Monthly Archive: November 2012

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At your convenience – and other folk

           On Sunday Cal Guy Jnr was distinctly unwell: he was running a high fever and just wanted to cling to one parent or other.             Cal Son came up with an idea: Why not drive towards Palomar Airport at Carlsbad -and watch the aircraft movements on the runway from the outdoor Starbucks lounge at Loker Avenue West? What a good idea!  Cal Guy Snr and the Captain got aircraft talk, Boatwif got a new view and a sky fast...

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It’s winter

Wednesday 21St – Saturday 24th November “It’s winter,” said Cal Son as Boatwif remarked upon Christmas decorations at a shopping mall a week ago. Well, it’s winter now,” said Cal Mom on Wednesday, as discussions were under way about how hot, how cool or how cold the bowling alley would be. It’s the original bowling alley, 40 lanes for play, first opened in San Marcos about fifty years ago. In the event temperatures were comfortable at T-shirt level and the...

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Boy time

       Trains and Boats and Planes goes the first line of Burt Bacharach’s 1965 song. Well, Trains were ticked via the Coaster ride on Sunday, since which there have been various sightings of the local light railway train, the Sprinter. This serves the communities between Oceanside and Escondido (along a route of about 25 miles) and whose station for the Cal State San Marcos university campus is right at the bottom of the hill. Boats and planes?  Cal Guy Snr...

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Sights, sounds and tastes in San Diego County

Thursday: bodies and brains were in a jumble – it isn’t easy to adjust to an eight hour time difference. From previous visits to California the Captain and Boatwif have devised their own (if only temporary) antidote to jet lag, lunch at the Pannikin.  A 25 minute drive south west from San Marcos cuts through the hills to the coast. There on the Pacific Highway 1 stands a wooden railway halt, now an indoor /outdoor café. It is totally unglitzy,...

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From Autumn to Fall…

Wednesday 14th – Thursday 15th November It was almost a shame to forsake British shores on Wednesday: the back garden maple tree is just edging from deep green leaf into a  shiny mahogany brown before the brilliant scarlet colour appears, trees around the M25 shone in bronze and copper colours and as the aircraft lifted off in an eastward direction russets and yellows in London’s suburbs  were clearly visible… At midday Terminal 5 was calm, purposeful. The building is a...

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Two canals: two tales

Readers of the last blog A Ferry Trip – by Taxi  may remember that the Captain and Boatwif had, so to speak, failed in their attempt to cruise the Manchester Ship Canal. They hadn’t attempted anything as brave as steering dear little Cleddau (all 60’ 6” by 6’10” of her) along a canal where the Big Boys play, no. They had merely attempted to take a six hour pleasure boat trip from Wallasey to Manchester. The 36 miles of the...