Hobbies
Cruising From Malta, Part Three
Day 7 Wednesday – At sea The best night’s sleep so far and they have all been good! It’s surprising how tiring sitting in the fresh air can be. After dinner last night I popped [more…]
Travelogue
20th Century
Desert Mysteries Redux – Part Two
In Desert Mysteries Redux – Part One, I recounted the ‘Desert Mystery’ of the fate of my uncle in Transjordan in 1938. Whilst he was in the desert and not harassing rebellious Arab gangs via [more…]
Hobbies
Cruising From Malta, Part Two
Day 3 – Saturday – Mykonos I woke up and saw that it was a couple of minutes before six, and the sun was shining, the sky was cloudless and the sea like a mirror. [more…]
Hobbies
Cruising From Malta, Part One
I won’t bother taking you through all the preliminaries for this cruise except to say this time I choose to fly to Malta to pick up the cruise ship, P&O Azura. It cuts out a [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mysteries, Part Six
In the film “Lawrence of Arabia”, Lawrence is asked, “What is it, Major Lawrence, that attracts you, personally, to the desert?” His response was, “It’s clean. I like it because it’s clean.” This quote is [more…]
20th Century
American Journey 1952, Part Five – Iowa
Dubuque, Iowa The first thing you learn about the Middle West is the bigness of it. You could, for example, sink without trace the whole of Switzerland in Lake Michigan. The Illinois River at Peoria [more…]
20th Century
American Journey 1952, Part Four – Atlanta
On a chill November night in 1864 a small boy lay trembling behind a rock — not a hundred yards from where I am writing this — and watched a city burn. It was the [more…]
Literature
Zainichi, Part Two
Okubo is Tokyo’s main Koreatown and one of the very few large immigrant enclaves in the entire country. It’s a downtown area around two very busy railway stations, a little world to itself where people [more…]
Hobbies
Classic Railway Journeys of a different kind
As one or two of you may have noticed, I have recently passed a Notable Birthday milestone. (thanks to all who sent good wishes, BTW). One pf the many prezzies received was one from Mrs [more…]