8th June 2010
Burlesque Family
Well the radio BBC Ulster interview was great fun and may I say many, many thanks to John Toal and Helen for coming out to Enniskillen to meet me there.
One
outcome from the interview was that a wonderful and extremely interesting
couple invited me to stay at their house for the night. Indeed I spent a
fascinating day at Paul and Majic's house on a day of continuous rain. They were
an absolutely wonderful couple, made for each other and I could encapsulate
their interests in two words, Volkswagen Beetles! Paul and Majic told of how every
year they went to the Bonneville Flats in the USA each year in order to race a Volkswagen
Beetle over the extensive and importantly, extremely flat salt beds of Utah.
Majic was the world record holder for the fastest woman driving one of the
eccentric cars. Well, she would. Majic was the only woman who drove one at the
event! Mind you, she definitely deserves the accolade as Majic said that she
achieved speeds of over ninety MPH.
Other interests included Elephants, Hobbs their beautiful cat and eco living.
Before meeting this wonderful couple though . . .
Right, after the radio interview and after watching Killen beat Enniskillen at
football 2-1, I camped on the shore of Lower Lough Erne about five miles north
west of the town. A very calm, peaceful sleep, with the tent set up close to
the lapping shoreline, was eventually broken by calling Great-crested Grebes out
on the water in the early morning mist, an evocative, plaintive sound, not
often heard.
I cycled to Lower Lough Erne RSPB reserve, well one of the reserve areas anyway as they have thirty eight islands and areas of responsibility around the Lough. The RSPB notice board was found next to a boarding quay, not near the car park. I spent a hot day exploring the reserve but did not see many birds. A day flying medium sized bat was unusual.
I then met two men whilst I cycled along the road adjacent to the nearby north shore of Loch Erne. Well, I say met. I was practically pulled off the bike by the older of the two grabbing my forearm and questioning me with his friendly Norn Irish brogue,
“Wha
r u up to?”
On
replying, this lovely old man then turned to his companion to relate what I had
just said. He then looked at me again and asked, pointing to his companion, who
was standing with fly fishing gear on the other side of the road.
“Don't you recognise him?”
The
younger man laughed and shouted over.
“He
won’t know me. He’s from England.
A
good assessment as of course, I am English and I said that I hadn’t got a clue
over who he was. It turned out that I was in the presence of a BBC presenter
and producer and my search on Google showed that he is also an author. Who was
it? Only one Darryl Grimason. Darryl and his companion were going fly fishing
for the afternoon and I appreciated the interest they had shown in my trip. In
fact I had hoped that they would invite me to have a go but alas they did not
and my shyness with celebrities, prevented me from asking.
Now
you may find it hard to believe that me, an extrovert in many ways, is shy in
any way. Well, I will admit that in most situations I am not but I do not know
why but when a person is famous, I find myself unable to function as normal!
For instance, my son, Joshua and I were at a county cricket match, watching
Lancashire play Worcestershire. Enemy territory for me, a Warwickshire Bears
fan but we were there to see Freddie Flintoff play. Freddie was batting in the
morning and at lunch, as the players came off a number of children, some with
their Dads,’ went over to this hulk of a man to ask for autographs. Fred was
not keen and tried to walk through the throng without stopping. Lunch was on
his mind and I could see that he had no intention of stopping for anyone.
Seeing this happen, there was no way that I could stop him, or even ask for the
autograph my son desperately wanted. Josh was extremely upset with me over this
and I was not helped when one Dad practically grabbed Freddie by the arm and
insisted on a selfie with his son! Sorry Josh.
Years
later I made it up to him by acting quickly when in a similar situation.
We
were both at the marvellous German Christmas Fair in Birmingham Centre one year
and whilst struggling through the crowds, came across the then Aston Villa and
German midfielder, Thomas Hitselsperger. Josh asked me to introduce him and so
I went politely up to Thomas and told him that we were both keen Aston Villa
fans. Indeed Josh and I were Holte End season ticket holders at the time. I
profusely blurted out appreciation for the way Thomas played and thanked him
for some of the spectacular rocket-like goals that he had scored. I proudly
introduced my son and Josh reiterated what I had said, mentioning one
particular fabulous goal that Thomas had scored.
Blow
me if a man did not then come up with a TV camera crew and said that he had
heard us and asked us both to repeat it all on camera!
Of
course, this we did and the humble way in which Thomas reacted to the praise
was telling of his wonderful, gentle personality.
Joshua and I never did get to see the TV footage as it was recorded for a German TV station. I will have to ask Joshua if this was the first time he had been on TV. It was certainly mine!
Onto the island of Lusty Beg via a small car ferry manned by Cyril and a meeting with two lovely families each with brilliant children. RSPB badges given out and the various damselflies shared. I thought I had a brief glimpse of a Spotted Flycatcher but I could not find it as it flew from a perch into the woods.
Later on in the day I reached Drumskinny and a farming family gave me coffee and cake, the coffee having milk straight from the cow. A look around the milking sheds and plenty of conversation before I was off again to look at the nearby waterfalls, which although pretty, were pretty dry.
Then,
it was to Drumskinny stone circle and alignment stones for the night camping.
The surrounding moss-filled grassy areas were mattress like, just like at South
Stack earlier in the year but just as I set up my tent, I started to have sharp
little pains around my eyes
Midges! How can something so tiny bite so hard? The little ba…
My first experience of them this year but I supposed that I would have to get used to them, especially as I had got a summer cycling around the west coast of Scotland in July and August coming up.
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