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A glass is never half empty, it’s always (in my opinion anyway) half full; although quite a sensitive and emotional person, sometimes easily hurt (even at my age) I’m not irrational and I do have a very optimistic personality. No sooner had I thought that I had less than twenty-four hours left on my beloved Rock I immediately rethought that thought (if it’s possible to rethink a thought) rephrasing it in my head into “WOW I’ve got twenty-four hours on the ROCK!!!”. 

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On that fabulous note I continued on my walkabout (onwards and upwards) up the North Face – on a trek I’d never done before and so as well loving having had my rethink of ‘having been given a whole day on the Rock’ I was also loving that I was going off into unchartered waters – somewhere I’d never been before.

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As I looked back at Moorish Castle I knew I would loved to have gone inside for a serious exploration but (because time was now very much against me) I also knew that I daren’t otherwise I’d have spent my whole day in there. I’ve always loved how they light the castle up to celebrate current events or to pay respects to nations undergoing tragedies; although the castle has a very well documented history it also remains very contemporarily relevant today.

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Accepting that some things must be left for another day I continued on and it wasn’t long before I came across the World War 2 Tunnels where I found the guide standing outside. 
“How long is your tour in the tunnels?” I asked. “At least an hour, more if you ask lots of questions” he replied. Knowing I would most certainly want to ask lots of questions I politely said that I would visit another time and although saddened that I couldn’t go in today it wasn’t something I wanted to rush. 

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(A rope swing I found in the middle of nowhere and sat down on for a ponder)

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What was beginning to transpire was that there’s a whole swathe of history on this part of the Rock that I had no idea about and although my memoir isn’t about that I was starting to become frustrated realising that the more I learned the less I knew. That thought only became more exacerbated when further on up the Rock I came across yet another tourist information attraction – The City Under Siege Exhibition.
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This amazing exhibition is situated in what is thought to be the very first building the British built on the Rock and depicts brilliantly what life was like for both the military and the local people in the early 1700s during the Great Siege. On display are several 3D models giving a realistic vision of the times and there is also a theatre show though sadly on my visit it was closed. One of the top attractions of this particular exhibition is some actual graffiti carved on the walls 300 years ago which is still readable today; the finest example of this was a drawing of a galleon by Sergeant Major Ince who was also accredited with being the architect of the Great Siege Tunnels. 

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Again, although I had little time to stay and study more (yet promised myself again I would be back) I began to realise that many of the names of places in Gibraltar were to honour her famous sons and daughters including the individual apartment blocks of what was once Edinburgh House and clearly Ince’s Hall; past industries were also remembered for example Lime Kiln Road.

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Knowing it would be years (if ever) that I got the chance to return to Gibraltar I looked over this beautiful little Nation from exactly the same spot as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 did in 1954, a year before I’d been born. Though very different people I’ve no doubt we both felt the same way.

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