In Praise Of The Kindle And Locanda Cipriani

We bought a Kindle in March. We both enjoy reading but there was something of a reluctance to take the plunge with e-books and, although we have had the device for six months, we didn't download anything until  the week before we went on holiday.I still had plenty unread on the shelves so had no incentive to go digital and Marion loves the feel of books and was extremely reluctant to make the change. But with us travelling by air for the first time in ages, a case full of paperbacks would have played havoc with the baggage allowance. Marion is a great list maker and had a long list of novels that she had seen reviewed recently so we went onto Amazon and bought half a dozen. An added benefit was that we were able to download the Kindle App onto both the iPad and the iPhone giving us three copies of each book which meant that we could both read the same book at the same time which would have allowed us to talk about them if we had actually done so.


The experience was a delight. The screen is clear and the device is extremely light. Turning a page is simplicity and the book is always at the right page when you pick it up again. I reckon that using the Kindle allowed me to get through a novel in far less time than it would have taken me to read the same in book form. As a consequence I got through all six of Marion's book choices in the seven days we were away as well as a free Charles Dickens selection that I downloaded. 


Marion used the Kindle and I used the Kindle for iPad and iPhone. There is no question which is better. The iPad is much heavier and the screens on both iPad and iPhone are more difficult to read in bright sunlight. Having said that I still found using them a good experience. The latest Kindle is on offer at Amazon for just £89 and, at that price, anybody who enjoys reading should log on and buy one now.


So what did I read on that marathon readathon? All the books probably fall into the category of light reading and tending towards the feminine taste, both of which suit me fine.

Tim Pears' Landed tells the story of a young father separated from his wife and kids. It opens with a hard but idyllic childhood spent on the Welsh hillside with farming grandparents but life is turned upside down by a motor accident which wrecks the future. This is a very easy and highly descriptive novel which moves to becoming (intentionally) surreal in the closing stages. We would have preferred it without the surreality as both of us found the ending unsatisfying.

For me, another strange ending marred the excellent Glasshopper by Isabel Ashdown. A story of relationships and family told by the long suffering teenager Jake and his alcohol dependent mother Mary the book constantly flits between decades and demands concentration but that concentration is rewarded by an intriguing jigsaw that fits together beautifully and, I felt, should have ended when that last piece was put into place.

The Return Of Captain John Emmett is a bit of an Edwardian whodunnit (although there's no chance of you guessing the solution). It's entertaining and enjoyable. Perfect for a sun lounger.

The White Woman On The Green Bicycle was my favourite of the holiday reads. Set on the tropical paradise of Trinidad, the book evokes colonialism to perfection. It is the tale of a glamorous young couple who travel to the Caribbean for the husband's career. It's supposed to be a short term thing so the suffering young wife, who dislikes the place intensely, makes an effort to cope but watches in horror as her husband becomes a lotus eater who is totally bewitched by the island's charms. With strands of politics, relationships, racism, family and love, this is a complex and beautifully written novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

I felt that I could see what was coming in A Mile Of River from a long way off. If things hadn't turned out as expected it would have been a brilliant novel but as clues were flagged up almost in block capitals I was disappointed. A rites of passage tale of a young woman in the long summer drought of 1976. As I said, "brilliant" could be applied to the writing but not, sadly, to the plot.

Another very pleasant read, The Opposite Of Falling is a good love story with plenty to keep you guessing. I thought that the flying devices around which the whole thing revolves felt a little contrived but the characters are strong and believable and it's a very nice book.

And talking of nice things, I'd like to finish today with some words of praise for Signor Bonifacio Brass and his staff of Locanda Cipriani on Torcello. We had to leave the hotel at eight in the morning. This was before breakfast starts but on the previous evening one of the waiters offered to get up an hour early and come to the hotel and make breakfast for us. What fabulous service! We declined the waiter's offer - the poor lad wasn't knocking off until late at night and we had plenty of time to eat at the airport but when we got up, Signor Brass, the owner of the Locanda, made us coffee. That's the sort of attention to detail and hands on management that has made the place the massive success that it is. Success that is well deserved. You wouldn't get many hotel managers doing that, let alone owners. Thank you.

Ouch

When your waiter brings one of those spiral mosquito thingies to your table and lights it you think "nice touch" or "good attention to detail" and you sit back in anticipation of the meal to follow. When he returns with a bottle of Deet spray (Tropical strength) rather than the aperitif you ordered, alarm bells begin to ring and you wonder wether it will be you or the local fauna who will be enjoying the evening the most.

On our first night in Torcello, the mozzies came out on top leaving us retreating to our bathroom to inspect the vast assortment of wheals, bumps and lumps that they and their biting pals had left us with. I suppose that if you are dining on an island in a lagoon, at night, in unseasonably high temperatures it's not exactly rocket science to deduct that it's the equivalent of an invite to the ugly bugs ball and to give us our due we did pop into the local pharmacia en route to Torcello to buy some repellent.

So on our second evening we left nothing to chance. No open toed footwear. Sandals out of the question. Thick socks the ultimate fashion statement. Eau de cologne replaced by eau de Deet. Before we went down to eat, Marion sprayed the room with the entire contents of an insecticide spray and as we dressed with a pall of the stuff hanging in the air, my eyes streamed and I sneezed incessantly. At least nothing was going to bite me up my nostrils. Yes, we faced the challenge head on and this time I'm pleased to say that we won.

Don't let that put you off visiting Torcello. Just let it act as a warning to the unaware that no matter who you are even if you are one of the celebrities who love this place, and whose photos hang on every wall, the insects are going to take no prisoners. So take precautions. Once you have done that you can relax in one of the most delightful holiday spots you will ever find. Locanda Cipriani is one of the world's hidden gems. Ok it's packed at lunchtime when the boats and water taxis disgorge their human cargo to sample the delights of the restaurant. But when those tourists and expense account businessmen stagger back to the quayside sated and merry and the souvenir sellers shut up their stalls and head back to Venice and Burano, the island takes on an exclusive tranquility for the lucky few who remain. It has been a privilege to stay here. It surely won't be long before we return. I mentioned the celeb photos. We offered the waiters one of us to hang alongside Kim Novak, Elton John, Princess Di, Hemingway and Orson Welles but they strangely declined. Mind you that puts us in the same boat as Michael Winner. He's always banging on about this being his favourite place but there's no trace of him or his partner, although the Pope (or someone in a very fancy outfit) qualified for hanging space.

A Postcard From Asolo

Postcards eh! Remember them? We used to buy plenty and send them home to impress our friends with the fact that we had actually been somewhere abroad - somewhere exotic.

In those early years of marriage when package tours were still shrouded in a degree of mystery, we would write home from the faraway beaches of Hvar and Corfu, places that had been out of the reach of all but the wealthiest of our parents' generation and impress upon everyone what an adventurous young pair of travellers we were. And the cards would eventually arrive. Usually when the last touch of brown pigment had faded from our skin, the novelty of ouzou with everything had worn off and everyone had tired of our telling of the encounter with a large, mahogany skinned, naked German on some remote Yugoslavian shore with its hilarious punch line "Guten tag". 

Yes there was something innocent about postcards wasn't there? They belonged in the days of kiss me quick hats and rock with Blackpool running right through it. And yet if you look in most news kiosks or tobacconists in resorts throughout the world you'll still see them today, usually fading or starting to curl up at the edges in some carousel gathering dust in a corner awaiting a trip to the tip, a trip that's being saved for when all the cards have been sold- a trip that will never come. 

We haven't received a post card for years, so I'm sending this one to blog readers to remind you of what a marvellous institution they were. 

Writing this from Locanda Cipriani on the tiny Venetian island of Torcello. Just spent a wonderful five days relaxing in the beautiful little town of Asolo. Weather perfect, food and wine delicious. Wish you were all here.

Shake Rattle But No Roll (Yet)

The tail end of Hurricane Katia hit Scotland yesterday evening and we battened down the hatches here in the caravan in preparation for a stormy night. And boy did it blow. Considering we are in the east of the country and not in the eye of the storm on the west, that was one hell of a wind. Our caravan is right next to a small wood and to say that the wind roared would be an understatement. Throughout the night it sounded like every lion in Africa had camped out there and did their thing incessantly for hours on end. We felt the caravan rattle and one or two gusts were strong enough to move a venetian blind despite the double glazing but a quick check this morning shows everything here intact apart from a few litter bins that aren't where they were this time yesterday - perhaps the lions nicked them.

Before the storm set in we popped into St Andrews to see the early performance of Jane Eyre at the New Picture House. I haven't read the book but I've seen earlier adaptations on TV so I had a good idea of what was going to happen. Marion studied the book in her student days and tells me that the film follows it closely. There are some good performances from leads Mia Waskowska and Michael Fassbender and the sets and locations are superb but, apart from the short scenes on the bleak moors, this is a production that does not need a big screen and would work perfectly well on TV. An enjoyable couple of hours but by no means a blockbuster. When we went into the cinema there were just two people in there. Before the film started perhaps a dozen more came in. I don't understand why, when there was a near empty cinema, all chose to sit either directly in front of us or on the same row. Animal magnetism?

  
It's almost time to go back to Southport. We'll miss our little retreat here in St Andrews and will miss Sarah, Duncan and Rose who will be a lot different when we are next here in November.  But on the positive side we have got a treat lined up for my birthday. Next Friday we are heading to the Venice region for a week. We've got five nights in Asolo. It was going to be four nights but the plane fare was so much more expensive on the Saturday we decided to go on Friday and spend the money on an extra night in the hotel. We've never been there before but by all accounts it is a lovely place. After that we head towards Venice and are staying on the lovely island of Torcello (above). This tiny island has only a handful of buildings including two spectacular and ancient churches and the Locanda Cipriani where we have booked three nights. I'm looking forward to it once we have got over the hassle of the flight. We haven't flown for over three years and did our best to find another way of getting to Italy but the trains and driving just didn't fit our schedule so unfortunately we'll have to put up with it.

Before we leave Scotland we're treating ourselves to lunch tomorrow at The Peat Inn. This renowned restaurant is only four miles down the road and we are hoping to get there on our bikes. If the wind dies down and the sun comes out we should be able to manage it. We had a look at the menu when we rode past the other day and it sounds delicious. Keep your fingers crossed for the weather for us.


I'll end today with a video sent to me by an ex-colleague. Seems that we Prius drivers are just as much a joke in LA as we are here.

Holidays At Last

It's almost three years now since Marion and I had a proper holiday. OK we've had a few three night short breaks but we haven't been away for a week or more since July 2008. On returning from that trip to Tuscany and finding the economy moving into recession, we decided to concentrate on our business throughout the remainder of 2008 and all of 2009 with the aim of selling up and retiring. During 2010 we worked flat out for our new owners. When we retired in November, friends were certain that a life of cruises and sunshine breaks would follow but a new hip was the first priority and, although we sold the business for a fair price, we hope that we will be around for some time to come and have no plans to spend everything at once and end up hard up pensioners. 

But on Monday we will be getting a break as we head for this self catering country retreat, The Lazy Fish  near Cockermouth. It's a converted barn that Marion read reviewed in The Guardian a few years back. She kept the review as it sounded so good and we'll soon find out if the reviewer was right. The owners do some catering so we've ordered meals to make things easier for us on a couple of nights.

We're also off to the Ile De Re in France in May for a fortnight's cycling. We spent some time yesterday looking for a place to stay en route and came up with this lodge on the Mr & Mrs Smith website. If you aren't familiar with Mr & Mrs Smith, it's a site that specialises in boutique hotels that are ideal for couples. We've tried one or two and friends have tried a lot and they have always exceeded expectations. So let's hope that Le Lodge Kerisper in Trinity Sur Mer does the same as we have two days relaxing there before our two weeks in the saddle. 

And whilst on the subject of holidays, I've always wanted to visit Locanda Cipriani on the island of Torcello near Venice ever since we had lunch there some years ago. It was one of Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunts and Marion has agreed that we can go there for a birthday treat in September. It's such a peaceful place compared with the bustle of Venice and, when the tourists have gone home we will have the island almost to ourselves as there are less than a dozen hotel rooms on the island. I am looking forward to it so much. It would be great if a bit of whatever inspired Hemingway could rub off on me.

I just read a  tweet from the wonderful Old Course hotel in St Andrews. They have a special offer on. For just 72 hours they are offering rooms in November & March for £160 bed and breakfast (subject to availability). This is a huge saving on the regular price and it's an offer not to be missed so a visit to see Sarah is on the cards. The offer closes tomorrow so book soon if you want to treat yourself. The breakfasts are fantastic and the rooms spacious and extremely comfortable. But above all it offers just about the friendliest service you will find. 


I'll leave you for the weekend with a brave performance from Daniel Craig - the ultimate macho man making a serious point about women.