Category Archives: Travel

Arctic fox

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

Yesterday I travelled through a monochrome landscape. It reminded me of those 17th century Dutch winter scenes with skaters and dogs, pedlars and musicians, taking their pleasure or plying their trade under leaden skies, all watched over by crows in … Continue reading →

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Treetops

Posted on September 13, 2012 by

I was three years old in 1952 when young Princess Elizabeth learnt of the death of her father, George VI. She was staying at Treetops Hotel in Kenya’s Aberdare National Park. Jim Corbett, the famous white hunter, later charmingly wrote: … Continue reading →

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Waking up

Posted on September 7, 2012 by

Last year at the Edinburgh International Book Festival I chaired Michael Ondaatje as he talked about his latest novel, The Cat’s Table, a fictionalised account of the journey he had made as an 11-year-old in a passenger liner, from Ceylon … Continue reading →

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Falling in love

Posted on August 31, 2012 by

‘Grecia no!’ A border policemen lifts his chin in that peculiarly dismissive way the Greeks have of signifying a negative – in this case that there is something wrong with the bewildered Italian backpacker’s passport and he’s not going to be … Continue reading →

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On the road

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

In 1967, my last year at school, I discovered that there was a bursary for classicists to travel to Greece. It was one of those things that no one told you about but I got wind of it somehow and … Continue reading →

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Train of thought

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

While waiting for the train this morning I was speaking to a recently retired neighbour who now lives most of the year on the Greek island of Skiathos. ‘They’re really in a bind now,’ he said. ‘I know,’ I said. … Continue reading →

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Tongue-tied

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

It’s unpleasant to feel a language slipping from one’s grasp. There was a time when I was a confident French speaker. I was taught it very well at an early age by an inspired teacher who showed us large pictures of … Continue reading →

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La Maison du Kilt

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

Here’s a good air travel story, for a change. My wife and I are currently en route for a wedding in Corsica. The bride’s parents are my wife’s oldest friends, Hughes and Caroline. He’s French, she’s English and they live … Continue reading →

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Constant craving

Posted on February 25, 2012 by

I was talking to my eldest daughter about last week’s post and my South American travels. The conversation moved on to the 60s and 70s in general, and the music in particular. Sophie is 31 and the mother of my … Continue reading →

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Halfway to heaven

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

Watching the YouTube film of my Latin American trip opened the floodgates again. There are still so many moments that remain clearly imprinted on my memory, almost forty years later: sailing to the Galapagos Islands on a cargo steamer, driving … Continue reading →

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