Walking Commentary

Manchester to Rome 2021

Archives for July 2020

Headlines and Thoughts

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Eid Mubarak.

We watched Aljazeera news this morning and the headlines included scenes of celebration of Eid from various parts of the world. There was also coverage of the end of the Hajj, the start of the annual wildebeest migration, the European weather forecast and the 45th President of the US criticising the integrity of the American voting system.

I’ve witnessed Eid el Adwa, the Festival of Sacrifice, in the UAE, Algeria, Tunisia and Indonesia over the years. I’m a vegetarian these days but back then, I enjoyed a celebration meal or two among colleagues and friends. I recall one evening in Algiers when Karim, an excellent chef and master of the barbecue, served up an elaborate green salad. I declined politely, half jokingly added that my wife was a vegetarian and I needed more meat. Next thing you know he brought over a selection of more unusual cuts of halal lamb. He was delighted to share liver and the sheep’s head with me. I began to wish for the green salad while taking yet another lesson in why it’s important to be careful what you wish for.

It can rain on your safari.
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A Week In Three Photos

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The summer weather has not been kind here in Dublin. In a mock despair, we ended up doing a jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table while it lashed rain. The puzzle took several days and it made an interesting photographic challenge once completed. How do you make a jigsaw interesting but different to the picture on the box? There are hundreds of ways but I wanted to do it with a tilt-shift adaptor on a 50 mm manual lens. I really like this photo with a focal emphasis on two tourists in front of an iconic London bus. It was raining there too.

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A Vegetarian Year

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Caveat emptor: my musings may not be complete let alone correct.

My first year as a vegetarian year has passed quickly and comfortably. We took How Not To Die very seriously and this excellent cookbook makes regular appearances on the kitchen counter even now.

You probably realise that wine, beer, bread and blue cheese exist because of fungal agency. Having met these big four, you’ll recognise that the benison of yeasts and spores is unobtrusively vital to our everyday lives. You have learned to avoid the yeasts and moulds of decay because the mycotoxins have a well deserved bad reputation. Good fungus, bad fungus. A sad fact you may not know is that fungus kills more humans than malaria (I’ll let you search for fungal diseases alone).

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Brief Encounters: 2002

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So, this is journal number 150 and I’m wondering if Siena is a nice place to visit. We’d have spent last night there and be walking down the last eleven days to Rome if not for the pandemic. Our plan had us continuing along the Via Francigena, reaching Ponte d’Arbia tonight where we’d planned to rest for our weekly day off. I think we’d have stayed a second night in Siena instead. I’ll try to remember this for next year, assuming waves of pandemic and panic won’t prevent us trekking from Manchester to Rome in 2021.

There’s a letter regarding life insurance on the counter this morning. It includes a Covid alert that seems strangely inappropriate on a renewal notice.

Trout Fishing in Utah in October 2002.
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Brief Encounters: 1979

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February 1979 (or 1399)

Another Joe. This Joe was probably once a soldier. Perhaps he became a spook. I’ve met a few active spooks over the years and they don’t advertise. Perhaps they join you for a fun run to places that are restricted for diplomats. Perhaps you accompany a friend in a city of refugees to meet a brother from ‘the’ agency. Perhaps a casual central Asian street acquaintance wasn’t so casual. Perhaps this colleague in a security arrangement really did formerly work where he said.

The spooks ask questions. They probe for information. This Joe asked such questions.

We met in an oilfield services club in Sharjah. We only ever met the once and spent no more than a few hours together over a few drinks and I’ve not forgotten him.

The future Sharjah wasn’t quite ready yet. But I had a nice motorbike.
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Brief Encounters: 1976

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August 1976

The hitchhiker on the outskirts of Ballyshannon was a large man and cleanly dressed. Tall, broad-shouldered under sun-bleached hair behind an engaging smile, he looked interesting by the standards of the day. That was once the way that drivers assessed hikers. Would they be interesting to talk with? Today we might put safety first and rarely offer a lift to a stranger.

He put his back-pack in the boot and we drove north towards Donegal Town.

Most hitchhikers I’d encountered had been continental European or Kiwi. This Joe was American and I was enjoying the cartoonish drawl of his Georgian accent. We got on well enough that I suggested a pint and a sandwich as I dropped him to wait at the bus stop for Killybegs.

The view east across southern Lough Eske 1976 (scanned from a negative)
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