A visit to Saltash whilst admiring the Great British Engineering feats of the Victorian Age
As part of Howard's birthday celebrations last week we visited his cousin in Saltash, a town in Cornwall made famous for the wonderful railway bridge over the river Tamar built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Brunel, (1806-1859), is best remembered for the construction of a network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the Great Western Railway. He was such an amazing engineer that his bridges and viaducts are still operational today.
The area of Cornwall around Saltash is beautiful and unspoilt with some interesting inlets dividing the area into secret small towns and villages. There is a feeling of the 1970s about the place with artisans selling their wares, small cafes, tie dye clothing and people who have the look of folk who are very laid back! Think Haight Ashbury in its heyday!
I thoroughly recommend looking up Brunel as he was an amazing engineer.
Making the best of the beautiful English Summer
June and July are beautiful months in England when gardens public and private are at their glorious best. We were fortunate to have been given a gift of a tour of the Prince of Wales private gardens at Highgrove. Gardening has been a real passion of his for many years and it shows in the beautiful and sometimes unusual plants to be found in the gardens. I envy Prince Charles having a large enough garden in which to grow plants that he may not be fond of but are interesting. For my garden I only want plants I adore as I will be gardening on a smaller scale!
Last weekend we visited the National Trust garden at Hidcote which has some truly wonderful herbaceous borders and beautiful roses, which are a particular favorite of ours. So many of the National Trust properties in England have some stunning gardens and parklands to explore. See their website www.nationaltrust.org.uk for details of the houses and gardens to visit.
A time to think strategically about Saljet
We have recently returned from Germany, we were visiting the Kocher Valley for a packaging conference, Packaging Valley Days 2016. Apart form the beautiful buildings in Schwabisch Hall and the stunning scenery, the conference was very interesting and gave Howard and I time to think strategically about Saljet. It is interesting attending a conference which is different to the wound care conferences we normally attend and gave us an opportunity to talk to other manufacturers from around the world.
In the evening we were transported up to the top of a hill, Einkorn, for dinner al fresco held in the ruins of a baroque pilgrimage church, some 1670 feet high. A truly stunning setting with wonderful local food barbecued for us.
Next on our agenda is a trip to see Prince Charles' gardens at Highgrove, arranged in February for a July visit!
Howard and Annette visit WOCN which this year has combined with CAET in Montreal
We were not just in Montreal to eat and drink! We spent time with our lovely friend, Jerome Mainguy, from SPMedical out of Quebec, on his booth at WOCN. Even though this year WOCN had combined with CAET and held the conference in Montreal there were lots of visitors to the booth from the USA and Canada. It is always a pleasure to meet users and potential users of Saljet at the trade shows we attend.
The 12th of June was Queen Elizabeth's official birthday with lots of pomp and circumstance at the trooping of the color on Saturday and a big picnic on The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace on Sunday lunchtime. The UK is having the wettest June on record but the rain stayed away for these celebrations. The tradition of having an official birthday for the monarch was started by King George the second in 1748 so that the general popular could join in the birthday celebrations of the King or Queen even if their real birthday was in the middle of winter!
Howard and I are are based in England for the summer away from the heat and humidity of Florida. There are always lots of events in the summer months to tempt people outside and last week Royal Ascot was the place to be seen, (horse racing on the flat is what happens at Royal Ascot, but the Queen and the Royal family attend and there is a ladies day where women go seriously over the top with hats!). Next on the social calendar is Wimbledon, tennis, where a record number of strawberries with cream will be consumed by the spectators. Estimates are 61,600 pounds of strawberries will be eaten in the week at Wimbledon! The Queen does not attend any of the matches at Wimbledon but no doubt William and Kate will be at some of the matches.
The Roses attend WOCN/CAET in Montreal and eat their way around Montreal!
Here we are in Montreal for the WOCN/CAET conference which runs until Tuesday. We are on booth 257 with our Canadian agents, SPMedical.
What a foodie heaven Montreal is! We have eaten some fabulous food here from eclectic Canadian at Les 400 Coups, www.les400coupes.ca, Syrian at Damas, www.restaurant-Damas.com, battered salmon and chips with mushy peas at Brit and Chips, www.britandchips.com, breakfast at Universel on Peel Street, fabulous French patisserie at award winning Maison Christian Faure in Old Montreal and dim sum at Maison Kam Fung in Chinatown. After the trade show finished on Sunday night we went to a lovely eatery that specialized in charcuterie, Le Comptoir Charcuterie et vin. And finally dinner in upscale Outremont at Lemeac, www.restaurantlemeac.com.
In order to make room for all this lovely food we walked up Mont Royal, some 650 feet high walking up about 255 steps to get there! Of course since then my calves have been hurting so much that I can barely take 3 steps, an excuse to stop for a glass of wine and something else to eat! Montreal is a lovely city to walk in, not in winter I suspect, which is just as well as one needs to burn off calories to make room for the delicious food. We will definitely be back.
An article on the continuing importance of wound care management