Thursday 14th August - Arisaig


I am sitting in the early morning sunshine outside my tent. The sun is up and I can only just see the screento write. I would like to make a cup of coffee but everyone else seems still to be asleep and it would be too noisy. It's 7.30, early for a holiday morning but not that early for campers I would have thought. I can hear a few whispered voices, the sound travels endlessly so everyone mutters. I am looking out to sea and watching pied wagtails flutter and fight, or perhaps they are just f eeding. It is not quite as idyllic as it sounds because the wind is still strong and cold. But it is a beautiful morning.

My plan for the day is to get the ferry to Skye and from there to get another ferry to Harris. Today I may try and find somewhere to stay for the night rather earlier than my usual 6pm.

posted at 07:36 in /where (permanent link)

Sunday 10th August 2008

Salisbury

I am at my mum's watching Britain from the Air. Tomorrow I hope to head off on my travels once more and see Britain from the ground. I want to go to the Outer Hebrides and then travel back south through Wales and the West Country.

The weather forecast is not good. I hope to be able to dodge some of the worst of the weather, but who knows. Last time I was in the Hebrides I could only see a few yards ahead as storms rolled in. I really hope for better weather but have packed socks and warm clothes, just in case.

I have emergency snacks and a duvet as well as my sleeping bag. Trusty Ka is already almost fully packed. I have to buy more gas for my camping stove and a supply of water (just in case either Ka or I need it).

posted at 21:59 in /where (permanent link)

Monday 30th June

London

Back home and Shetland feels slightly like a dream world. Lots of time and space compared with the seemingly constant busyness of city life.

I started the day in Lerwick. Here there are shops but still few familiar brands. Boots is here and the banks. Otherwise it seems to be mainly small shops - some for the tourists and some for the people who live here. Most of the shops are along commercial road (makes sense). There is a new Tesco being built on the edge of town and will open in a couple of weeks. Roads and roundabouts are being built for the traffic it will bring. This supports my theory that the real problem with Tesco is the impact it has on the traffic. There is always a Tesco roundabout and the traffic jams it brings seem to be a factor in stopping people going into the high street.

Shetland is largely a place without retail brands. Brands are stocked by the shops but the shops are shops and not named and logoed. I have to re-fill the car before returning it. This proves challenging - how do I find a petrol station when they are unsigned and unbranded. In Lerwick there are a few National garages but outside just a man and a couple of pumps. lerwick is too far away to be able to give the car back with a full tank. The lady at the car rental told me there is a garage two or three miles away on an industrial estate. Nothing looks like an industrial estate up here. Refineries and docks, but no estates. Eventually I find the place a garage, a small supermarket and a post office.

Time for one last visit to Sumburgh Head and the puffins. As I arrive it seems as if the puffins are up and about and enjoying the day. It is very windy and they, and all the other birds, seem to be enjoying catching the breeze, wings outstretched and letting the wind decide where to take them. I have to go and start the journey back to London and back to work. I want to come here again I feel I have seen more of the wildlife than the people.

I wonder how Shetland will look in 10 or 20 years time. There seems to be money, I assume a consequence of the oil. But it must be a tough place to live in the winter. The dark and the gales must make it feel a different place. Even in midsummer I'm glad I bought a warm coat with me. And is everything as calm as it looks? Are the young here immune from the problems in the rest of Britain. From my travels I have seen that drugs get everywhere, the dealers appear to have read and learned from the marketing textbooks. I check out the figures and find that recently the dealers from London and Liverpool have seen the 'opportunity' for heroin in Shetland. This makes sense of the signs at the airport warning about bringing in drugs. It all seems so at odds with the experience of being here.

posted at 21:59 in /where (permanent link)

Sunday 29th June

Brae

The much forecast rain has arrived and so bringing wet weather stuff now seems a good idea. Thinking I am going to head north and explore a bit and then head to Lerwick to dry out and look at museums. But as ever, plans may change.

posted at 08:28 in /where (permanent link)

Saturday 24th May

Farnham

My mother (and dog) are coming to stay for the weekend and we have just been exploring family history. She wanted to find her grandmother's grave. I tried to find it about a year ago, but couldn't find the church let alone the graveyard. We drive round in various loops while I try to remember where I went last year (but have forgotten to bring the map of the area). We find Vicarage Lane which seems to give a clue as to where the church might be. I drove along here last year and found no church. But this time my mother spots the graveyard.

There is only the graveyard, no sign of the church. We wander around but it is not clear where the church would have been. My mother remembers going there for her grandmother's funeral, sometime in the 1940s but all seems different now. No church, the graveyard itself overgrown. Rather beautiful with cow parsley in full flower and dappled light coming through trees much taller than in my mother's memory.

We find the gravestone, I virtually trip over it. The dog, excited to be liberated from the car, wants to explore. There are three inscriptions. Firstly for her grandfather who died before she was born. He died in 1909 of peritonitis. Then a commone enough ailment, now antibiotics would probably have saved him. We may complain about over prescription, but they remain a wonder drug when you really need them.
Then his son, Archie, who died in November 1918. He managed to survive the war (and to be awarded the Military Cross) but then died in the flu epidemic of 1918. So many young men weakened by war died from flu, a cruel irony after such a bloody war.

And finally my great grandmother who died in 1942 aged 84. The women on my mother's side of the family all seem to live to a good age. The following generation lived well into their 80s and so my mother's generation seem to be doing pretty well too. Hope I've inherited these genes.

posted at 21:00 in /where (permanent link)

Friday 20 June


I am sitting at a conference about the future of the media. There are lots of interesting people saying lots of interesting things. Because it is a media futures conference everyone has access to the internet. There has been talk of Twitter which I only just understand. Twitter allows you to chat to people - halfway between email and txt and you can use your mobile or the internet.

Here it known as the 'backchannel' - the channel where the listeners get to speak. But I have just managed to go and take a look (signing up has been on my to do list for months). There isn't much being said. So what are all the people who claim to be twittering actually doing? Are they writing articles? Answering email? Playing scrabulous? Sorting their holiday photos? I was talking about the fact that there are so many things we could be doing that attention is the scarce resource. Even if the person you want to talk to is in the room, you can't assume that they are listening.

Seems like everyone wants to talk, but few have time to listen. Funny old world.

The conference is at Alexandra Palace which is where the BBC first broadcast. It is on the top of the hill and the view was spectacular. In far distance I can see the Crystal Palace transmitter. New media in their day and now dismissed as old media.

posted at 20:59 in /where (permanent link)

Sunday 8th June


Deepest Devon

I am sitting in the morning sunshine writing. I can hear wood pigeons to my right and a choir of small birds to my left. A blackbird is watching me, surprised to see anyone out this early. Two white doves have just appeared on the roof of the house. In the field above the garden cattle gently graze. The sun is warm. The dew has not yet been dried by the sun. I can hear the River Dart burbling its way to the sea. This is bliss.

The swifts are flying high in the sky. This is good news. The sun looks set to stay for the day. I am Devon with a group of friends. It is Leigh's 50th birthday today and we are here to help her celebrate. We are staying at a hotel called Fingals in Dittisham. It is a wonderful place, a house of history and character, beautiful gardens, affectionate dogs, fine food and great company. What more can there be.

Later we will go to the sea and stare into the middle distance. No plans further than five miles. Time to be and to enjoy being. At moments like this it is all one could wish for. Particularly with breakfast about to arrive.

Happy, happy Birthday, Leigh

posted at 20:58 in /where (permanent link)

Sunday 18th May

Bexhill-on-Sea

Cheered by sunshine I decided to head to the coast. I have been meaning to visit the De La Warr Pavilion since it re-opened and there is currently an exhibition curated by Grayson Perry. Realise that if I didn't go this weekend, I would miss it.

Bright and breezy, but breeze means everyone has to wrap up well. Kids are skateboarding and families are braving the wind and pretending it is summer. A few brave souls are in summer clothes, the more sensible still well wrapped up. But the sun is trying to break its way through the clouds and every so often shines in full glory and everyone feels it was worth the effort.

Some have come to see the exhibition but there is also a mid century modern fair. Lots of furniture from the 1950s and 60s. All the things that I remember from my childhood. All the things that people in the 80s were keen to rip out. Now they are back in fashion. But it is a younger generation who seem most interested. Most are in their late 20s or 30s - married with young kids. I wonder if nostalgia is always 20 years before you were born?

I was born in the 1950s and much of my generation seem fascinated by the early modern - the buildings and furniture of the 1930s. These people would have been born in the 1970s and they seem to like things of the 1950s. Perhaps the decades preceding your birth are far enough away to seem glamorous but close enough to seem real.

posted at 20:57 in /where (permanent link)

Saturday 17th May 2008


I am not in Moscow, left soon after I wrote the last blog entry and not sure what has happened to the past year. It is disconcerting to realise how quickly it has disappeared and how little I have done on 3 wishes.

However, this year is this year and I hope to go travelling later in the year. Not quite sure when, that will depend on work and practical stuff. I'm thinking about heading north to Shetland for a few days in June. In June it will hardly get dark (assuming good weather). Other than that, I have no definite plans. So I am dusting down the blog, sticking stamps on the postcards and hoping to get out and about and start chatting to people once more.

I have received almost a thousand wishes so far. Originally I planned to analyse them and write a book. But when I try to analyse them they seem to become pale imitations of their original form. So I may try to do a book with lots of pictures I have taken around Britain and let the wishes speak for themselves. Perhaps a chapter talking about the themes.

I still hope to write a book about Britain and how it is changing and have just joined a writing course. Having proved to myself that, despite my good intentions, I could not find time to write. Now I am part of a group and am looking forward to having people to talk with (and think I may do better with a few deadlines in place.

But for now I am back at home in London, looking at maps and thinking about trips. I bought a book about cool campsites and one about nice pubs to stay in - it feels like a step in the right direction....

posted at 20:57 in /where (permanent link)

Saturday 28th June

Sumburgh, Shetland Isles

I am sitting looking out to sea and having breakfast. The forecast is not good but at the moment the sky is blue, streaked only with high wisps of cloud. A beautiful day, who knows how long it will last but for now it is perfect. My plan is to head north to the island of Unst. This will require finding somewhere to stay and getting a place on the two ferries to get there, so this may not be possible. But the general direction is north.

Up here it is 60 degrees north, on the same latitude as Bergen in Norway and South Greenland. I came prepared for wintery weather but sandals and a T shirt all that's needed at the moment. When I asked about the weather yesterday I was told. "If you don't like the weather, don't worry. In five minutes something completely different will be along"

posted at 20:49 in /where (permanent link)