My favourite car is a vintage Rolls Royce,

It really is the vehicle of choice,

The company was founded in 1906,

The car of pop stars, kings and bolsheviks.

Chassis only and coach-built  till ’49,

When the Silver Dawn brought everything into line…

The 10, 15, 20 & 30 hp,

Silver Ghost, Twenty, Phantoms I, II & III,

Wraiths, Dawns, Clouds and Shadows, Phantoms V-VI,

Corniche and Spirit, all names that stick.

Bentleys, Camargues, Seraphs and Silver Spur,

These are all cars that belong to the entrepreneur…

In 1998 the firm was acquired by Volkswagen AG,

They renamed it Bentley in 2003.

They acquired its assets, like the Crewe Factory,

And its elegant mascot, Spirit of Ecstasy.

From 1929-35, they made the 20/25,

The car on which my mother learned to drive!

This is my father’s 20/25 drophead coupé

The only car that belongs to the family it was built for to this day…

Cars

chassis only, no R-R built body until Silver Dawn

• 1904–06 10 hp
  
• 1905–05 15 hp
  
• 1905–08 20 hp
  
• 1905–06 30 hp
  
• 1905–06 V-8
  
• 1906–25 40/50 Silver Ghost
  
• 1922–29 Twenty
  
• 1925–29 40/50 Phantom
  
• 1929–36 20/25
  
• 1929–35 Phantom II
  
• 1936–38 25/30
  
• 1936–39 Phantom III
  
• 1938–39 Wraith
  
• 1946–59 Silver Wraith
  
• 1949–55 Silver Dawn with bodies by Pressed Steel Company, Cowley
• 1950–56 Phantom IV
  
• 1955–65 Silver Cloud standard saloon with bodies by Pressed Steel Co
• 1959–68 Phantom V
  
• 1968–92 Phantom VI, chassis by Rolls-Royce  Motors after 1973

the following cars use unitary construction and have no separate chassis

• 1965–80 Silver Shadow standard saloon, totally R-R built car, built by Rolls-Royce Motors after 1973
• 1980–98 Silver Spirit standard saloon, built in entirety by Rolls-Royce Motors
• 1998–2002 Silver Seraph standard saloon, built in entirety by Rolls-Royce Motors

The next Rolls-Royce model, the Rolls-Roycee Phantom was built by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Bentley Models (from 1933) – chassis only

• 1933–37 Bentley 3½ L
• 1936–39 Bentley 4¼ L
  
• 1939–41 Bentley Mark 5
  

Much has been written about the Orinoco,

It is formed by mountain rivers and snow,

It’s 1339 miles long, in constant flow,

Breaking into numerous rivers, waterways, archipelago,

Beware of piranha that will munch on your toe…

The longest river in South America, did you know?

A town I love is Novgorod,

It truly seems like a gift from god,

A cathedral with a golden and silver dome,

Technicolour, not monochrome.

A monastery with domes with golden stars,

Much loved by the successive tsars.

It’s by the Volkhov river on highway M10,

Its Kremlin walls are a shade of cayenne,

It is a beautiful city, a place to admire,

I urge you to visit, it’s sure to inspire.

The truly extraordinary Dunn’s River Falls,

Featured in a Bond film, as memory recalls,

There was a young, handsome Sean Connery,

As Ursula Andress strode out of the sea!*

This waterfall is 180 feet high,

And three times as long, if you want to give it a try!

Numerous tourists climb up it from bottom to top,

But it’s quite a feat and I bet you’ll stop,

To catch your breath and relieve that stitch,

As you do, the scenery is sure to bewitch!

*Ursula Andress played the role of Honey Rider, a seashell collector…

Stone Town is the soul of Zanzibar,

It’s atmospheric, historic, bizarre.

You can wander around the labyrinthine streets,

Where vendors hawk coffee or sweetmeats.

You’ll see life in the raw at every turn,

Schoolkids given suras from the Koran to learn.

Old mansions from the colonial epoch,

With overhanging verandahs set on top.

Women who gossip at the corner store,

A mix of every kind of decor,

Courtyard houses with an Arabic bent,

Indian balconies with a carved pediment.

A  marketplace, an eastern bazaar,

A musician playing acoustic guitar.

You lose all track of place and time,

It’s an existential paradigm.

But you really cannot get lost there,

All alleys lead straight to the main road or square.

Today WordPress sent me a little note,
And I think that it’s something I’d like to quote.
According to WordPress my blog’s one today,
So Happy Birthday to that and a Hip Hip Hurray!

This is at the historic centre of Yaroslavl,
And I don’t want to be a pedant or to cavil,
But it is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites,
And a whole urban district astounds and delights.
The area between Sobinov and Republic Street,
Will make any visit seem quite complete.
Built in the 11th century, it changed its form,
Under Catherine II’s town planning reform.
Built where the Kotorsl and Volga rivers meet,
There’s an architectural gem on every street.
This is one of the cathedrals there,
A stunning, simple call to prayer.
Northeast of Moscow is where this town sits,
And it has a kind of purist urban glitz!

This is a Polish Church of Peace,
Built in Jawor and Swidnica.
The Catholic ruler, King Ferdinand,*
Allowed Lutherans to build three on his land.
But he didn’t want them to last, so it was understood,
They had to be made from mud, straw and wood.
He decreed they should not possess bells, towers or domes,
Which is why they were built in the shape of homes.
And they had to be outside the city wall,
Way beyond the urban sprawl.
The exteriors are plain to please “the flock”,
The interiors were all really high Baroque.
The irony is two churches survive today,
Proving Ferdinand the Third had feet of clay!

*King Ferdinand III

This is an Ethiopian festival that
Celebrates Epiphany or Timkat.
It is one thousand years of age
And the priest, with the tabot, takes centre stage.
This is a plate covered in embroidered cloth,
Embodying the Ten Commandments, to which they plight their troth.
The main participants are splendid fellas,
They wear satin and velvet and carry cloth umbrellas.
The procession moves to the sound of bells?
And censer smoke, so exotic smells.
It takes place by the river very late at night,
And ends in the morning, with first light.
A golden cross is “baptized” in the river then,
A candle put out. And next year they’ll do it all over again.

This poem is about The Tsukiji Fish Market or The Tokyo Metropolitan Wholesale Market

This is a market that does not have a dearth
Of fish of all kinds – it’s the largest on earth.
At 5 am you can wander around
And find fish of all kinds, to amaze and astound.
Octopus, tuna, shellfish and crab,
And tanks of exotics, both splendid and drab.
Hundreds of fish are sold here each hour,
And you can buy one, have it cooked, then simply devour!