Tag Archives: Bashar al-Assad

Ordinary, Scones

Mint Café

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You know how it is … you go into somewhere like Mint Café in Stirling for coffee and a scone and by the time you come out the world has changed. Okay, Syria to be more precise but who knows what is going to happen next. The hellish Assad regime has fallen and people are rejoicing. Mint Café signHowever, within a day of the Russians stopping their bombing of the country, Israel, Turkey and the US have started. All trying to protect their own interests but hardly an auspicious launch of a new era! There are all sorts of tensions mostly caused by slightly differing interpretations of the same religion … clerics have much to answer for! Nowhere are these tensions more evident than on the Turkish/Syria border with the third longest wall in the world separating the two countries.  Only the Great Wall of China and the US/Mexico wall are longer.Internal view of Mint Café, Stirling

Anyway, purely by accident we are here in Mint, a Turkish café. But why? Well, we were hoping to pick up a set of bagpipes in Stirling but having been unable to contact the guy who was renovating them, we decided to pay a visit to his shop. 

a light fitting in Mint Café, StirlingJust our luck, when we arrived, it wasn’t open. The word on the street, however, was that he normally opened a bit later in the day. What to do? Our solution was to go away and come back later, hence you find us here in Mint. Not only are we here but we are the only ones here. The place was deserted … just the Turkish owner busying himself behind the counter, and us. It seemed to be a place that specialised in cakes but there was a bowl full of scones on the counter … yeah, the day was taking a turn for the better!

I’ve always had a soft spot for Turkey since hitchhiking to the country in 1970 and experiencing the hospitality and kindness of the local people. Our host was no exception ,,, he made us very welcome. A scone in Mint Café, StirlingHe soon had us sorted with a scone and some coffee. Rather odd presentation but the scone was nice and warm with a very pleasant texture. It came with butter, jam and a dollop of ‘scooshie’ cream. The coffee was great but the rest maybe not so much. Ten out of ten for effort but some way short of a topscone.A wall hanging in Mint Café, Stirling

Afterwards, we made our way back the bagpipe shop. Hallelujah, it was open!

Lifestyle notice in Mint Café, Stirling
It’s not working

Turned out that our man was uncontactable because he had lost his phone. He had a new one but didn’t want to use it in case he found his old one?? And, in spite of having had the pipes for almost three months he hadn’t even started on them. He apologised profusely and promised to get on to it straight away. He would even deliver them to our house! Chaotic is the only way to describe his business operation but the workmanship is excellent so we remain ever hopeful of a delivery before Christmas. Internal view of Mint Café, Stirling

Being here in Mint made us feel a little closer to Syria. Bashar al-Assad and his family have successfully escaped to Russia. Presumably with him being an ophthalmologist he saw his downfall coming 😃. Sorry! The brand spanking new Syrian government has an uphill struggle ahead but hopefully they can magic up some real stability for the region.

FK8 1BJ           tel: 01786 357541           Mint Café TA

///bucks.agent.sculpture

Scones, Top

Knockinaam Lodge Hotel

As you already know we are always ready to go that extra mile in the cause of sconology no matter how much discomfort and distress this may cause. This post is no exception and Knockinaam Lodge Hotel is where it’s at. Lying in its own little cove in the cliffs just south of Portpatrick, it is very private. So private in fact that we had difficulty finding it. So private that Churchill and Eisenhower planned the D-Day landings here. When you get here you kind of get the feeling that nothing has changed much in the intervening years. You can almost see Churchill sitting in the big  leather fireside armchair, whisky and cigar in hand. Knockinaam Lodge Hotel dining room and barAt the reception desk we were initially concerned that our room did not appear on the communication system. However they assured us that all we had to do was pick up the phone and they would attend to our every need … phew!

Servants bells at Knockinaam Lodge Hotel, Mull of Galloway
Our room didn’t have a bell

Reminiscing
Knockinaam has that comfortable homely feel about it which makes it the perfect place to chillax. And that was exactly what we had in mind. No swimming pool but its own beach in Port of Spittal Bay more than made up for that. We could sit there looking over the North Channel toward Northern Ireland and reminisce on the many happy years we spent living there … bless!Knockinaam Lodge Hotel beach over looking Port of Spittal Bay
Silver dishes

But enough of our bleating, we are here and we will just have to make the best of it. Lets get to the scones. We would have loved to have had afternoon tea however our schedule simply made that impossible. Instead we just had tea and a scone. We had been warned that the scones were big so we shared. A scone at Knockinaam Lodge Hotel, Mull of GallowaySeated in front of a lovely log fire when the scone came it was beautifully presented with crisp linen napkins and lots of jam and cream in silver dishes. There was absolutely nothing to complain about here … a very easy topscone. If you ever visit Portpatrick there is a three mile cliff top path that takes you to Knockinaam and this, or afternoon tea, would be a perfect stop before the return journey.

Shenanigans

You have probably guessed by now that we are not exactly roughing it. However, in order to bring you the full spectrum of scone news we do feel obliged to come to places like this from time to time. Entirely on your behalf you understand! Sitting here, you can’t help but wonder what the Churchill and Eisenhower of old would have made of today’s political shenanigans between Trump, May, Putin and Assad. We think that they, like us, would have been aghast. If one has to wonder about such things, however, this is definitely the place to do it. We thoroughly recommend Knockinaam. It could have been the six course dinners every night. Perhaps the wonderful staff. It could have been the beautiful rooms. In fact it could have been just about anything, it was all good … and a great scone.View of Knockinaam Lodge Hotel from the shoreDG9 9AD     tel: 01776 810471     Knockinaam Lodge