This really is a brilliant place. A rock, stuck out in the inclement North Atlantic is hardly a perfect canvas upon which to create a society, but in the traditions of the region, Canada’s most easterly province is a winner. The North Atlantic is home to Celts and Vikings, lost fisherfolk and shipwrecked flotsam from around the world, and they all add up to make the North Atlantic absolutely fascinating. They are lands that defy development, but they exist and certainly in terms of their societies, they thrive. It is not a mystery either why they have become such attractive […]

You probably wouldn’t know it, but Iceland has had the most clement winter for years. While Europe has been overwhelmed by snow, rain and generally heavy winter weather, and North America confounded by massive snowfalls and cold, mid-continent temperatures, Iceland has been basking under a warm and comforting winter. A lost tribe of Global Warmers among the cooling gloom. But this visit, a couple of days in January to finish off some new business opportunities, brought a heavy snowfall and cold temperatures; probably a winter day that the rest of the world would feel normal for this rocky, North Atlantic […]

I have been wondering for a while how to approach this subject. I like to write, as you probably realise, as I am on the road; I like to observe, and I enjoy the freedom that” the road” offers; I like to watch people, to engage strangers and to watch the world unfold. I find almost everything interesting, from the suburban development in Baku to the new harvest in sleepy, rural Languedoc. My attention span is short, irritatingly so, for some. It is an issue for which some acquaintances, but few friends, have suggested a pharmaceutical remedy. Some chance; take […]

Airline points have become the crack cocaine of the travel world. Fly, buy dinner, fill up with gas and you get rewarded with scrip called rather optimistically “Frequent Flyer Miles”. They come in a variety of guises, and like every other currency have extremely variable exchange rates. Oddly, it seems that the most valuable part of many airlines today is the division that gives stuff away for nothing, and therein lies the rub. “Points” are a currency; nothing less and nothing more. Airlines sell them to a variety of partners for (say) 4 cents each, and then sell seats back […]

Last evening a colleague and I had an absolutely marvellous meal at a restaurant called Bumbles, close to Victoria station. It is a restaurant with which I have had a glancing aquaintance for some thirty years, and although it has undergone several incarnations, has always been a reliable and innovative place to eat. The menus is terrific. They offer a set meal option for £19 per person; this gives two courses, and very imaginative they are too; wine adds somewhat more to the tab, as do coffee and a couple of supplements (the beef medley costs a bit extra), but […]

Judging from the newspaper headlines this morning, the UK is blanketed in both literal and metaphoric snow. There is a lot of the white stuff; the western county of Devon is apparently stuggling under many centimetres of the stuff, a lot even for a seasoned Canadian, but more interesting is the snow job that is going on in the House of Commons. Alistair Campbell, formerly Tony Blair’s press supremo is answering questions concerning the British invasion of Iraq. The ability to evade the truth so absolutely ism, of course, a skill that is extensively honed in political life, but the […]

I like Reykjavík, even in January when it doesn’t get light until 10.00, and is dark by 4.30. I have to say, that wandering around the streets, and driving around town, there is no obvious sign of economic doom; that, is all hidden, reflected in the massive number of crushing loans that so many Icelanders have. It is also apparant inflation rate; self-sufficiency and Iceland are words rarely heard in the same sentence, and one of the major issues facing everyone is the hike in retail prices of everything that has to be imported; which in the case of Iceland […]

Chicago has to be one of the world’s best sightseeing cities, and yesterday we saw it all. Well, we didn’t see it all, of course, and in fact only scratched the surface, but probably did as much as one could possibly do in a single day. It was chilly; even for those of us who dwell in the frozen north, the wind off Lake Michigan brought distinct nip to the air. We wandered north from the Loop into the Magnificent Mile aiming at the Driehaus Museum; this fascinating display (well, I will assume it if fascinating, because as it turned […]

This year I am in England for some difficult family reasons, but it is nonetheless delightful to be here over Christmas. Other than the wild snow and ice of a couple of days ago, the weather has been superb, and the countryside is gorgeous. Staying with friends in their Victorian cottage in Manston, a small village in central Dorset is quite delightful, and their traditional Christmas dinner of goose with all the accompaniments was simply irresistible. And so today, a perfectly clear and gorgeous Christmas Day, we headed out to visit Tyneham, a very curious spot. If you have ever […]