I get to see my friends and that is the reason for my visit – and what I told immigration. Off to Heathrow this morning, breakfast, check in etc etc. Arriving at the gate, I … Continue reading To America – the land of the (ahem) free.

This is the house in Jedburgh where Mary Queen of Scots stayed in 1566, now a museum. As I was on my own with the dog I couldn’t go in but the gardens were lovely. The way home (on Bank Holiday Monday) was ghastly. The M6 was so crowded that all the services south of Lancaster had queues going onto the motorway to get in. … Continue reading A bit of a PS from Scotland, Cumbria etc.