This post is actually something I wrote up an age ago, before I even left for France. So in this one, join me briefly on the Moana-Seaford coastline, for something I affectionately call The Standing There Club. I’ve been thinking about it again recently, as I sat on the edge…
A Tale of Two Giants
I spend just two nights in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is the absolute minimum I try to do in a place, to get at least one full day to explore, baggage free. For me, it feels like the real start of the trip. I did spend a few days in…
Enough Time | Something of an Update
You can’t tell, but I have been desperately trying to write this post for weeks. “A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”German novelist Thomas Mann wrote that back in 1903. (Of course, he said it in German, so this is…
Lasts & Leaving
(Written May 4th 2025) I am standing at the central bus station in Marseille. My bus is delayed by ten minutes, although I think this is intentional, because the allotted bays are full – three spaces between two companies. That’s fine by me though, because mostly I’m reading my book…
A Belated Update
I am coming to you today from my bed, surrounded by piles of my clothes, paperwork, loan items to return. To my left, the open IKEA hanging and shelving unit is mostly bare. Everything is stuffed in my big bag by the door, for a practice weigh. I am trying…
Unexpected Music | France
When you travel, you never quite know what you will stumble across. You can plan all sorts of things but you never know really how things will go. Today, I’m talking about the joy of that. I have found France to be a very good “stumble upon” place – although…
Jeanne d’Arc died here | Rouen
Normandy is split into two halves – Haute-Normandie and Basse-Normandie. Previously, I lived in Haute-Normandie, which is itself split into two smaller sections. My former sleepy little city, Evreux, heads up the smallest region, Eure, and did not feel like any kind of capital (ahhh, just like home!). The larger…
The Paper Mill Museum | Basel, Switzerland 2024
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this: the Paper Mill Museum in Basel is the best museum I have ever been to. (Excluding Art Galleries, even though the French call them museums.) When I looked online, it was suggested that you needed two to three hours there, and…
Mostly Basel | Switzerland 2024
For today’s post, we’re going to travel back to the past. There were a few places that I didn’t get around to writing about last year. Quite a few actually! Some drafting was done but they didn’t quite make it to the “done” pile. So to set the scene: S…
A Love/Hate Letter to the French Language
Dear French, You suck. I’ll get to the love part in a minute, but first, let’s just be clear: I hate you just way too much of the time. And yet… Ahhh… So much of life is tucked away inside the words “and yet.” (Once, in primary school, I read…