Moon River, Yi Bai Wan (One million dollar)

My venture into ukulele.

Moon River

Yi Bai Wan

(Oops!  The opening was wrong.)

UK 2019

Landed in London on 22nd May 2019.  The next day, noticed a fire in a distance from the house I was staying.  It was a fire at a warehouse.

So here is Fireman Blues; dedicated to the firemen who put out the fire.  It is based on some simple licks that I learned.

Hope you like it.

Fireman Blues

To is 25th May 2019.  Went to Hampstead.  Actually went there to have a look at one of the smallest cafe in the world - converted from an old phone booth.  

Bought an Americano from the cafe.

Then went to Hampstead Heath to clock my 10K steps.  The walk was nice - temperature was around 20 deg C.

Also went to Camden Market again - visited the market in Dec 2018.  However this time it is spring and there are buskers on the street.  Below is an amazing beat boxer - seems to be able to provide the beat and melody at the same time (there is no backing track).

After Mass on 26th May, spent the afternoon at Coal Drops Yard.  In ancient time, this is where coal is delivered.  It is now a shopping mall with branded stuff.

The University of Arts, London (Central St Martins) are near there and there was an art exhibition.  Nowadays it seems that art has no specific theme - it is just what it is.

My son and grandson going through an art display.

Along the way home; along Regent Canal; visited a bookshop in a long boat.

Went to Epping today (27th May) with my son and grandson (daughter-in-law travelled oversea for some personal matters).

From the Epping Underground station, we took an old bus to look at the Ongar Railway - where steam trains still run.

The buses that go there are also historical.  The tickets are still purchased from a conductor onboard who is dressed in uniform.  The ticket is of GBP 16 is valid for any train or bus ride to and from Ongar.

The Ongar Railway is manned by a very friendly crew.  You can even go into the driver's cabin to have a look.  There are steam driven trains and steam engine trains that goes into the forest and come back to the station.

Today (30th May) I clocked my 10K steps by walking to Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square area.  Had home cooked lunch at there in the company of buskers.  They are really good.

1st June 2019 was a splendid day.  Went to Ruislip with my son and grandson.  Travelled for about 1.5 hours by train and bus.

There were many people in the park and there is a mini train system for kids.

Went to Covent Garden on 2nd June 2019.  It was bright, cool and sunny.  Covent Garden is a popular spot for buskers - I went there to see he free performances.

Went to Trafargal Square with my wifd today (6th June 2019). We took an hour to walk there - part of our 10K steps exercise.  Here some pictures taken enroute and at the Square.

It was mostly a wet day on 7th Jun.  My wife and I visited Spittalfield Market and Borough Market.

On the way to Spittalfield Market, we shared a crispy roasted pork salad.  Nice!

We made our way walking from Spittafie Market to Borough Market.  It was food galore at Borough Market.  We only managed some asparagus and mushrooms.

It is Saturday (8th Jun).  Did not do much.  Just walked to Broadway Market which operates only on Saturdays.  There were buskers at different parts of the market and enjoyed the one from Cuba playing Latin American genre.

Went to Mass at Our Lady of La Salette and St Joseph Church as we had dinner plan at a nearby restaurant.

6th Jun is also D Day.  A Spitfire was displayed at the London Bridge Station to commemorate the day.

Along the street, a bunch of naked bicycle riders rode pass!!!!!

Sunday, 9th Jun.  Collected the rental car in yhe morning to have a driving holiday at South West of UK (Plymouth, Cornwall area).  

Before driving off, spent some time at Victoria Park with my son and the family.

It was dinner time when we reached Plymouth (appox 2 hour drive from London).  Settled into our Airbnb - a nice 2-bedroom house.

The following day (10th Jun) was wet; drizzling for most of the day.  We spend the day exploring the Historical Naval Dock Yard - toured Queen Victoria (old old ship) and the Alliance submarine.

Imagine, they have washing machines in 1899.

Last day in Portsmouth.  It was a sunny day before the rain comes again for another few days.  We took a ferry to the Isle of Wight and explored Sandown and Culver regions before my son and grandson head back to London while we travel towards Cornwall.

Nice Airbnb in Bournemouth.

After  checking out of our Airbnb, we went around Bournemouth town centre which has a very nice park.

Then we drove to Poole and walked along the waterfront before having lunch there.

Corfe Castle is an interesting place to visit to learn a bit about British history.  I certainly recommend it.

The next destination was Durdle Dove, a world heritage site.

Wet day at Plymouth on 13th Jun.  Thought of visiting the town centre.  However there were road closure and since it was also raining, we decided to head to Poole.  Anyway Plymouth reminded me of San Francisco with all the hills and steep roads.

It is also the birthplace of St Francis Drake and there is a building named after him.

On the way we stopped at this place called Looe.  A very nice English town.  Took a short walk around.

We next headed to Fowey where we had lunch in a quaint English setting.  The town is also very scenic.  Driving there was quite an experience - had to drive through single lane (but bi-directional) roads and g onto a ferry to cross a river.

After lunch we headed towards Panzence, Cornwall - where our Airbnb was.  The "house" is out of town but quiet and very homely.

Since there is still daylight, we drove around Cornwall a bit to buy food to cook for dinner.  We chanced upon Guanards Head and there are many nice scenaries along the way.  I was driving - no chance to take photos for now.

Did the St Michael's Way today.  See my blog for 14th Jun 2019 for detail.

It was a nice day today (15th Jun). My wife and I drove around South West of UK (Cornwall region) to explore the various places.  We noticed there were people hiking and cycling.  Tour buses can also be seen.

Below are photos and videos of places we been to.  I may have got some places mixed up (please excuse me) as they look similar.

First we drove to the Penzance coastal area then to Newlyn.

We next drove to Mousehole.  

Merry Maiden is a stone circle.  Though we walked through a field crossing 2 stiles, there is an entrance for tourists.

Manack Theatre was our next stop.  There was no show for today.  We also did not pay to enter to see the theatre as my ankle and knee were hurting - from St Michael's walk.

Not knowing that parking is free at the theatre, we paid 2 GBP to park at the church.

Lands End is a very touristy place.  We had lunch there.

We then went by Sennen just to have a look at the cove.

I would have love to trek the Cape of Cornwall but my knee and ankle did not allow me.  So here is a video of the place.

We made our last stop at St Ives and to buy dinner to cook.  Need to go back early to rest my leg.

We visited St Michael's Mount and I got my last stamp for the St Michael's Way.  Please refer to my blog on The Saint Michael's Way for photos of the mount.

After the mount, we visited 2 ancient circles - the Layon Quoit and the Men An Tol (look like FMRI m/c).

Looks like pointing to some stones in the distance

Pointing middle finger?

An old school (1889)

Next we drove to Wadebridge and checked into our Airbnb which is a house that has a few hundred years history (about 400 years old).  Even the door latch looked old.

Wadebridge is a sleepy town.  We walked the town centre at 9.30 am on 17th Jun (Mon) and the follow photo shows what it looked like.

We drove to our next destination - Tintagel, had lunch and did a trek to the Rocky Valley.  Yes, we also have to walk through some live stocks.  The walk was pleasant as the weather has been good.

It was a chilly and wet day in Exeter on 18th Jun.  We walked around the town centre and saw various attractions there.

After touring Exeter town, we went back to our Airbnb and enjoyed the house.  Cooked dinner and watched a movie.

It was drizzling in Exeter when we woke up on 19th Jun.  We left Exeter for Reading

We reached Reading in mid-afternoon and it was raining lightly.  When the rain eased, we took a walk to the University of Reading and also bought dinner.

For our trip, we hired a Citroen C4.  It was a manual car and was easy to drive.  As it uses diesel as fuel, we also spent less than 100 GBP on fuel.