John Carter receives the Silver Service Award from Dame Esther Rantzen and Marilyn Monroe
At the end of June 2018, Silver Travel Advisor held its annual Awards ceremony, when your choice of best tour operator, travel agent, cruise line, airline, and so on, were announced. At the end of that event, STA presented an award to me, which was quite unexpected. Even more unexpected was that it came with a serenade from a Marilyn Monroe ‘lookalike’….
Skiathos
John Carter travelled to Skiathos with Classic Collection Holidays on a package holiday which included flights, transfers and B&B accommodation at the Meltemi Boutique Hotel….
‘Now and Then’ – or, rather, ‘Deja vu’
In my last offering, I mentioned that there was a very strong ‘Now and Then’ element about my recent visit to Charleston in South Carolina. The ‘Now’ is the pleasure of finding, in April 2019, a delightful city, and realising that it is about to undergo a massive change in its fortunes as a tourist destination. The ‘Then’ was travelling to Miami in Florida in 1978, when more or less the same situation applied….
Charleston
The first thing you might like to know about Charleston, in South Carolina is that it began life in 1670 as Charles Town – in honour of King Charles II. For quite understandable reasons, it changed its name to Charleston in 1783, after the Revolutionary War (the one we call The War of Independence)….
Huey and Charleston
“He was ornery – and liked to chase women in red dresses”. That frank description of someone called Huey is writ large on the wall of a restaurant overlooking one of the golf courses at Wild Dunes, a 1,600 acres seaside resort a little to the north of Charleston in South Carolina….
John Carter’s late life crisis resolved with a rather dashing waistcoat
I’ll need your undivided attention this month, because ‘Now and Then’ is something of mixed bag. In fact, I’m not exactly sure where I should begin. Should it be with my theory about late-life crisis, or with the tale of the snazzy waistcoat? There is a link, albeit a tenuous one, but I feel that the waistcoat should come first. And the wedding to which it was worn….
Musings about Brexit and other matters
I’ve been scrupulously careful to avoid the ‘B’ subject when setting down my monthly musings on life now and then. Not even the ‘B’ word has passed my lips – or, rather, slipped out from beneath my typing fingertips. Read on….
A memory about Christchurch, New Zealand
As she prepared to stamp our passports, the girl behind the immigration desk noticed the head of the small teddy bear my wife was carrying in her bag. Read on a touching article by John Carter about Christchurch, New Zealand….
Long live the high street travel agent
Though a few brochures are on discreet display, Ponders Travel is quite unlike the usual sort of travel agency. A ’boutique’ establishment, it is, more importantly, a very far cry from the type of travel agency you are likely to have in your High Street. The cloned branch of a chain, peddling discounted package deals, with a staff trained to make sales, not friends….
Thwarted – the tale of a would-be London taxi driver
I want to tell you how I have been thwarted in my ambition to drive a London taxi. Not a 100% genuine London taxi, but one which has been retired from the fleet and can be used as a private vehicle….
Chips with everything
After a slight deviation, I’m firmly back on the ‘Now and Then’ this month – picking out a current news item and allowing it to take me (and you, I hope) down Memory Lane. Here goes ……
Bewildered
I mentioned, in a previous article, that I live in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a very decent sort of place in which to live, as far as I am concerned – and I’ve had close on 60 years to come to that decision. My particular patch of the borough is not as pleasant as it used to be, but as the years pass I have come to realise that nowhere is….
