On my way toPenang 24 November 2014

Today I got the correct day woke up early but decided to take my time with getting to the airport, checked e mail and websites, then had shower and dressed foot,  I was very clever and did a selfie on it so could see what was doing, then down for breakfast, Robs wife was there and very pleasant asking about yesterday,  discussed pizza man, she mentioned the bakery was also a strange company to deal with. I forgot to say had spoken to friend Paul about problems and my feet so he had offered to help out when i get there but pain much less today, finished packing, then off to the ferry.

Just missed but was ok for time, so caught next, not to busy, then to train for airport so different this time,  when got there signs said  to use lifts, but were long queues so used escalators instead.  Luckily remembered where to go, but still a long walk. At Singapore Airlines was the same nice young lady dealing with me, we quickly sorted me out and another young woman took me to the aircraft, what a busy large place it is, think I would of struggled if tried to do on own. There were quite a few people in wheelchairs waiting to board but we were very well dealt with, plane itself much better than many of the others and staff pleasant in dealing with everybody, so settled back to relax for a couple of hours, well no the flight is 6 hours I think, the times have changed yet again no wonder I dont know what day or time it is. Now the only problem was that I had dressed for the weather in shorts and short sleeved shirt, but the air con was very cold, even the young man sat next to me put an extra layer on, I mentioned it to one of the staff,  but nothing seemed to change so it was as well that they provided blankets which most people were using, eventually the temperature went up but not very much.

The food and drinks were good and decent portions, the entertainment system was also better and easier,  once I had worked it out and later I found it was suitable for the loop of my hearing aids and at present I am typing this on board whilst listening to a selection of their music, see only another 3 and a half hours to go so may have a sleep soon as I have to change planes so more time before I finally reach my destination. Oh I forgot to say that I was very privileged to have a very small unhappy child in the row behind me that let us know this by its crying, at least after a while it quietened down but has just set off again. At times like this the joys of poor hearing and being able to turn on T setting that cuts out lots of noise but can still hear the audio, even if there is a background noise, must investigate all this when return home. Other problem for me is hearing announcements above the plane roar.

Settled to watch nice but sad film after music session,  had slept briefly, well thats what it seemed to me. Then seems we were running late but I should be ok for my flight, but no time to explore Singapore airport now. Was asked to keep back when plane landed and would have escort to get me to plane to Penang, so did this, there was three quarters of an hour to  do so felt would achieve easily, err no wheelchairs not ready when landed so to help walked to concourse, not sure why but then seemed to wait for ever whilst man messed about with paperwork.

Finally with another driver we set off driving at speed through the airport which was huge,  other passengers seemed oblivious to our vehicle travelling at speed and sounding its horn, the driver said I may have to get a later flight, explained did not really want to do this, as had been on the go from early that morning, he went on the phone whilst driving err uum not sure was safest thing in the world but if it got me on the plane that was ok.

Well we made it with a few minutes to spare,  when tried to get to the seat there was one of those passengers who block the aisle whilst they sort out their luggage totally without concern for others trying to board and get seated,  the attendant in the end told her to sit down must say often its a man.

So the plane set off quite basic compared to other but is only a short flight, was given snack and a drink so doing blog to pass time on the flight as there seems no entertainment unless have their app downloaded, good news we are landing shortly do soon will catch up with Paul and Audrey it must be at least seven or eight years since we last met. Then on to hotel and a nights rest before the next phase of my adventure.

Well as hoped when I got to the airport Paul was there to greet me but unfortunately Audrey has some sort of flu type bug so not able to meet up as she does not wish to pass on to me, such a shame as i was looking forward to meeting her again after our brief time at their wedding.  We quickly loaded my luggage into the car of off we set. I forgot to say it was very hot and the humidity was high but have found that I am getting used to it now, the roads were very busy, not sure I would wanted to even try with people cutting in and out of the lanes, but soon we reached the hotel.

What a difference to one or two of the other places i have stayed in definately no creepy crawlies here so far, it was quite upmarket, the check in was swift, I was offerred an upgrade to a beach one for an extra £10 per night, so took that, I could see a beautiful view through the back of the hotel. Paul acted as porter so off we went, it was a very pleasant room, and the view stunning, he left me to unpack and said would call back later to go for a meal and see a few of the sights.

31 December 2013 New Years Eve A Different Beach To Explore

I will start at the end for a change today as its new years eve, I do realise when I am typing this its still not midnight back home, but here its 29 minutes past and I am sat here all on my own, bangers keep going off outside, the good news is that although its a quiet area there are two police cars outside a little down the street.
My two friends retired to bed earlier, I am not into Spanish TV and all my friends seem to of disappeared from the various websites. I would of gone out to see what the crowds are up to but we are still having issues with the lock on the outside door, so here I am sat at the table, at least its warm in here and I am listening to Burt Bacharach as I type.

Earlier I rang my friend Anne back in UK for a chat,(its times like these I really appreciate mobile phones) update and a bit of company, she unlike me wanted to be on her own over the holiday period, we talked about back in the 70s when we first knew each other and rang each other to cope with being on our own and how different it would be one day in the future, well here we both are 40 years on both on our own with nobody for company, well not quite true I suppose she has sleeping cats and I have sleeping friends LOL, where did I go wrong, or maybe this is as good as it gets, at least I am warm and health is not to bad, apart from the pain killers for my bad back

Back to the plot Zorro and I had a lie in no sign of Brian when we got up, had breakfast then checked at 10 he was ok, which resulted in him getting up, we decided to walk down to the port and have a walk along the front, since I was last here they have extended the port do was a longer distance before we reached the promenade.
I walked a little by the sea, it was so quiet without the traffic noise, eventually we came to an area for us oldies to exercise,

I should of used tablet to take photos of us children playing instead you will have to wait until I return home readers. Near to there was a very large high chimney, with an even larger one in the distance, we later learnt these were all that was left of a factory, the larger one had a device for measuring time inside.

The others felt they had walked long enough, plus they resisted my suggestion of a trip to the nearby Burger King for a Gigantic Whopper so we wandered down the backstreets seeking somewhere for a sandwich. By good luck we came across a small cafe that seemed to fit the bill, the young lady waitress spoke no English so between my sign language and Zorros Spanish we enjoyed drinks and sandwiches. From there I suggested we find somewhere that do cakes to finish off and or an ice-cream.

Zorro led us to the main supermarket where we stocked up with more food for tonight and possibly the rest of our stay, unfortunately we did not find cakes or ice-cream unless we bought a number. As we walked along we noticed a number of people lay down by one of the offices, Zorro mentioned the fact that none seemed to have alcohol, rather water milk or juice we carried on and eventually found a place, we each chose a different one, again there was a strange group of people near one of the churches, going by the mixture and clothing we wondered if they were waiting for some sort of food or other hand out, a sad sign of the times, as we were now tired we went back to the flat, I had a bath then a sleep, whilst the others did tasks on their computers. When I got up I assisted Brian with preparing the meal, which turned out a great success followed by our cream cakes, we then relaxed for a while before as already said they went to bed.

Its now 1.30 and bangers are going off still, its odd there seem to be no pretty fireworks lighting up the sky, I am not sure if we are over the worst or it will get noisier, so going to have a quick look at other sites before I try to sleep

I hope you are enjoying the read and I wish you all
A Happy New Year

THE FIRST DAY

I could not sleep so I got up early had breakfast then a bath got ready, Geoff came on time, when we got to Brians he was outside waiting obviously eager to get going, the drive to the station was uneventful we said goodbye to Geoff got our tickets and went to the platform,

the train arrived on time, only problem it was packed out, we rushed down the train, eventually we managed to squeeze on and off the train went, a man with rather a loud voice was trying to chat up a young woman, only problem was she was more interested in sending texts, as we stopped at various stations more were more people packed in,

the conductor made an announcement warning passengers not to use first class unless they had a ticket, not sure how he could enforce this as there was no way to get through the crowd, eventually most got off and we could finally get a seat

No problems on arrival at Manchester aiport although it was a long walk to check in, that went well so on to security,  not sure what was wrong, but they did body search on me, had explained to Brian to put watch etc in container despite this they took his bag off for some reason but eventually returned it, after that no more problems,  flight ok, but it seemed a long trip from plane to getting out of  Copenhagen airport,  our carousel for baggage was furthest then had to walk back to get out

We coud not find out how to get to hotel, eventually found helpful lady and off we went on metro,  booked in, lift would not work,  we found out we had to insert room key in slot first, unpacked had a rest

Later went down to beach and spent some time taking photos, oops,  forgot to say that today was a very warm  day, was surprising how many planes flew over, there was also a mixture of boats and ships from tiny kayaks, to large cruise and cargo vessels,  withe the odd speed boat, leaving a huge trail behind them eventually went back to hotel,

today is longest day of the year, but we felt the need to eat then rest, we found some shops and the only one open was a Chinese, we settled for rissoles and chips with a coke,   place seemed very popular,  after back to hotel,  Brian tired so went to bed, thinking of my loyal readers I decided to post this blog,  only problem,  I could not remember the password, well now done hope not to boring for you, will post next episode tomorrow

Photos are of Brian on the promenade and the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo seen from the promenade