Peter Rabbit

There is a cat his name is Pingu, he usually catch mice, but this time caught a rabbit, he tried to show this prey to his owner, expected complement, “well done, you did a big job today”.

But he got scolded by his owner, and the owner let rabbit go, told him don’t do such a cruel things. He has disappointed very much.

Pingu asked owner take him to go to Peter Rabbit movie, his favorite James Corden is doing Peter’s voice, but owner told him, not allowed.

Birdworld

Rea

Birdworld is a bird zoo, located in East Hampshire, by car come from the M25, by train the nearest train station is Alton by South Western trains. There are lots of birds from all over the world.

There is an owl corner, many types of different owls are there, they are actually awake even in the daytime, and under their nests there are some baby chicks.

” I am sorry messing around, I will clean up tomorrow” these are message from them.

There is a friendly Rea, they approached us with a greeting.

Also some little Penguins were there getting fed.

There was a Heron watching near the penguin corner, very envious, he was wishing for getting a small share of the food.

※all photos permitted by birdworld to use

Be careful of BMW drivers

Be careful to BMW drivers, don’t too go close to their car. I had an experience waiting for road work traffic light going up a up a hill. Then A man came out from the front car, which was a BMW M3.

He shouted to me “Fucxxxx bitch what hell you doing? Get back away from my car now”, it was about 20 cm away from his car, I could n’t hit his car, but I could n’t reverse immediately I took the distance from his car, I did not hit his car, but I could n’t reverse immediately I took the distance from his car, it was rather close to his car when I released the clutch. Then he got more furious said “What hell you doing fucking idiot”, his angry attitude gave me a pressure .

When traffic light changed, I went to turn into right lane, then he suddenly cut into my lane, turning right from the straight lane, I needed to brake hard to avoid him. He was waiting for me and coming to my car very aggressively with his mobile phone, he took my car registration number pictures.

More over, he still e followed my car purposely for another half a mile, He took my car photos, shouted, said he will call the police and put me into jail. He was very rude and said mostly f words. BMW drivers liked to present their status by their car, agressive with no consideration. Have to be careful, don’t stop close to a BMW when waiting in traffic.

Spanish class & Home stay in San José in Costarica

Stayed for one week in San José for stady Spanish. The school was being refublised, so they provided one-to-one lesson in home stay house. These are the meals on the airplane traveling to SanJosé from Heathraw airport. Two meals were provided during flight.

This is Breakfast.

Home stay house, need to share with other homestay students. Most people are from USA, their volunteer probram to learn new culture. Students in the future doctor, nurse do vulunteer in hospital, other students help teach English in School.

This is my home stay room, a single room and domitory room, most of students from USA was staying in the domitory.
Served breakfast with special cheese, local people always have it for their breakfast, kind of mozzarella cheese, called queso.

They paid cinsiderable fees to partifipate in the volunteer program, but the volunteer program agents pay about 3USD per day to the home stay family, including accomodation and 2 meals per day during week-days, 3 meals week-end. Therefore American students have to stay in domitory room to share others, they usually stay up late drinking and sing and dance .

These are SanJosé town.
Usually there are two seasons in SanJosé, rainy season and dry season, rainy season is usually from October to May/June, so if you visit there during rainy season, half day or whole day storms and thunder. Egen when you go to the beach side, it is spoiled by huge rain same as scall level rain.

Capri Island and Vongle bianco

Ocean view is a landmark of Capri island.
At the cliff up to sea, a lot of second houses, hotels are there to see the horizon.

Reflect each other sky and sea blue color.

Famous blue cave is also in Capri island, access there to padding small paddle boat.

To access to Capri island, by jet boat or medium size boat from Napoli takes about 40 minutes.

As everyone expected there are a lot of seafood restaurant as well. Difficult to find which one is nice.

Vongle bianco spaghetti with a little sand, served by a veteran Cameriere in the restaurant, probably cook did not do enough desalting to remove sand.
With Capri lemon juice is the signature drink to have.

There  was a Capri dog, he was enjoying wind from the sea.

 

2020/10 during Covid-19 Scottish Highlands Bus Tour

We participated in a one-day bus tour from Edinburgh to the Highlands in October 2020. The driver told us that this tour was the first after a 3 month gap due to the pandemic situation. Sadly most of the company’s drivers had been made redundant and only 3 drivers were remaining from the original 34. Also, he said it was not certain that the company would continue business from November. 
During this tour we were of course all required to take anti-virus measures such as sitting in separated rows, wearing a face mask and needing to sterilize hands with gel before boarding the bus.

Highland area with beautiful mountains and lakes

We followed the bus driver’s commentary while watching the scenery of beautiful mountains and lakes pass by. That day the bus driver’s name was Scott, what other name could have been more appropriate for  driver with good guide.

Scott has extensive knowledge of the geography and history of Scotland which he combined with local folklore and many amusing anecdotes. His knowledge was gained as a history graduate from the university of Newcastle.

Also, Scott does not hesitate to tell  us a little about his private life and entains us all with a skillful rendition of a traditional Scottish folk song. The audience on the bus clapped in great appreciation. Actually driving is not his primary role. Usually the bus would be paired by two of the company personnel, guide and driver, used to professional guide was there but this formation has changed after COVID-19, all guides were redundant.

Loch Ness Boat Tour

There was a two-hour lunch break at Loch Ness with an optional boat tour (which cost an additional £15 per person). If this option is not taken then there is nothing special to do at the destination. We had travelled a very long way to the loch so the boat trip was the  highlight of the tour. All aboard.

On the boat the owner explained the depth of water as shown in the monitor.  This was measured by sonar, same as used by destroyer to find U-boats during World War 2.  The loch is very deep, over 180m and provides plenty of hiding space for the famous monster. This means you have to be extremely lucky to capture a photograph of Nessie on the surface.

The owner bought this new ship at the beginning of this year but as soon as Corona spread it was necessary to adopt new procedures. This meant only half of the seats could carry passengers and usually autumn is high season. Usually this season would see the boat full of tourists everyday but now Corona has led to tough times for the business. He said he never imagined such a caramity could happen.

Return to Edinburgh

On the way back to Edinburgh, it was misty and getting dark after 4 o’clock. The driver Scott talked about the autumn season in the Highland area, how it is a wonderful season to experience. He said for the tourists: “When Corona subsides, please come back again to here”

Scott mentioned that he has been married for two years and recently had a son. Also, he work as a manager in the company assigning drivers to each tour amongst many other duties.

The current situation for Highland Explorer is dire and it is not clear whether the company will survive after November 2020, this tour could be the last.

Scott asked tourists that “If you like this tour, please write a good review on TripAdvisor, Google, etc, as much as possible this would help us.”

After Tour

After return from the tour we wrote a review to travel site about Highland Explorer company and expressed our concern for the future of their company .

The young bus driver Scott has a new family to support and it’s unlucky to now have to endure the hardships of Corona. But life is fraught with and challenges for so many of us. May be it will help to get through difficulties in later life after  surmounting the situation  and  probably early stage ordeals give strength to get through life.