I was away from 7 August to 14 September. The UK comprised Somerset and London with a day trip to York and Europe comprised Austria and Germany. I was about to start on Germany when I inadvertantly deleted everything I wrote on Somerset and Austria which had taken me several days. No save window appeared. It seems that somehow I had over-ridden the entire document, of which my UK/Europe post was part. This has not happened to me before. I simply don’t have the will or the time to try and replicate what I wrote. Suffice to say that I had a most enjoyable stay with Clive in Somerset and with Herbert & Gil Distel in Katzelsdorf.

What had been a splendid Summer in England and Austria had vanished without trace in August so that my time in both countries involved successfully dodging the rain (it was felicitous how often rain coincided with meals, stopping once we had finished eating) and having to contend with unseasonal cold.

On my first afternoon in Somerset we went shopping in Taunton where I found yellow cotton dusters edged with red stitching, the first item on my shopping list, and a… Read Complete Text

I booked the return flight to London for my UK/Europe trip this northern summer. My original intention was to be away for the last week in July and four weeks in August but my preferred London accommodation was unavailable until the end of August. Instead of starting in London, I decided to end my travels there. This meant needing to move ultra fast and winging it. I was hoping to stay with Herbert & Gil Distel in Austria, after missing out in 2012. I was very lucky that in opting to fit in my other destinations before coming to London (a) the Distels were at home in August because they will be away in September and (b) by the time I had replies from Clive, Christina and Herbert, the accommodation was still available. I am including a few days in Berlin. It is high time I went there because of deep family connections. So far, so good.

India and Myanmar  3 – 18 November   Reader be warned, I have sought to do justice to my subject. This article contains more than 6,700 words.

INDIA

I couldn’t contemplate a visit to Myanmar without going to India to catch up with family and friends. Usually this has meant staying in Gurgaon with my former in-laws with whom I have maintained a loving relationship. The fact that Kolkata is the city in India from which one flies to Yangon provided an unmissable opportunity for me to spend time with family friends I had last seen more than 30 years ago.

Sightseeing in Delhi

The day before my flight to Kolkata I booked Rajendra, the trusted driver whom the family hires for longer journeys, to take me to some outlying tombs and ruins which I had not seen on previous visits to Delhi. I urgently needed to buy more rupees. Rajendra pulled up at a money changer’s in a busy street en route to our first destination, Haus Khaz. A short external staircase led to a dingy room in which sat a shifty-looking man behind a counter.  A board, listing various currencies but no rates,… Read Complete Text

Today I booked and paid for my flights to India and Burma, after initially opting to depart Brisbane on 28 October, only to receive an email from Vanessa a few days later with the exhibition dates. So I am now booked to leave Brisbane on 3 November. In India I shall stay with Maggie in Gurgaon and spend a few days In Kolkota catching up with my ex-wife’s family friends I haven’t seen in decades. I shall then spend 3 days visiting and viewing the temples at Bagan, overnighting in Rangoon (Yangon) on arrival and prior to returning home.

A week after Simon agreed the dates for me to visit him and Nicole in Longreach, I set off on the 1250km drive and  fell in love with the outback all over again. My stay coincided with the last days of the tourism season, so all the local attractions were open. The Qantas Founders Museum is a fun place to visit and for that reason seems like a really good workplace. It was lovely at last being with Simon and Nicole for an extended period and seeing how much they were enjoying their married life in Longreach.

Unlike my first foray into the interior on a road trip with Simon 25 years ago, when I was new in the country, the ranges had good grass cover instead of being baked. On the journey I delighted in seeing Queensland Bottle Trees, some of wondrous girth, growing in paddocks or lining the streets of towns. Other than a number in Blackall, a faint echo of the magnificent avenues in Charleville, I did not notice them north of Auguthella. It was only well after Mitchell, where I broke my journey, that I saw my first wild emu in many years…. Read Complete Text

This trip was different from any other I have been on in that I was ill with bronchitis when I left Australia and only recovered towards the end of my 18 day stay in Londn. As far as I know I had never had bronchitis and the last time I was really ill overseas was in Israel in 1974. But enough about being ill.

London

My time in London ended up being about people and not a lot else, which was fine. I was able to catch up with nearly everyone I wanted to see among family, friends, researchers and artists. I duly delivered my copies of ‘Gravy’. I also enjoyed two of my four days of rail travel, a particular pleasure of mine, on my Britrail Pass. On the first trip I went from Kings Cross to Newcastle, stopping off at York on the way back. A few days later I went from Euston to Lancaster, an interesting place which I saw for the first time.

On the day before I left, after an off-again, on-again exchange of text messages, I met Jeremy Deller. He had been busy with… Read Complete Text

Received an email from Jeremy Deller, whom I contacted after reading a Guardian Weekly article about him, asking if we might meet during my stay in London. He requested me to email him when I’m in town.

Every other year I like to undertake a UK/Europe trip. After mulling over possible dates, I opted to get the whole thing over and done with between the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics. This meant travelling earlier in the year than I prefer which unfortunately also meant no return visit to stay with Herbert and Gil Distel near Vienna. Today, my trip took more solid shape with confirmation that my deposit for my London accommodation had been received.

My son Simon and I travelled to Palam Vihar near Delhi to celebrate his grandfather Andy’s 90th birthday. One of Simon’s missions was to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend Nicole, which we did with help from Andy’s wife Maggie. She took us to some well-regarded jewellers shops in Delhi to which Simon and I returned the next day; Simon eventually making his purchase.

We were able to revisit some of the familiar sights such as Humayan’s Tomb, the Red Fort and the National Railway Museum (which I last visited a few months after it opened in 1977) in between watching cricket on the TV with Andy. The years have treated him and Maggie well as to appearance. We celebrated Andy’s birthday in style with lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel, another old haunt. I happened to have a bottle of vintage Veuve in my luggage which we consumed after we returned from the Taj; Andy imbibing a now for him rare drop of alcohol with evident enjoyment. I succeeded in doing all my Christmas shopping in Delhi. We got back home on December 11.

Back from my biennial catching-up with family and friends in the antipodes. I left Brisbane on the 7th of August. Read about my travels.

London

This time cousin Leila was too incapacitated for me to stay with her, so I booked in to a hotel, excellently located in Belsize Park, for the two weeks of my London stay. For the first time in three visits I did not meet with Sandrine Meats.

This trip I did things I previously thought too out of the way. I spent a tremendous day at Chatham Dockyard, easily reached by train from St Pancras Station. Between trains I even managed to book my Vienna-Frankfurt ticket. I also attended the first day of the Oval Test between England and Pakistan, highly enjoyable and a reminder of happy days spent there in the past. On my way home I went on the London Eye, which I had avoided to date, fearing a long wait to get on board. I don’t suppose it took much more than 25 minutes from joining the ticket queue to boarding the cabin. It was worth every penny.

I… Read Complete Text