THE EBB OF LIFE (FADING AWAY) I watch you there,Over by the sinkOr climbing the stairA little more bent,A little less certainAbout what is meantEach year more frailYour steps slowerYour recollections failLiving slowly somehowYour strength ebbing,Everything hard nowIn the grey zoneBetween life and death,A life now on loanMy heart breaksTo see you so,My soul... Continue Reading →
FEAR AND LOATHING (AND A WHOLE LOT OF LOVE) ON THE RAINBOW BUS (PART 2)
With Apologies to Hunter S Thompson PART 2 - CAPE TOWN TO SWAKOPMUND All of my images from this trip can be found here The group which will travel across southern Africa, together, has met up in the hostel the previous night and we now decamp, immediately after breakfast , stopping along the way on... Continue Reading →
FEAR AND LOATHING (AND A LOT OF LOVE) ON THE RAINBOW BUS (PART 1)
PART 1 - THE CREW - this is the first part of a three posts about a 21 day trip across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. NOTE: this post is about the people on our trip...if... Continue Reading →
Kaptan Kaylee’s Swedish Kayaking Adventure
Always lead from the rear, they say. Heeding this good advice, Kaptan Kaylee took the rear seat in our double kayak when it was offered. We were off on a short four-day kayaking trip in Sweden. This has several advantages on such a trip: (1) the marine serf in the front can't see you when... Continue Reading →
Albania – Europe’s former recluse
They say that Einstein said that the sign of an idiot was doing the same thing twice (actually I think the word was repeatedly) and expecting a different outcome. This is the thesis of the Idiot Traveller. I am a world expert, while travelling, in repeating mistakes. I am also happy to go on accrediting... Continue Reading →
The Marrakesh Express – Two Weeks in Morocco Pt 1. Maudlin’ Musicians and Metal Miners
I must have been in my teens when "Marrakesh Express" came out (1969). Those were heady days. Before Hendrix (1970) and Joplin died (1970). The Lizard King (Morrison) was still alive (he died in 1971). We were still trapped in Hotel California. Barclay James Harvest would play at our school a year or two later,... Continue Reading →
Europe 2017 (Episode 4): A Holiday Oxymoron – Visiting Mljet – another undiscovered Mediterranean Island
Like military intelligence, the living dead, found missing and Microsoft Works, the concept of an undiscovered Mediterranean Island is about as near to reality as Australia being the Clever Country.
Europe 2017 (Episode 2): Florence – Avoiding Peak Tourist
There is no rest in Florence from the madding crowds....except choosing the right time of day and a 20 minute walk away from the city centre. Rules for the Idiot Traveller: anytime before 8 am is a good time to visit tourist spots and any place more than a kilometre from the key tourist attractions is a million miles from the madding crowd.
Europe 2017 (Episode 1): Corsica for short people, the credit card-less and mirror manufacturers
Somewhere in Corsica you will find the bodies. The poor fools that travelled up the Cap Corse without cash. Ostensibly we are in France a modern, 21st century nation. But not in Corsica. No you are in anti-France where the French are just more foreigners, credit cards are a yet to be discovered means of paying for things or, alternatively, a trick to be played on innocent Corsicans by tourists and the Italians (Genovese) were simply invaders that happened to hang around for a century or four.