Arts
To Wawa and Beyond
The rooster started crowing at 3 am, which then set the dogs off. The barking went on for a while then a motorbike without a silencer went roaring past. It must have been 3-45am when [more…]
Travel
Arts
The Lighthouse of The Pacific
Leaving the Pan-American highway and heading west beyond the urban sprawl of second city Santa Ana, we follow the route of the El Salvador Railway Company’s Ahuachapan branch line which we discovered last time. Nothing [more…]
20th Century
Report From Israel, 1957 – Part Six
In 1957 my uncle, John Alldridge visited Israel for the Birmingham Mail. This is the last of his reports. – Jerry F When an Israeli defines a civilian as a soldier on leave for eleven [more…]
Travel
Postcard from Iceland
A fat lot of help the Sultan of Oman was. About as much use as a chocolate teapot in the Al Hararis Plain during the hottest hour of an Omani desert day. Creepy sleepy sniffy [more…]
20th Century
Report From Israel, 1957 – Part Five
In 1957 my uncle, John Alldridge visited Israel for the Birmingham Mail. This is the fifth of his reports. – Jerry F Eilat, Gulf of Akaba You can’t go home (they said) until you’ve bathed [more…]
20th Century
Report From Israel, 1957 – Part Four
In 1957 my uncle, John Alldridge visited Israel for the Birmingham Mail. This is the fourth of his reports. – Jerry F Kefar Hanasi, Upper Galilee Not so very long ago, Gershon Epstein was a [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Kaunas
As 2nd cities go Kaunas, seems at least, at first glance, to be a pretty unprepossessing sort of place regardless of whether you arrive by air, road or rail. Arriving by train reveals an industrial [more…]
20th Century
Report From Israel, 1957 – Part Three
In 1957 my uncle, John Alldridge visited Israel for the Birmingham Mail. This is the third of his reports. – Jerry F The first you see of it is a row of whitewashed oil drums, [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Kiruna
Having been presented with the key to the door, my wilful 21-year-old self used the opportunity to close the lock tightly behind him and allow the trade winds to billow his sails north, all the [more…]