Next Monday Renata and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. Well, celebrate is as celebrate does, I guess. I imagine we'll share a bottle of bubbly and a bowl of strawberries, recalling one of the first songs I ever sang for her on a warm, moonlit Spring night in 1982 as we stood hand-in-hand on … Continue reading Renata
To be honest I had never heard of this town in northern France until a few months ago when I opened my new (used) Michelin map of Pas-de-Calais. Renata and I were eagerly planning the next leg of our staged pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela ('taking the long way home') and St. Pol presented itself … Continue reading Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise
Today is Epiphany and Christmas is finally over. We spent some hours taking the tree and all the decorations down. For all my readers, here is a belated Christmas greeting that Renata and I put together on one wild day of shooting and editing in London. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx0ZGeXvIRY
On the Feast of St. Stephen we traveled to St. Paul's on the Metropolitan line, feeling just a wee bit awkward and self-conscious with our new backpacks and our homemade walking sticks. After a few photos on the steps of the Cathedral we joined the other tourists for the midday Eucharist. A tall, unhappy-looking young … Continue reading Canterbury
I lower the black plastic rubbish bag onto the rail platform and hear the familiar clink of glass, thinking how the other passengers must wonder at the strange visage of a well-dressed middle aged man carrying a large bag full of bottles. It's past 11:00 in the evening and the good people of Windsor are … Continue reading Windsor
The year I spent in Texas was pretty much the worst year of my life. Reed Junior High School had an Eighth Grade class of over 500 students - the school I moved away from had 20 - and I was completely overwhelmed by the scale of it, confused as well by a Texas culture … Continue reading Jude
Uxbridge bus station exchange: Three women animatedly speaking Polish. A young man has had enough and approaches them: "Speak f*cking English!" he says loudly. The women stop, quietly sizing him up together. Then they turn back to each other and one says to the others, but loud enough for all to hear: "F*cking English." They … Continue reading Random II
