Year: 2010

  • Pilgrims' Progress

    The last couple of days in Delhi I have been seeing orange clad men holding some bizarre things that almost look like lampshades perched across a pole on their shoulder. Sometimes they walk in groups and other times they are solitary. They walk with purpose and resolve but some are clearly struggling with the effort while…

  • Dealing with Dogs

    As you may have realised I am a bit of a dog lover but I am especially fond of my lovely Lab and her two side kicks- local Indian strays – who have adopted us and we them. French blonde demoiselle called Tara However I am not unaware of the wider issue and one of…

  • Preservation of Monuments

    A HUGE job in India something that falls to the Archaeological Survey of India known as ASI for short. It is particularly busy at the moment because of the need to have monuments and sites ready for all the visitors who will, we are told, come in their thousands when the Commonwealth games are on…

  • Delhi afresh

    Back to Delhi and what a change. We have been away for two whole months and in that time the grass has sprung and turned a vibrant green, the trees are dusted down and dreamy and the earth is pliable like plasticine. Plants push their frenzied way to the top as if there is a competition on. Everywhere there…

  • Cyprus and what it means to me

    Its a funny place, ever so small and ever so precious. Parts have been horribly taken over by concrete jungles and indiscriminate building and people can be thoughtless ( parking on pavements ) and superficial ( great market for all the brands ) but the place I go to is a part of Cyprus that…

  • Aphrodite's Birthplace and mine

    You see the connection surely both sublime goddesses etc etc….. Joking apart this is where I come from and she has her origins here too. Aphrodite’s Birthplace, the Goddess of Love who is said to have come out of the foam of the sea on this idyllic coastline of the island of Cyprus. Just a few…

  • The quintessential summer garden

    It seems so effortless and yet they are all beavering away, those keen gardeners,  early morning and late afternoon. Those long summer evenings when the long shadows fall and the smell of wet grass and honeysuckle rise up to greet you. I love this time of year, it seems such a short time in the Indian…

  • Ely Cathedral

    I am not one to spend lots of time in places of worship but this one was quite special. Outside Cambridge in a small town, is the splendid Ely Cathedral. This must have been a town of differing numbers and population then, to what it is today, because its proportions and grandness talks of an…

  • The Chronophage

    Wandering down King’s Parade, on the corner of Trumpington street and in a stunning setting lies the Chronophage- the Time Eater a monstrous but wonderful grasshopper who literally eats time ! The creator John C Taylor is an old student of Corpus Christi College and he decided to build this magnificent clock at a cost of £1…

  • The beauty of Cambridge UK

    There is nothing like wandering along the backs in Cambridge, going on the river in a punt and then enjoying a cream tea at Fitzbillies or in one of the more continental coffeeshops that have sprung up all over the city. It is swinging and singing, learned and lively. It is by far one of…