Culture
Postcard From Marrakech
Introduction For my 50th birthday, as I didn’t have my children all available, I decided to experience Marrakech. A lot of people recommended it, so decided it was a good time of year to visit [more…]
Travel
20th Century
Better Views?
Monte Carlo Casino After spending much of one’s life in Carlisle, it might be difficult to be sniffy about Monte Carlo but as time goes on, it does become easier. On this page from the [more…]
20th Century
The Sore Seated Safari, Part Two
We left our travellers on the evening of September 25th, 1929, as they settled down for a night’s sleep in the village of Bereku, Tanganyika, about 37 miles north of Kondoa Irangi. Today it boasts [more…]
Arts
Going It Alone
Almost fifty years ago I booked a package holiday to Austria. I was young, impressionable and thought that by having everything organised I could play the quintessential Englishman abroad. How wrong I was. The “family [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Monaco
After spending much of one’s life in Carlisle, being unenthusiastic about Monaco might be a challenge. Or might it? First, a disambiguation. Monaco is the name of a principality of less than 500 acres which [more…]
20th Century
The Sore Seated Safari
In the cupboard to the left of my desk, sits a large cardboard box filled with old family photo albums. These arrived in my parent’s house in the early 1980s, after the death of my [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From The Third World
(I) It is 5-30am and children come out of the gloom like ghosts in silent procession. They are laid heavy with satchels, wear blouses and shirts which are so white that they hurt your eyes [more…]
20th Century
A River Runs Through It
Le Train Bleu Last time we teased that we were arriving at a quayside in Ostend to connect with the Istanbul Express as if Graham Greene’s characters in Stamboul Train. My grandparents’ Ford Prefect was [more…]
20th Century
Ostend For Greeneland
According to those better able to describe such things than myself, decades ago the crossing to Ostend was one of drenched decks, the smell of steam and oil and of stale Bass from the bar. [more…]