Normandy Part 1

I have recently been involved with the school history trip to Normandy on the 9th - 14th June to see the sites of the D-day landings of June 6th 1944.

Pegasus Bridge

The bridge pictured from the landing spot of glider 1

1st stop on day one was Pegasus bridge where John Howard landed in the early hours of D-Day. This was really impressive to see as it was one of the crucial bridges that had to be taken and held in order for the British advance. The original bridge is preserved in the museum beside the current bridge (Almost a copy) and you can still see bullet and shrapnel damage from the assault. I was impressed at the bravery and skill of these men, the assault was over in 15 minutes and the piloting of the gliders was unreal as they had such a small landing zone to come in on which was beteen a river and a canal and dotted with pools and marshes. You can see this on the pictures as the landing spots are now marked with monuments which show how close to the bridge they were. These men were so professional it is a testament to British training and planning that they were able to pull it off and that is only half the story, they were required to hold the bridge once captured until they were relived which involved some heavy fighting while they were still cut off from the main force.

Bullet holes



Cafe Gondree - The first house to be liberated on D-Day

Sword and Gold


From there we moved on to Sword and Gold beaches where French and British troops had landed - amazing to stand and look at these idyllic French Tourist beaches and look at a photograph taken in 1944 from the same viewpoint and it is just bristling with men and equipment.



Sword Beach today

Sword beach - D-Day 1944



French Commando Monument - Sword Beach


Ranville



Ranville Church

We also visited the British War Cemetery at Ranville which was quite a leveller. The thing that really stood out for me was the ages on the gravestones, it seems that the average age was 22 years old. Would the people of britain tolerate this amount of loss in a single generation these days?? there were about 2500 graves in this cemetery and is looked really well looked after and peaceful -the most recent burial was only a year old as it seems that the Normandy countryside still gives up it's dead on occasion to this day.


2500 poor souls



 



The memorial cross - seemingly the size depends on the number of graves in the cemetery





The civilian area of Ranville church and graveyard



Overall this was a really interesting first day with lots to see and learn, and that was only day 1. Away from the military aspect of the trip, the surrounding countryside of this area was beautiful, peppered with little villages and hamlets in that particularly Normandy style which i could easily have visited for that apect alone.

Normandy Countryside

Roadside fruit stall

Merville-sur-plage





Walk in Garvald

Today the sun was shing so the family decided to check out a walk we had been told about a while ago. Off we trooped to the beautiful little village of Garvald about 4 miles past Gifford. East Lothian seems to be peppered with lovely little places like this and the drive to get there was full of impressive views of the surrounding area.

Garvald Kirk

The walk begins beside Garvald church and follows the line of a stream, we couldn't have picked a better day for it and the countryside was literally bursting into life after a cold winter.

The path then led uphill into the woods and eventually wound down to a sturdy footbridge over the stream (one of three we found).

 From there we followed the lower path until we again went uphill and lo and behold! a castle!

This is where we decided to dive back into the woods and try another path. At this point my good wife Kate jumped about 3 feet into the air and the Boys' eyes nearly popped out as crossing the path right at Kate's feet was a decent sized Adder!! In fact i have never seen an adder since I was a boy so I was mighty impressed as it slithered of into the undergrowth and had to google it when i got home to make sure it was an Adder but the diamond pattern down it's back told me i was correct. The boys thought this was cool and seeing as Sandy had his 'gun' with him , I had a five year old's assurance that he would have 'blasted' it into a thousand million pieces if it had attacked! and off he toddled leading the way humming the 'Raider's of the Lost Ark' theme tune to accompany his own private adventure!

Just after the Adder encounter

Im not scared of snakes!

Have gun to blast monster snakes to pieces!!

We then followed a path which led across the top of the valley and snaked down to the first bridge we crossed where the boys tried a bit of mountaineering while I strolled up the gentle path beside to meet them at the top.

Picking flowers

It's a long way to the top!

Victorious!!

Down the other side - full speed

More creepy crawlies sighted

From there we then made our way back to the car which was parked outside the Garvald Inn where we noticed that a scooter gang had parked up and must have been inside taking refreshments.

At that point it was decided that ice creams were essential after the walk and were duly purchased at Gifford's Co-op along with some sausages which were then rushed home to be incinerated on the barbeque, smothered in tomato ketchup and washed down with copious amounts of Coca-Cola, the boys declared this a most "Gran' day oot!"

Holidays at last!!

Well Pop Pickers!! the Easter holidays are here at last!!! I've begun week 8 of 9 of my Rock & Roll lent! band holidays and a quiet spot in terms o f gigs have left me bereft of time playing the Holy music! However that is about to change as of April 30th! gigs. gigs, gigs!! Can't come too soon either as i'm down to my last 2 packs of strings and my guitars are needing feeding! so as always, any income needs to be re-invested in the business. Mrs Gill (jnr)needs to realise that a fledgling co-operative business venture needs to keep it's overheads low and the partners must draw the least amount of capital from the company as possible to ensure that a healthy cashflow is maintained.


In my other life as a Business Management teacher this can be equated in the most rock and roll ratio of them all! i could be safe and go for the Working Capital ratio = Current assets/Current Liabilities, but no! this is Rock & Roll Soup so we will negate stock as all good accountants do and go for the "Acid-test ratio!" man! that ratio is so cool just for it's name: curret assets - stock/ current liabilities - can we pay our bills? yes we can!

On the same Bus Man theme, i think i've just managed to ensure that i dont have to pay tax this year as the fact i have just purchased a shiny new Mesa Boogie amplifier means that i have way overspent this year compared to my earnings (You can see what i've been doing this weekend can't you! - taxman cometh!) mind you, with a severe long term afflliction of GAS (guitar aquisition syndrome) i dont think the taxman or Mrs Gill (jnr) will ever see a penny!

By the way, the Mesa Boogie really rocks!!!!

February Break

It's the end of the February break and didn't it just!! The Boiler packed in on Tuesday and we've been hauling electric heaters about ever sinece! however, the weather has been merciful so far with only one frost (Phew!).

Morning in Haddington

 

 

 

 

Been really busy working on the house, had Cavity wall and loft insulation done (Which is a bit ironic seeing as there is no heat to contain!!). Laid a laminate floor in the shower room, floored part of the attic, rewired the aerial and satellite dish - great picture now! Finally fixed a big hole in the bathroom wall which was the result of the Xmas flood and just loads of wee niggly things that have been building up.

As you can see from the following photos we have had time lately to get out and about East lothian as well, a great place to live if you like good scenery!

A view of the approach to Belhaven bay

Looks harmless doesn't he!

Beachcombing

Dusk in east lothian

Rock Poolin'

Joe and His Gran

This is what you get when you let them watch Spider Man on a Suday Morning!!

Ok! as my faithful mentor and father has pointed out, my posts have been very sporadic so far so here's what has been going on!

The band (Montana) had a great night the other week at The Ghillie Dhu pub in Edinburgh - this place is real posh for us as we are used to Whistle Binkies which is much more of a spit and sawdust place, dont get me wrong! Binkies is my fave place to play as the sound system is excellent and the crowd love you to play songs that are more of the b-side variety rather than your normal hit parade stuff, but! - The Ghillie Dhu seems to love what we do (well the punters do!) so, we played on the 8th Jan which seemingly is the Scottish publicans worst weekend - it was PACKED! and they danced all night! surely there is no better compliment for any musician than a punters' inability to resist to your vibes!

So! here we are, middle aged and rocking! i have to take heart that im the second youngest member of the band with my fantastic Gibson SG, some guitar anoraks may notice that it's actually an SG faded which in suppose is one of the lesser priced Gibsons but, hey, this thing could take on any guitar in fact if you see the last pic you will see my other pride and joy - Les Paul Deluxe!

How lucky am i?! first guitar cost my dad 25 quid and it took me 25 years to get to this (Worth every bleeding finger!), take it from me! the Deluxe surely is DELUXE! - it cost more than my car at the time and i polish it more than any car i ever owned but then again, i could hang it on my wall and call it art (I'd like you see you do that with a Peugeot 106!) - the secret to a Gibson i think is that it is programmed to do stuff that you thought you could not do so i will forgoe the ego and give the credit for any fancy playing to my guitar and not my fingers or technique!! Mind you, a warning to all kids who are about to be seduced by the mysteries of the electric guitar, my cheaper SG sounds every bit as good as my lovely Deluxe, so go for what sounds good and not what looks fantastic.

Quiet Tuesday

Having a trawl of you tube tonight to see if there is something interesting to post of Facebook, quite interesting to find out how wide one's taste can be!

Started with The Blue Nile - Tinseltown in the Rain, a fantastic song by the Glasgow band, then a bit of Donald Fagen, he of Steely Dan fame and ended up at this moment listening to the Jaques Louisser Trio playing Tocatta and Fugue in D minor! a great evening's listening!


I had the pleasure of seeing Jaques in Edinburgh a couple of years ago, what a treat to sit and hear 3 virtuosi give an evening of stunning music! in fact it was he that finally persuaded me to try some classical music which up to the mystified me as to why anyone got so enthused about music that didn't have a beat as such!

Cold Cold Heart

By Heck its cold in east Lothian! all i seem to do is dig snow most of the time or try to control 2 young boys who have got a dose of cabin fever mixed in with santa fever at the same time - not Rock & Roll!

However, gigs for Xmas are done and im glad, too old to be sliding about on snowy icy roads at 2 in the morning in a car full of amps and guitars, trying to get home - roll on January and the start of a Rock & Roll new year (Hopefully minus the snow!)