Thoughts on 'Treasure Island' by RL Stevenson 'His left leg was cut off close to the hip, and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird.' I would have been about eight years old, and developing my reading skills, when I read …
Category: Travel
Tooth and Nail
by Ian Rankin A Review Like Witch Hunt, which I reviewed two days ago, Tooth and Nail is a Rankin novel from the early 1990s. This one features Inspector John Rebus, but in an unusual setting. Rebus is called to London by the Met to assist in catching the Wolfman, a serial killer responsible for …
Matoaka's Last Journey
'Tis enough that the child liveth.' Rebecca's Tale (Part Three) Wahunsenacawh did not attend his daughter’s wedding. Instead, he sent a brother-in-law and two nephews ‘to see the manner of the mariage and to doe in that behalfe what they were requested'. According to some accounts, he also sent Mataoka a pearl necklace as a …
It's 2017!
I would like to wish A Happy New Year to my followers and to all fellow bloggers worldwide! As some of you already know, I've been away with my wife in Australia for most of the past month, soaking up some much-needed sunshine. Now that I'm back - and cold - I have some catching …
Farewell to South Africa
[I wrote this piece a while ago, an imagining of my mother's experience on leaving her childhood home. I hope you enjoy it.] The taxi pulled up on the quayside. From my seat in the back, I looked up at the massive hull of the ship in the berth. Now that the time had come, …
Gosho, Geisha and Gion
Memories of Japan (Part Four) From the eleventh floor of the Isetan department store in Kyoto station, you can see the whole city. Its rectilinear boulevards of clean, modern buildings - shops, offices and hotels - stretch away into the haze of the hills that surround it on three sides. Criss-crossing them are neat, narrow …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part Three)
Further Memories of Japan In Kyoto, the sakura blossom will be opening, a sure sign that spring has begun. In the Nagano highlands it is still winter. The mountains that ring Matsumoto stand out, white-capped, in glorious vista-vision against the pale blue sky. In the crisp morning air, they seem closer and more three-dimensional than …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part Two)
More Memories of Japan The Japanese label their railway stations - and the destination boards - both in kanji and in romaji (western lettering). Thus, armed with a map of the system, you won’t miss your stop - in theory. However, buying a train ticket in Tokyo's Shinjuku-eki for the first time is an ordeal. …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part One)
Memories of Japan Irasshai-mas-ehhhh....! It is 10.30am in Ginza, Tokyo’s fashionable shopping precinct. The Hanyu depato - department store - has just opened. A dozen assistants assemble on the ground floor to greet the first customers of the day. They form a line. Bow politely. The last syllable of their welcome elongates and fades to …
Lost Edinburgh
"In growing from a huddle of huts round a fortress on a volcanic rock into an international and cosmopolitan city, Edinburgh has had to change." Not only is Edinburgh one of my favourite cities but it's one I thought I knew really well - that is, until I picked up the book my sister gave …
Bookheathen Scribblings 