A Disorderly Retirement
I have missed travelling. I know, it’s not a human right, but then neither is sloe gin and I’d miss that too if it were banished from my life. I know that many people have satisfied their urge to travel by touring around their own countries and discovering great beauty on their doorstep, which is…
I’ve been thinking about roots this week. Not the literal sort (although I see that the weeds are starting to appear between the paving stones already), but the figurative sort. I blame Lyse Doucet, the Canadian journalist who works as Chief International Correspondent for the BBC and lives in London when she’s not reporting from…
I can hardly believe that this time last week I was in Italy – eating delicious food, strolling through olive groves and clambering down Matera’s spectacular gorge. When the pandemic started, I was convinced it would all be over in six months and we’d look back on it as a strange and frightening time. I…
I completely forgot to write my blog yesterday because I was so distracted. We are actually leaving the country tomorrow for the first time in nearly two years and not only is it more complicated than it used to be, but I’m really out of practice. I can’t quite remember how international travel is done….
I’m afraid there was no blog last week because I was in deepest Dorset with a somewhat eccentric internet connection. I had decided that since I was on holiday I’d just post a few photos with captions, but things didn’t go according to plan. I tried to upload some pictures, without success, and then couldn’t…
There is an aura of mystery and intrigue about the Silk Road that still lingers centuries after the trade routes fell into disuse. I have long been fascinated by the lands ranging from China through Central Asia to the Middle East, and I think it must have started in my childhood, as so much does….
Since I’m still not venturing outside Britain (I can’t face the uncertainty of it all), I’m relying on travel writers to take me to fascinating places. I’ve been reading Dervla Murphy’s first book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. My immediate thought was, “Why on earth would she do that?” Who would choose…
Some people might disagree, but I think that wanting to dress like a pirate is a natural human instinct. Perhaps even a right. Who doesn’t want to wear a tricorn hat and swagger around with a cutlass? Hastings was full of pirate wannabes last week and naturally I was there. I’m not a big party…
Such excitement: last weekend we got on an inter-city train and went to Birmingham, travelling 106 miles from home! That’s the furthest we’ve been in nearly a year. We stayed in a hotel for the first time since last March and I was feeling both excited and nervous about the whole thing. It had been…
It has struck me recently that age creeps up on you without your knowledge and certainly without your permission. In fact, I have just increased the magnification of this page by 10% because it was all looking a bit impressionistic. Ten per cent here, ten per cent there and before you know it you’re looking…