Sunday 27 November 2016

Sunday 27.11.2016

Cloudier than forecast, greys and creams with glimpses of blue in between and the occasional ray of silver sun. No wind but sharp air that nipped the nose and ears. Somehow more wintry than the colder bright days we`ve been having but whatever the weather it`s reassuring to walk round the woods and find them pretty much the same as the day before and the day before that, given the way the world in general seems to have gone ever so slightly bonkers. Posted this quote from David Mitchell`s Cloud Atlas before but suddenly it seems more apposite than ever:

"Sometimes the fluffy bunny of incredulity zooms round the bend so rapidly that the greyhound of
language is left, agog, in the starting cage."


Been plenty of agog-ness round here just lately.

Meanwhile gather the drink of your choice and maybe a few nibbles and watch this (it`s very long but explains, as it says, how we got here):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04b183c/adam-curtis-hypernormalisation

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Wednesday 23.11.2016

Another sparkly cold morning to set the blood coursing round. Called it winter in the last post but officially it`s still autumn of course as the colours attested:



Skeins of geese silhouetted against a bright blue sky and the leaves on the ground positively crunchy. Bliss.

Sunday 20 November 2016

Sunday 20.11.2016

The sun was at its zenith as we set off just after midday today. Storm Angus having stayed south of the border (take that you Sassenachs) we were left with a perfect winter-walking day, frozen ground, sparkling in the sunshine, clear air with geese criss-crossing the sky, deer bounding across our path taunting the dogs and pheasants clattering about in the undergrowth doing much the same thing.

In other words it felt like we were properly back, to the woods, and the winter, everything in the right place and at the right season, after a couple of months...well, gallivanting (although now I`ve spent half an hour getting distracted while I looked up that word I`m not so sure). Suffice to say a fortnight in September travelling to Slovenia via Amsterdam and Vienna to Ljubljana. On to Bled, back to Ljubljana then on to Koper, Trieste before heading back up north via Milan, Tirano, Chur, Zurich to the return ferry at Amsterdam.
Highlights included
-the `Third Man` ferris wheel in Vienna









- amazing Slovenian landscape - Heidi country! - including cows with bells :)



- stunning if steep and exhausting forest walks in the foothills of the Julian Alps and arriving, in the nick of time, at a three storey mountain `hut` with hot coffee and warm strudel!











- food, more food





and convivial food markets (didn`t want to leave this one.)







- train journeys, not to mention trams and buses and ferries.





Oh and so much more...and then there was Copenhagen but that`s another story to mull over..........and gigs.....and house moves.........and farewells.....

And meanwhile there`s work and walking and swimming and reading and even a few Christmas cards getting written..........and several more gigs to look forward to of course. :)