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…]
Travel
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…]
Arts
The View From Sunnegga
It’s difficult to tell exactly where we are in old Zermatt, pictured below during my grandparent’s 1950s road trip. These days the town is short of public squares given what has to be squeezed onto [more…]
Arts
Trag In Ruh (Take It In Your Stride)
Puffins will be familiar with a truism of the lower orders ducking and diving through the mean streets of Zermatt with a dagger between their teeth looking for a cheap room while the officer class [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From a Long Christmas Cruise, Part Seven
29th December – At sea The ‘Phantom Door Banger’ was late this morning. I was up and dressed when ‘its’ door crashed at 07:20. Guess who forgot to put their clock forward? Mind you, having [more…]
19th Century
His Monument, The Matterhorn
We shall continue our trip towards the source of the Matter Vispa, heading south towards the mountain town of Zermatt. However, we shall no longer call it a road trip. The evidence suggests, given a [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From a Long Christmas Cruise, Part Six
23rd December – St Kitts I can hardly believe that this is day 23 of my cruise. Much like any other it started with me being woken by the phantom cabin door banger, who was [more…]