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 →
The Ship of Poles
We are a ship of Poles. 22 to be precise plus one Ukrainian, 2 Germans and one Australian. We slip slowly down the river, in the Belgian winter fog, out of Antwerp bound for Cape Town via Porto, Vigo and Wallis Bay. Our ship, the six year old, 200 metre, 30,000 tonne, Blue Master 2.... 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 →
Sailing Like An Egyptian (slowly down the Nile)
1980: The year of Rubik's cube, of the eruption of Mt St Helens, of the establishment of CNN, the start of the Iran/Iraq war, the murder of John Lennon...and Richard Pryor set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine. And the year of my Nile trip by felucca with five French and one Nubian companion. All... 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 →
There’s a slow train a’coming driving me around the bend.
It is 392 kilometres from Sofia to Belgrade and another 600 kilometres from Belgrade to Vienna. From Vienna you are on the fast rail networks of western Europe but these first two legs of my journey are about 200 years in the past in terms of train technology years. The trip from Sofia to Belgrade... Continue Reading →
The Iron Rule – thou shall not (easily) pass (at least not in Turkey or Bulgaria)
The train which we boarded in Istanbul stops at the Turkey – Bulgaria border - and, refusing to be outdone by the Australian rail system, this train is old and slow and leaves from some part of Istanbul far from civilisation - a 45 minute bus ride from central Istanbul - what Australians would call woop woop.
The train, itself, is some form of exercise in Turkish logic. My carriage is numbered 483 even though the train contains just four carriages. One assumes this is designed to confuse foolish yabangee (foreigners) since, no doubt, Turks understand this logic.
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