Footsore And Free Of Fancy

Have you ever had one of those days?

I had a strange one while on holiday on a very hot Mediterranean island .... On the first day I put on my favourite holiday sandals of many seasons .... They were German and practically indestructible, or so I thought. I walked to the main strip, when suddenly I felt my heel dragging. I looked down expecting that I had snagged something, only to find to my surprise that the heel had simply crumbled away and was hanging by a thread.

Realising that the game was afoot so to speak, I ripped off the offending heel and limped on. Two minutes later the same sensation on the other foot, and yep, you guessed it, the other heel had done the same thing. That by the way is German efficiency for you, the heels degrade at the same speed. None of that one shoe fine, one worn, for the Germans.

Hot Footing It Across Town Had A Meaning For Me .... Footsore And Free Of Fancy

Now in dire straits, with both feet on bare concrete I turned in to the nearest tourist store and purchased some plastic replacements for the princely sum of 8 Euro's and 30 Cents.  'A week', that's all I hoped for..... But no, just one measly hour later, the right sandal just fell apart. I was now in bare feet again on baking side walks. I staggered back to the store of purchase, but with no suitable replacements, I took my refund and hot footed it (literally) down the strip, this ordeal included crossing a metal bridge barefooted ..... twice (boy was that an experience!), until I found another store with alternative sandals.

All in all a morning that both I and my footsore feet won't forget in a hurry.

Tourist Scams

Edinburgh has of course a lot more to offer the visitor than just the cultural Festivals of August.

 

Edinburgh Festival High Street ....

 

Apart from the architecture and historical attractions, it even has a Disney link via the 1961 movie 'Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog'.

Observations From Foreign Climes

Cultural Invasions: The British tourists refusal to countenance eating 'foreign food's' while visiting those countries, is slowly changing those same lands. For instance vast chunks of the Mediterranean hinterlands, Islands and the Coastal Strips, are now effectively colonised by the working class British holiday maker.

 

Typical Benidorm Sign

In all but the most select of resorts or upper-class hotel areas, every second bar and restaurant has 'fish and chip's on the chalk board menus, and even more offer 'All Day British Breakfasts' with 'English Bacon' (as opposed to the Danish bacon 'luxury' variety item which was the case 30 years ago). The rest of the food being offered is equally predictable ... Burgers and Pizza etc, but also now increasingly 'Chinese Buffets' and 'British Curry' houses are springing up.

Cry Devo .... Max

Well the votes were counted, and either there was a brink stepped away from, or a big chance lost ..... depends on your point of view .....

Lost Chance Or Playing Safe?

Scottish voters (not British voters, which constitutionally it should have been by the way as we were made all one country/peoples by the Act of Union 1707 i.e one parliament and one right to vote), chose by 55.3% to 44.7% against independence.

 

A Sticky Situation

Just like buses, you wait all day for a summer madness story, and then three come along at once .... The E45 road near Sunne in West Sweden was the scene of an unusual accident when the road became impassable following a strange accident in July 2014.

The Road To Tosseberger Was A Sticky Patch

A lorry's back-doors flew open and the load poured on to the road .... police had to hose down and clear 330 feet (100 metres) of roadway.