Category Archives: Other stuff

Why go to Faro?

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You have the whole of the Algarve to be soaking up rays in… so why bother taking the other direction out of the airport into the city?

For a start…the rays are here as well! No, not just on the other side of the track…

It’s got a genuine Old Town… not just something that’s about 30 years old, which the sun worshippers already consider to be uncool and out of date…

There’s a restaurant with a well in the middle of it that’s over a 1000 years old…

Your safety isn’t just guaranteed from falling down unexpected holes in your eating joint… it’s also a matter of 24-hour vigilant surveillance. With a nest like this, do you really think the occupant has any other intentions…

The food elsewhere may claim to come from the sea, but here, the smell of the sea leaps off your plate (believe it or not, there’s a salmon filet residing beneath this roof of shells and veg!)…

The local residents are so chilled they can’t even raise the effort to flutter a few feathers…

And did I mention the much sort after rays can be found here as well. Why not take a boat out across the nature reserve to find beaches in the shadow of a 170 year old lighthouse…

Then, there’s the matter of the Smoke Tiki. After a couple of these, your trusty correspondent struggled to remember what an Algarve was supposed to be used for… an implement for sun worshipping… possibly? Who needs the sun when your drink comes with a blow torch accompaniment, anyway?

Until we speak again, you’re welcome to go to everywhere else on the Algarve in search of your rays. Me, I’m not venturing far from Faro! Just maybe, those Smoke Tiki misdemeanours are rendering movement a bit more restrictive!

National security

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Say what you want about the diminished size of the British Armed Forces. But, here in Cardiff docks, the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) is ensuring its own security against foreign invasion in this increasingly uncertain world.

Until we speak again, a special thanks go to the Spanish Armada surplus stores for the loan of Galeon Andalucia. What, you thought the British Navy had anything more viable? 🤔🤣

500!

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Who’d have thought it back in the summer of 2013… as a cat deep in thought, pondered nothing but good intentions towards a swan on the canal beneath Chez Juno? Wind forward nearly 11 years, and the 500th post on Juno’s View has arrived.

How best to celebrate this milestone… when you just happen to find yourself in Dublin? As the previous post pondered… what are you going to do? Perhaps a quality control review of the city’s finest is in order… after all, it’s Guinness time!

First off, it’s The Stags Head… and yes, that first pint really does hit the spot while surrounded by the trappings of a well-preserved Victorian pub.

Then there is The Brazen Head… for some genuine history. It just happens to be the oldest pub in Ireland dating back to the 12th century and serves a cracking pint of the black and white stuff. What’s more, a traditional Irish band seems to be celebrating the 500 with me!

Then a call into Darkey Kelly’s just happens to combine all that’s good about visiting Dublin, including tasty Irish beef stew and great music…

Don’t be flagging, as there’s a load more celebrating to be doing. Kehoe’s might just provide that much needed pint… in between pints!?

Not forgetting The Temple Bar… so good they named the whole neighbourhood after it…

If bands are a bit full-on at this stage, try The Auld Dubliner for a Guinness with a solo guitarist/vocalist backing soundtrack…

And you lucky old soak, you, as there is only a few yards to stagger to The Oliver St John Gogarty across the cobbles. You might even have a horse-drawn carriage waiting outside for you to finally be poured into as you head off into your drunken stupor!

And when you wake up the day after the day before, there’s always a visit to the Guinness Storehouse  Brewery Museum itself as a reminder of why your head’s not feeling like it did 24 hours earlier! A fabulous educative tour across several floors culminating in that hair of the dog pint in the Gravity Bar… complete with a 360-degree view of all you’ve forgotten you did before!

Until we speak again, that quality control review is published in full as follows… Wow! Here’s to the next 500… wherever they may be. Juno may be long since passed, but Juno’s View continues!

Irish weather forecasting

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Life in a country facing all the Atlantic Ocean is able to throw at you means the weather is a continual topic of interest.

On a recent visit to Dublin, The Brazen Head pub, the oldest in all of Ireland, offered invaluable advice built on 8 centuries of experience…

Until we speak again, remember in Dublin all four seasons often happen… in the same day!

Recipe of the week

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A great meal starts with fresh ingredients…

Then, with a creative twist and more than a little culinary incompetence, AKA, whatever you have left in the kitchen… It’s a duck in pea soup special…

Until we speak again, the first customer is dressed for dinner down in Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff… It’s just another tale of local laid-back life!

Social Intrusion

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“You come any closer with that camera and you will need more than a pair of tweezers to remove it from where I’ll put it! What do you think this is… a fashion shoot?”

“Hey ladies, I’m sure we’re okay with these pillars being 2 metres apart… but watch out for the strange dude with a camera at 4 o’clock!”

“Back off sneaking up on folks like that. By the way… does my bum look too big in this?”

Until we speak again, Juno never did do sneaking up that well…

Nadolig Llawen 2020

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It’s three days to Christmas, and all in Cardiff will be frantically hitting the high street in a last minute flurry of over-commercialised action. So, let’s venture forth with great trepidation, and take on the challenge of negotiating a path through the maddening hordes of shoppers. But hang on, what’s happened to The Hayes? Always a place to provide a sight of festive elegance, but now seems a little deserted…

Let’s try the Christmas Market… always a good place for a warming festive scene (when it’s not being dismantled early, that is!!)…

Maybe the pubs and clubs are doing a roaring trade as an alternative to the worries of what to buy… but then, I forgot, they have already been consigned to memories of a cultural history!

Perhaps everyone is gathering in front of the Castle for a special pre-Christmas event? Or, maybe not…

Okay, at least Queen Street as the main shopping thoroughfare can be depended upon for accommodating the masses… Wow, my kind of shopping!!

Until we speak again, it seems I can only wish you a Merry Covid! Perhaps in years to come we will all look back on this experience and say… WTF???

Strategic advice

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Anybody seen anything resembling a strategy floating around? Particularly amidst the clear-as-mud-mess our Tory incompetents revel in serving up on a daily basis?

Our witless Government misinformation trumpets like to spout lies and nonsense to the gullible masses about how they are confidently in control.

But, take a closer look at the detail clouded by the confused messages…

Is that the truth of stark reality we can sense hoving into sight? Surely even those previously blind to the shenanigans of our ‘Liar-in-Chief‘ at Number 10 might benefit from some closer scrutiny of what is before them?!

Until we speak again, my strategic advice is to keep your eye on the prize!

Rude awakening

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Leave me alone… I’m trying to make sense of this pandemic thing.

Perhaps gravity will come to my rescue!

Until we speak again, trust me… swanning about is the only way to cope with this restricted way of being!