We're all going on a .....

[Roboframer]

View from hotel room to right - Drake Island - Cornwall beyond.

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To the left, Plymouth Hoe and the mouth of the river Plym

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Attempt at arty farty night shot

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HMS Illustrious from Plymouth Hoe.

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PS - finally got my head around placing photos 'in line' so's you can add text after each shot, or adjust the order they are shown etc (insert dufus smiley here ..........)

[Bill Henry]

Nice, John, makes me want to visit.

You didn't stamp the coordinates on the image I'm guessing.

[Roboframer]

I tried, but they came out upside down and right to left

But the word 'Niké' came out fine!

[Roboframer]

Swanage was a bit of a dump - derelict houses, animals running wild .........

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But not really - above shots are just some clever art on a wall near the harbour

Here's what we had at the alfresco seafood restaurant - about £6:50 each, including a baguette each for dipping, but not including wine - hic! Man if I lived in that place we'd be on 1st name terms at that gaff!

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This was the view from the eatery - Swanage Pier.

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And on the pier - it's not clear, but each plank has a brass plaque in memory of someone, an annual fee is paid per plaque to help with the upkeep of the pier.

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I think Swanage, after a certain Welsh village (Berriew), is my favourite place in UK

[Merlin]

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Looking from the Barraca Gardens in Valetta across Grand Harbour

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From Grand Harbour looking at the fortifications of Valetta the capital of Malta

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Maltese Brightly coloured working fishing boats

[Mary Case GCF]

Welcome home John and Barbara. Hope Malta treated you well. I got to go there once many years ago BC (before children) when Rangers were playing in Europe against Valetta. I think we won.

[Roboframer]

OK John - we'll call it quits on your harbour shots, but I'll see your fishing boats and raise you Polperro (from a rooftop beer garden of a pub I can't remember the name of)

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[Merlin]

Oh easy hand to beat.

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The Citadel taken from the access road.

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Taken from the Citadel looking back down the road.

No wonder some of the fiercest fighting in Malta was trying to capture this place.

New cards please.

[Merlin]

Hi Mary
Thank you. It is an absolutely amazing place. I would recommend it as a package tour (Discovery and Gozo tour) to anybody. Cheap place to eat and travel. The true locals are just so friendly.

We will definately be going back again. Probably not in September when the temp is 35 and humidity is 70%.

[Not your average framer]

thinking Lyme Regis.

Our anniversary on 11 Sept - not an anniversary we can forget easily - '9/11'

Most strange! On another thread it looks like another forum member and I know the same cafe by the Chiswick flyover.

And now........

My wife and I decided to get married while visiting Lyme Regis and your anniversary is the same day as my birthday. There's word for such odd coincidences, something like "synchronisicity" (probably spelt wrong). Anyone remember the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy and the infinite improbabilty guide?

BTW, the year that the planes flow into the twin towers, my aunt sent me a birthday card wishing my a truly memorable day. It sure was!

[WelshFramer]

My wife and I decided to get married while visiting Lyme Regis and your anniversary is the same day as my birthday. There's word for such odd coincidences, something like "synchronisicity" (probably spelt wrong). Anyone remember the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy and the infinite improbabilty guide?

My wedding anniversary is the same day as my birthday - now how unlikely is THAT?

[Roboframer]

Oh easy hand to beat.

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The Citadel taken from the access road.

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Taken from the Citadel looking back down the road.

No wonder some of the fiercest fighting in Malta was trying to capture this place.

New cards please.

Isn't that the place they filmed 'Midnight express'?

Quite impressive but lacks Polperro's charm.

[Tam Lin]

My wedding anniversary is the same day as my birthday - now how unlikely is THAT?

Perhaps not all that unlikely - so is mine!

[fineedge]

Might have crossed paths somewhere there John! Did Bath and Wells then Padstow, St Ives, Mousehole, St Michael Mount, Falmouth just before the tall ships regatta, Truro, Weymouth and Portland and then Durdle Door and the Lulworths, before heading up to Salisbury and back to London (absolute bloody madhouse after the coast even if it seemed as though half of the UK was on holiday on the coast). Will post a pic or two once sorted and reduced in size. Arrived back here today with 33 discs worth of photographs.

[fineedge]

Some of the memories. Sorry about the harbour shots.

[Roboframer]

Thanks for the warning about the A27.

It's going to be 2 weeks of rushing around seeing old friends - and some who are fairly young.

Are there any days of the week we should avoid?

Well, I took the afternoon off today. I'd just got back in from Worthing when the phone rang - it was Pat from the shop "There's someone here to see you"

"Who?" (thinks ...... bloody reps cold calling)

"Welshframer"

"On my way!"

Great to meet you Mike!

So, I gave him the VIP tour and we we waffled about this and that, and then it was time to go, but first "Come and meet my wife, sitting in the car outside, with the dogs"

I took one look at 'the dogs' and dashed back to get Pat, who is, er, a 'dog person', to put it mildly - I mean - 3 Irish Wolfhounds .......... !!!

Two Briards - first thing Pat said was "Oh - you could have brought them in the shop" (Dogs=good - kids =baaaaad)

He gave me his business card - on the reverse is a map; on the map is a TRIG POINT!! I envy your space Mike, especially in that part of the world. It's all flat down here, and we're all shoulder to shoulder.

[The Jolly Good Framer #1]

Well I know where I stand then. When I paid you a visit you didn’t rush back to the shop to see me.
Some excuse about being in Wales or something.

[WelshFramer]

Good meeting you, Robo.

Guess I was lucky, Jolly Good Framer - Sainsburys doesn't have quite the same pull as Wales.

I'm back home now and just have to have another go at the vicar's payruses using starch paste the Robo way. PEL, here I come.

[RobinC]

We always have to leave the shop open when qwe take a holiday. Our first few years we didn't like to leave the shop, then we finally took a break to Whitby - we sold a lot of prints by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe at the time. I now could not go without my weeks holiday every year.

The mobile phone is a bit of a mixed blessing though. Its good to be able to keep in touch, but last year, the day before we flew to Lanzarote we were contacted by an advertising agency that we do a lot of work for with a query over a couple of very large frames they needed. Sorted the query out, told the customer we were away for the following week, and set off for our week of RnR. On the Monday morning we got a phone call from the shop, the ad agency had been on the phone asking about security hanging fittings, and as they are a big customer my framer thought he had best phone me. I got a phone call every day of the holiday regarding some minor detail of the frames. When we returned, we got the order straight away, made the frames and then a month later the customer collected them.

Still, it made us feel as though the business couldn't cope without us!

RobinC