Tag Archives: walk

California, the third largest state in the USA, covers some remarkable terrain. With almost 900 miles (1450 km) of Pacific coastline and several mountain ranges, the topography ranges from magnificent forests of giant redwoods to the subtropical Mojave desert. The state is also home to two of the US’s top-five most populous cities, with their notorious fogs and smogs, and home to […]

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“Let’s dance! Put on your red shoes and dance the blues…” David Bowie died earlier this month (January 10, 2016). There is no denying his influence over the zeitgeist of the era I grew up in, and the news of his death stunned me like a blow to the solar-plexis. All over the world, tributes have […]

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Winter in Britain… What a wet, bone-chilling prospect! This winter (2015-16), the northern part of Great Britain was inundated by floods after the pre-Christmas storms Eva and Desmond, and then had to brace for record cold temperatures and snowfalls. Two years ago (2013-14), Britain experienced the wettest winter on record: the south was battered by winter storms that ripped away beaches and made […]

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Another year draws to a close… I find that the period of “limbo” between Christmas and New Year is a good time to reflect on the past: on the trials and accomplishments of the year that is finishing. This time in 2014, I wrote: “This last year has been a turbulent one: wars, acts of terror and insanity, […]

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The Tiverton Canal Co. calls it: “The Fastest Way to Slow Down!” I think they are right. Being transported up a canal, towed by a slowly plodding shire horse, makes one imagine English country life as it must have once been. Scenes from Thomas Hardy novels spring to mind. It was towards the end of July – the last […]

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