Currently on a road trip to WA – Hey ClancyI hope you’re not offended butYour vision splendid’ was probably not intendedFor the sunlit plains extendedTo the WestOf Broken Hill The odd wild goat;An emu or twoMe and you,capsuled in our carScurrying from the sun behind usWestward ho!
Author: Roger
Going home from the gallery
On a cold and rainy London afternoonWe seek the shelter and scenesInside the National GalleryFamiliar colours of Van Gogh and MonetThe steam tug of Turner; towing a sailing ship to its endA metaphor for an esoteric world of sail passing into A memory of sheets and belay pins, blocks and a time ofKnowing the ropesGone, in…
Canal St Martin and Farewell to Paris: Ideas beyond the lovers’ touch
On our last weekend in Paris we joined a cruise that I’d been wanting to do for a while: down the Canal St Martin through its tunnel to join the Seine at the Bastille basin. We started by joining the cruise in the 10th Arrondissement near Republique in a quiet reach of the canal that…
Getting Around
This video shows us descending into the Metro station at Place Monge on the No 7 Metro line in Paris. At the bottom of the escalator we would tap our Navigo Cards and open the barriers before going down another set of steps to the platform. The Metro station is less than 100 metres from…
Petit Palace and Champs Élysées
Lille
Liberty, Egality? Oui et non
We have by now visited most of the arrondissements within the Ile de Paris; that basically rounded area of fascination within the Peripherique. If you can imagine the map of the arrondissements as a clock face it can help in sorting out the lie of the land. Underneath the entire area is the network of…
Antithesis? or complementary take from beyond the etoile? A visit to La Defense
On a Friday lunch, above the cemetery at Montmartre, seeing the fleeting rays of sun poking through the cloud cover and flashing intermittently from the steel and glass towers of a distant La Defense, we decided to go and have a look. Having only had short stays in Paris before we’d never made it to…
Humans, humanity and hope: New Year’s Day 2023
We spent the night last night chasing off the vestiges of 2022: drinks, dinner and a craning of necks above the parapet of the left bank near the Pont del la Concorde as, way up there, from the top of the Arc d Triumph the fireworks blossomed as car horns blasted out their welcome to…
Holiday Season in Paris
It seems that, despite the colder weather, Paris is still a very popular destination for the Christmas and New Year period. The buzz in the streets, the magical lights and sounds and the gentle hum of a city enjoying a patch of warmer weather all combine to make this a fine time to be out…