Hobbies
The Wolds, Part One
It takes a week to cycle from Penzance to Berwick. It took me 40 years. Because on the way, I wanted to include every town in England, in what amounted to some two years of [more…]
Travel
20th Century
A Distant Monument to Unrequited Love
If breaking a journey between Nairobi and Kampala, gentlemen and lady travellers might like to give the city of Nakuru a chance. If it becomes tiresome you can always take a tuk-tuk for a day [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Six – Naples
Like many another Mediterranean city Naples looks better seen from a distance. Approached from the sea, preferably at first light, its beauty takes your breath away. Close up too much of it is an offence [more…]
Arts
Basilica Santuario Santo Stefano – The Seven Churches of Bologna
It is a short walk from the twin towers, past the oldest house in Bologna, to Via Santo Stefano. For the most part the journey is under a colonnade of stone, cast in cool shadow [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Five – Vienna
Where a smile masks a city’s sorrow This a Tale from the Vienna Woods. A Tale told on a spring morning when, from the white cafe tables perched high on the Kahlenberg, the Danube really [more…]
Hobbies
In the Fens
It takes a week to cycle from Penzance to Berwick. It took me 40 years. Because on the way, I wanted to include every town in England, in what amounted to some two years of [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Birmingham, Part Five
There are two schools of thought, volunteer for everything, never volunteer for anything. I knew a chap sent to the South Atlantic. At Mount Pleasant airfield in what the Guinness Book of Records describes as [more…]
History
Postcard from Saint Nicholas
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, Keir Starmer is stealing pennies from the old man’s hat, and we continue our journey around the Isles of Scilly. Tresco was once called St Nicholas, or [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse; Edizeone Apulia (Prima Parte)
And so to Italy, but not before making sure the Buildings and Maintenance team had been fully drilled in the routines required to ensure I didn’t return to any kind of disaster. I needn’t have [more…]