Tag Archives: food lion

Sunday 1st October 2017 – I WAS RIGHT …

… about last night’s sleep.

Still wide awake at 02:00 not being able to sleep

But I must have gone off to sleep at some point because the alarms did go off to awaken me at 05:00 – and again at 05:15.

Nevertheless I did manage to bring the paperwork up to date (well, sort of) and do a few other things before leaving the motel. But there was no coffee, which was rather disappointing, to say the least.

It was a cloudy day when I sat off, but I didn’t go far because there was a Food Lion just down the road. That called for some bread and some orange juice (although I forgot the orange juice).

And once more, when I said that I didn’t have a fidelity card, the girl at the checkout said that she loved my accent and gave me the discount anyway, which was nice.

After about half an hour of life on the road I came to to the Virginia – Maryland State Line.

I’d blinked and missed it on the way down as you might remember, and so I made sure that I stopped here on the way back up just to take a photograph.

And they had no coffee in the welcome centre either, which was even more of a disappointment. They are missing out on loads of commercial opportunities here in the Capitalist USA.

I must have missed the Delaware State Line somewhere, and I’m not sure how. But when I hit this enormous traffic queue somewhere near Laurel I noticed that all of the number plates were Delaware plates.

But never mind the licence plates, just look at the queue. And I’ve no idea why there would be a queue here either because there’s nothing particular to hold up the traffic.

A sudden downpour of rain didn’t help matters much either.

But there were a few cars here that caught my attention.

It looks as if there had been some kind of hotrod contention and there were dozens of cars in the queue that looked as if they had been heavily modified.

This VW on the trailer was one example – and looking at how the suspension has been arranged, it’s no surprise that they had to trailer it away.

All of the others that I saw were however running on the road (although I’m not sure how, given how they were all set up).

But had I not been in a hurry, I could have stayed around here for a while. I saw a kids football match – only the second one that I would have seen in North America, and on several occasions there were old vehicles at the side of the road that I would ordinarily stopped to photograph.

Nevertheless, I did stop for two minutes at the local bank to withdraw some cash. My supply of American cash has started to dwindle down almost to nothing.

But having missed the entry sign for Delaware, I take the opportunity to photograph a suitable convenient sign just to prove that I did make it here.

It’s the second-smallest State in the USA, with only Rhode Island being smaller. Quite easy to blink and miss in fact, at about 2,500 square miles.

But I bet that you are wondering why I’m actually in Lewes, and what this sign is all about.

The answer to that is quite simple. They have long-distance thru-way ferries in Delaware too.

And so I turned up at the ferry terminal, which was pretty crowded. No room on the 13:45 ferry but there was a place on the 14:45 so I took that.

It saves a long, winding trip through all of the traffic around Wilmington, Philadelphia and Camden

There were clearly a few people who didn’t turn up for their booking on the 13:45 because a few of us early arrivals were passed forward. And that’s good news.

An 18-mile crossing, taking 95 minutes, and all for $37:00 too. And in the Capitalist USA too.

Does anyone get the feeling that someone is taking the Mickey out of the British Cross-Channel ferry passengers? How much would you you have to pay for a crossing like this across the English Channel?

The mouth of the Delaware River is an absolute Paradise for ship-spotters too. Well worth the price of admission just for that alone.

I counted about a dozen out here either heading upriver or downriver and while I couldn’t read their names, I could still photograph them with the telephoto lens.

Here’s a couple of them to be going on with

I didn’t have time to take a photograph of my ferry – the “New Jersey” – but instead I can show you a photo of her sister travelling the other way.

There are three of them apparently and run every hour during the day at this time of year.

It’s a comparatively modern service too. Despite having been first proposed a long, long, time ago, it was only set up about 50 years ago, which is a surprise, seeing how many miles and how much time it saves.

While you admire the New Jersey Shore and Cape May in particular, I can tell yuo somethign exciting about the ferry.

Having missed out on my coffee so far this morning, it seems that on board, you pay $1:95 and you can have as many mugs of coffee as you like.

And as I’m sure that you might have guessed, I took full advantage of this opportunity – even taking one with me in Strider.

So here we are, just pulling in to the ferry terminal at Cape May, New Jersey. From here, it involves heading north-eastward sup the New Jersey coast.

I was planning to stop for the night at Atlantic City with the casinos and the glitter, but with me running an hour early, I was quite well ahead of myself;

It’s my policy not to stop until 18:00 hours unless an irresistible opportunity presents itself or I’m feeling ths strain, so I pushed on.

One thing that I did want to do was to visit Long Beach Island – scene of my triumphs back in 1999.

I was looking for the motel where I stayed back then and although I found the site, it’s not there now – the ground’s all flat.

That’s a shame, for I had had a really good time there. And there are many other motels that merit” removal” well before this one did.

I ended up at Seaside Heights as 18:00 ticked over. Full of motels but for some unknown reason, no-one was about at all.

In the end, I managed to persuade the proprietor of the Sea Palace Inn to open his doors, having agreed on a very reasonable $68:00.

No complaints with that – seeing as there’s a fridge and a microwave. A few potatoes and a tin of chili beans went down well for tea.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE – and back in 1999 too – on one of my very early forays into North America.

However I didn’t remember all that much about it. I wasn’t as sophisticated and prepared in those days, with a dictaphone and a digital camera, and so I was keen to have a look around, even though it was dark.

That was one of the reasons why I had come here this evening. Another reason being, of course, that my motel from 1999 had been demolished.

My notes in those days were non-existent and relying on my memory is a pretty pointless exercise these days, so I have to say that I didn’t recognise anywhere at all

The dark didn’t help very much in stimulating a visual trigger, but it had its compensations because everywhere always looks so much nicer in the dark when the lighting can bring out some spectacular effects

And the big ferris wheel in the background – that was one of the things that I’d noticed on a photograph that I’d taken back in those days

But anyway, I continued on with my stroll along the boardwalk.

One thing about the Atlantic coast of the USA (I’ve never visited the Pacific) is the beaches. The sand is really nice and looks so good, even in the pitch-black.

Anyway, after a good while and a good wander, I ended up back at my motel. In the words of Maréchal Macmahon, j’y suis, j’y reste – at least until tomorrow morning when I shall be hitting the road.

There’s still a long way to go.

Friday 29th September 2017 – AFTER A REALLY …

… good night last night, I was ready for anything.

Well, almost, anyway.

And when I think about it, I don’t suppose that it was a really good night either. My neighbours woke me up at about 01:30.

It’s not really fair to call them “rowdy” because they weren’t particularly – at least, any more than you might expect from a bargain-basement motel. It’s just that, as you know, I’m a light sleeper.

So having organised myself, which takes longer than it might do these days, I nipped outside to find the porridge oats for breakfast, and to take a photo of my room, and Strider.

There’s a microwave in the room, which is good news. There’s also a coffee machine with free coffee and a fridge that is reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllllyyyyy cold – so much so that it froze my orange juice.

You can’t say that I’m not having my money’s worth for my $60:74

Once I’d showered and packed up Strider, I went for a little walk.

There’s a boardwalk from the motel upand over the dunes and back down again onto the beach. It’s true to say that this end of the island is the more “economy” side – by the time you reach Atlantic Beach you are going quite up-market.

There weren’t too many people around this morning – that’s because the weather has turned during the night and it’s probably 20°F colder than yesterday.

There is a Food Lion just down the road and so that seemed to be a good-enough place to stop up and pick up some groceries.

And as for this photograph, you can make up your own caption.

But returning to the supermarket, I didn’t have a discount card seeing as I’m not from around here, but the lady on the checkout told me how much she liked my accent and gave me the discount anyway.

Back on the mainland at Morehead City, I was diverted from my travels.

How long is it since we have had a “Ship of the Day”? It must be a positive Age. But here in the docks is the tanker Bow Fagus out of Bergen in Norway.

She’s a tanker with a deadweight of 37500 tonnes, and has come here from Antwerp, via Rotterdam, New York and down the road at Wilmington

I follow the road all the way along the coast.

Remember that I told you that the Outer Banks were sometimes linked by bridges? Cedar Island used to be isolated from the mainland.

These days though there’s this whacking great bridge – the Monroe Gaskill Bridge – across the Sound.

This is typical of the bridges that they are building to do away with the ferries that used to ply across between the islands, although the Monroe Gaskill Bridge here actually replaced an older, smaller bridge.

But there’s one ferry that they won’t ever do away with, and that’s the ferry between Cedar Island and Ocracoke Island.

It’s a crossing of two and a quarter hours, probably the longest ferry crossing in North Carolina, if not the USA, and they won’t be able to bridge that gap cost-eFFectively.

And while I’ve been on almost all of the North Carolina “throughway ferries” at one time or another, the Cedar Island – Ocracoke is one that I have yet to take.

And surprise, surprise. There’s a sailing going out in a couple of hours time. What a coincidence!

So I stick some fuel into Strider to keep me going, pay my … errr … $15:00 (yes, a two-and-a-quarter-hour sailing for Strider and myself for just fifteen dollars!), take my place in the queue and make my butties.

I was going to sit outside but it’s overcast, cloudy, threatening rain and there’s a howling wind blowing. Not very pleasant at all.

Much to my surprise, because this is after all the USA, we are late setting sail. A good 20 or so minutes by my calculations too.

And while 12 years ago I was complaining about the lack of coffee on board, today we have a coffee facility, with the most unusual payment system.

It’s a dollar a mug, you help yourself, and you put your dollar in the cash box screwed to the deck. What are the chances of a system like that working in the UK?

So now that we have on-board coffee, after 12 years of moaning by Yours Truly, what next?

How about a moan about the lack of internet at the North Carolina Department of Transport way-stations?

About 20 minutes late, we arrive in Ocracoke Island and the town of Ocracoke.

It’s been 12 years since I’ve been here of course, and i’m intrigued to see what it’s going to be like these days.

Mind you, the light has gone and it’s going dark. I’m not going to be able to see very much this evening, that’s for sure. I’ll have to wait until the morning.

So we tie ourselves up to the quayside – or rather, the crew did that – and we can begin to move off.

And what’s sad about this is that despite being the first on the ferry, I’m almost the last off. That fills me full of dismay.

But there’s hope yet. There’s a motel that I had my eye on – one of the cheapest on the island when I was here last.

And while the price has … errr … significantly increased, just like everything else, it’s still one of the cheapest (this is not a cheap place to be by any means as I well remember) and it does have a room free. And so I bite the bullet …

Mind you, I had to wait half an hour for the landlady to come back from running an errand.

There’s a fridge in the room, but that’s your lot, but it is quite nice and comfortable.

An early night is called for and so I’m off to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.

Wednesday 27th September 2017 – THAT WAS SOME …

… nocturnal ramble, that was.

I had a bad attack of cramp and had to stand up – and then I had to go for a meander down the corridor too. And each time, I returned to bed and restarted where I had left off.

And do you know what? Once I awoke, I couldn’t remember a thing about it at all. No idea where I went to.

So I spent an hour or two doing some paper work on the laptop, and then stopped for breakfast. I was feeling hungry as well so I followed it all with a bagel. Luckily I had bought some yesterday at the Food Lion.

I’d also bought some new razors and some smelly stuff, so I could have a good shave and shower too. That made me feel better.

There was a lot of noise outside while I was working and so I went to see what was going on.

It seems that there’s some building work going on at the part of the hotel at the back nearest the sea.

They had this huge crane down there lifting things about onto that roof. My block by the way is the one where the two palm trees are.

Seeing as it was so nice – and so hot – I decided to go for a walk this morning, especially as I was out of the building already.

It’s a good mile or two’s walk down into town and the route takes me past the fairground that we first saw when we were here in 2005.

Out of season, it’s only open at weekends though, and I’ll be long-gone by then, I reckon.

It’s hard for me to recognise anything here because the place has changed so much since those days.

I certainly don’t remember Ripley’s exhibition here, and I’m sure that there were buildings right by where I’m standing.

Mind you, there have been several hurricanes that have passed this way since 2005, and probably taken a lot of stuff with them.

I remember that place over there, and I remember saying at the time that I would be badgered if I’m going in there – or something similar anyway.

But I’m sure that it was on the other side of the road back then.

But never mind the changes – when I was here in 2005 they had loads of tee-shirts with all kinds of different phrases such as “when God made me he was showing off” – which I thought was appropriate for Zero.

And they were still on sale – the same ones too probably judging by the dust.

By now, the heat was intense and the sunshine was overwhelming.

And so having armed myself with a new hat (my old one is stuck on a boat somewhere up in North West River, Labrador) and sunglasses, I went off to find the pier.

That’s still here – the passing hurricanes seem to have managed to leave that well alone, which is just as well.

Here’s the view looking south from the pier. Not actually from down at the end, because it costs $1:00 to go down to the end and I’m a cheapskate.

It seems to be a fact that the further south you go from the centre of Myrtle Beach, the cheaper the accommodation becomes.

I’m a good mile or two down there somewhere, way beyond the other pier that you can see in the distance.

On the other hand, the further north you go, the more exclusive the place becomes and the more expensive it costs to stay there.

Right down at the end on the horizon several miles away is North Myrtle Beach, and that’s just unbelievably expensive.

At the far end of the road down there is a golf and country club, and prices there are just absurd.

This is the “Bible Belt” of the USA where they constantly deny the phenomenon of things like Global Warming.

And despite their official denials, you can see evidence everywhere that they really DO believe in global warming.

This explanatory panel about the presence of glacial ice sheets to the north and icebergs off the coast of Myrtle Beach will tell you that.

And yet Global Warming isn’t really happening, is it?

In the intense heat, I’ve bought myself one of these drinks of iced slush stuff and I sit in the shade of an overhanging tree to admire the view.

And listen to one holidaymaker wailing that he has confused the times of his bus back home and it’s left without him, so he needs to make other arrangements.

But I only have half an ear open to listen to him. I’m more intent on enjoying the sunshine and looking at the scenery.

That’s the southern pier, and no photographs from thereupon, because here you have to pay to set foot on the pier – never mind going down to the end.

And on this part of the beach we aren’t allowed to walk on the sand dunes. They have been reseeded with wild oats, the roots of which spread in an immense network that stabilises the dunes.

So you’ll have to make do with a photo from here.

By now the heat is overwhelming and I go wander slowly back to my room. And despite it being only 2 storeys up, I’m obliged to take the lift. The heat is debilitating.

I keep thinking to myself that I ought to make my butties for a late lunch – but it’s too hot and I’m too tired to go outside again for the moment.

Consequently I close my eyes for five minutes – to find that it’s 18:00 and I’ve been out for four hours.

It was probably the wrong thing to do, to go for a walk this morning, because although I’m awake, I can’t even find the energy to go and make tea – and it’s not as if it would take too much either seeing that all it needs is a warm-up.

But then, this is the kind of thing that happens every now and again.

Tuesday 26th September 2017 – OLD, TIRED AND CHEAP

But that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about my living accommodation.

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a sea view “of sorts”. It’s not the best sea view by any means, but we have had worse than this and I’m not complaining.

The bed is super-comfortable – the sleeping issues that I’m having are due to me and not the bed – and the place is relatively clean even though it’s old and tired.

My neighbours are a little unruly, but you can’t have everything, and I’ve had much worse neighbours than those too.

Out at the back, which is actually the front of the little apartment, there’s a view over the street and the neighbouring hotel complexes.

Every hotel complex has its little private swimming pool (that’s next door’s just there) and terrace, although our terrace isn’t much at all to write home about.

But when the beach is 20 yards away, does it really matter?

And so this morning I was up with the cock and attacked the paperwork – well, sort-of anyway. And followed that with a nice shower and breakfast.

But I was obliged to bin the bread and the soya milk, and my razor has had it and I’ve run out of smelly stuff so a trip to the Food Lion – a Delhaize company with the same logo – was indicated.

The receptionist gave me directions, and made it sound like 10 miles away. So I went in Strider, only to find that it was less than half a mile away. I could have walked it.

But one of the shops here is having an offer that is absolutely irresistible. I bet that not many people would turn this down.

A free hermit crab with Woman Police Constable.

But I forgot to mention the usual Myrtle Beach issues.

Last time I was in Myrtle Beach, I witnessed what would only be called an “aggressive arrest” in the motel where I was staying.

Today, I popped outside, and there was another member of the farces of law and order visiting my accommodation.

And that’s not the best of it. I’d only been here about 18 hours and they had a pest control company in. “Termites” so I was told, but I don’t believe them.

Lunchtime was a visit to the beach with my butties.

I said before that it’s claimed to be the most beautiful beach on the Eastern Seaboard, and while I don’t agree with that, I’ve seen much worse.

The waves are quite impressive though, and the kids here were having a tremendous amount of fun.

But here’s a thing. Alison and I used to work for an American company in Brussels and we had a colleague who had married an American guy who had brought her here for their honeymoon.

She used to rave about how beautiful the place was, never thinking that anyone from Belgium would ever have visited here.

When I showed her my photos from 2005, she never ever said a subsequent word about the place.

Back here, I crashed out yet again, and was once more gone for hours. It was a good decision to go for three nights instead of two. I was hoping that I might have been able to make it out to the Outer Banks or something for a couple of days, but with my state of health I need to be realistic.

If I’m feeling up to it, I might stop off in New Jersey for a night or two. There’s always … gulp … Atlantic City.

I remembered to make tea tonight, pasta with kidney beans, tomato sauce and vegetables. And there’s enough left over for tomorrow too.

And then I went for a walk and, much to my delight, I found an ice-cream parlour just across the road that sold vegan sorbets. $4:99 for two scoops and seeing as this is the USA, they were person-sized scoops too.

They needed a mini-digger for them.

And then I saw it – the world’s first pantomime door.

This called for a photo opportunity for Strawberry Moose so I went back to Strider and fetched him.

And on the way there and back, he met a good many future fans who were pleased to make his acquaintance.

So now it’s bed-time. Not too early but then I’m not planning on doing too much tomorrow. A nice leisurely day before hitting the road on Thursday.

EPIC HALL

The Poisoned Pen (or Poisoned Chalice, more like) – or my relentless struggle against reality

Tag Archives: food lion

Sunday 1st October 2017 – I WAS RIGHT …

Friday 29th September 2017 – AFTER A REALLY …

Wednesday 27th September 2017 – THAT WAS SOME …

Tuesday 26th September 2017 – OLD, TIRED AND CHEAP