Tuesday 30 April 2013

Tuesday 30.04.2013

Walks in and out of town along dusty roads then in to the maelstrom of Livingstone, the pace necessarily a lot slower than at home. Good trees to take pics of

(paw-paw or papaya)

and tonight I caught Orion lying lazily on his side as he sank towards the northern hemisphere to keep an eye on everyone up there........

Sunday 28 April 2013

Sunday 28.04.2013

A month ago today I was walking through snow.

This morning I was getting drenched in warm spray from a tropical waterfall.


Life can be very random.

Friday 26 April 2013

Thursday - well Friday now really 25/26.04.2013

And so to bed. Bags packed and weighed...several times.
This time tomorrow night, no tonight, well in 24 hours anyway, should be up high and on the way south.
If it`s as beautiful and clear as it is tonight with that stunning moon shouldn`t need any headlights.
A bientot.....and keep an eye on the BookBus blog.

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Wednesday 24.04.2013

Took a break from packing...books or clothes, books or clothes, books or clothes...dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas....and set off at a brisk trot about four o`clockish - snow forecast for the hills this weeeknd but this afternoon it was all big skies,




bright sunshine and the sight - and smell - of fresh, very green grass.




Back to the packing...all seems a bit unreal still.

Friday 19 April 2013

Friday 19.04.2013

Spring sprang up this morning and kept on springing all day into a moonlit spring night, the bleating of lambs echoing in the perfectly still air. One of those nights which makes up for all the blizzards and frozen water.

Earlier as we trooped up the hill there was a sense of renewal - freshly turned earth, new shoots of grass, bird song and blue sky.

Strangely comforting after hospital visits and sad news to remember that, after all, life goes on and there is indeed a time and season for everything.

I know it comes from Ecclesiastes but I`ve been humming the Byrds version all week.

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Wednesday 17.04.2013

Last night (cold and uninviting)and especially this morning (monsoon) not conducive to walking so instead caught up with pre-trip tasks and this morning even updated the blog (see BookBus link on right). Can`t believe we`re nearly there.

In the meantime read this the other day when reading about the death of its author, Roger Ebert, renowned American film critic:
“Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out."

Friday 12 April 2013

Friday 12.04.2013

Stuff, or as someone famous may once have ,said, "Events, dear boy,events." *

So we could start with the weather - bitterly cold, constant snow showers, frozen water, icy roads: even the dogs preferred to see it out in front of the fire with the occasional foray out when the sun did make a brief, deceptively warm appearance.

And then there`s stuff, like work, lots of work, continuing preparation for the Big Trip (ETA a fortnight today)and events, resulting in a trip down south.

City walking: in the last two days while pounding the streets of the town of my birth I have seen:
- two dogs standing stoically in a small wooden bike trailer as their owner weaved in and out of the city traffic
- a quiet residential street glorying in the name Crotch Crescent, just down from Jack Straw`s Lane, the former, just to clear up any misunderstandings, named after William Crotch,a Professor of Music at Oxford from 1797, and the latter nothing to do with the erstwhile cabinet minister:
"Jack Straw is traditionally supposed to have been a farmer who lived on Headington Hill. Although many highwaymen were active in this area, no leader was ever found. However, when Jack Straw died, the cellar underneath his farm kitchen contained expensive goods stolen from merchants and travellers."

- and, wonderfully, this morning, a two-legged zebra with pink ears

Add to this the buildings: churches;




mosques; the impressive Centre for Islamic Studies;

fine old schools and colleges; wonky cottages tucked away down lanes that don`t look as if they`ve changed much since the middle ages......

and as usual I managed to sniff out a delightful deli and coffee shop, not in some trendy spot in town either but on a busy road two miles or so out, opposite a petrol station with an offo and a bookies for neighbours. Another of the advantages of walking: would have driven straight past it.

So despite the fact that this trip has had a serious purpose, and even knowing that the dogs were taken up Bennachie yesterday without me, there`s always time for good coffee and a walk, wherever you are.

Oh and if you want a book for the next train trip try Plugged by Eoin Colfer - he of Artemis Fowl fame. Fast-paced, wry thriller set in America but with an Irish hero. Great fun and a good quick read that doesn`t take itself too seriously.

* Might have been Harold Macmillan, if he actually said it.