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…]
Travelogue
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…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse, Edizione Apulia; Seconda Parte (All In It Together)
The hotel outside Matera is new and consequently very modern, the food in the restaurant was pretty good, but the waiting staff knew we were a tour party and treated us accordingly. Not rude, as [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…]
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…]
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…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Four – Berlin
When my friend Alfred Friedel comes off duty it’s usually somewhere around one o’clock in the morning. For Alfred is a newspaperman. And morning newspapermen the world over live like owls. Take a good look [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Three – Hamburg
You climb into an aeroplane at Amsterdam Schiphol and as soon as you are comfortably airborne, you order an excellent dry sherry and nibble at a picnic lunch which you don’t really need. You try [more…]