Last Sunday morning, as the rector of my church drew attention to the words of Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies exhorting us to vote NO in the Same-Sex Marriage postal plebiscite, one of my friends turned to me and said: “I…
Year: 2017
Jaipur
My journey overland from West Bengal to Rajasthan has been intense, exhausting, beguiling, terrifying, wonderful. As the train rolls into Jaipur I am, if truth be told, running low. Not quite recovered from my fever in Allahabad, I surrender to…
Udaipur
After departing Bundi on a rickshaw ride through sheets of wafer-bodied midges, I board a clanking train for Udaipur, a city famed as one of the most beautiful in Rajasthan. But before I reach my destination, I have a stopover…
Postojna to Ljubljana to Bled
Postojna is a place – like me – distinguished, above all, by what lies beneath. This is Slovenia’s karst territory. Scratch the surface and one enters the speleological Shangri-la that is Postojna’s remarkable network of caves. The journey begins with…
Edward Lear on ABC Radio Canberra
On the 23rd of July, I had the pleasure of discussing the life and work of Edward Lear with Lish Fejer on ABC Radio Canberra. Listen to the full interview here
Bundi
Pushkar is coming with me. Well, Jim and Em and Fi are coming with me, or I’m leaving Pushkar with them. It proves to be one of those great travelling days, where conversation between friends new and old drifts from…
Pushkar
Pushkar is a special place, one that will remain long in blissful memory. After an anxiety-inducing bus ride from Jaipur – featuring no less than three near-death experiences – I arrive at the lake where Brahma, it is said, once…
Kolkata Day Two
I take a taxi to Kalighat, one of Kolkata’s most sacred sites. As so often in India – as in the world – the nearer one draws to the sacred, the more likely one is to trip over the profane.…
Kolkata Day One
Kolkata, a tang of sweat and car fumes, as a prepaid taxi takes the roulette out of arriving in a new city at night. A late check-in inspires a flurry of activity at the Broadway Hotel. The place is ramshackle,…
Nuremberg
Almost bombed out of existence during World War Two, the city of Nuremberg has recovered beautifully, and – thanks to extensive reconstruction – the city’s medieval centre charms as it must have done centuries ago, albeit with less Plague, and…