scrapbook
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Eyjafjöll : the unsaga of an eye-awful eruption
Wildfires in Canada created smoke haze in Europe recently. But who remembers the eye-awful effect of the eruption of an Icelandic volcano in 2010?
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Sporting confrontations : war minus the shooting?
This next travel tale has a sporting flavour. A fight on a station platform at Greenwich between rival football supporters recalls George Orwell's connection between sport and war. What can this fight tell us about territory, identity and the sense of belonging in these war-driven times?
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The art of people-watching
People-watching requires no specific qualifications, just a little time and the curiosity to do something other than scrolling through irrelevant notifications on your phone. This means that, instead of looking down, you look up. What may turn up in our immediate environment has not been chosen by an algorithm. At least, not yet. This next piece in this scrapbook of travel tales is about a people-watching experience et Gatwick Airport.
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Slowly Bringing The Map To Life
This could be the start of a scrapbook made of moments in transit. When I return to a place I've not been for some time, a narrative gets triggered by an inner voice. Sometimes it is simply a string of words spun out of the sights, sounds, smells, textures hiding unseen around me. I write down these scraps as best I can. Some get reshaped and these can be shared.
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The Case of the Disappearing Case
I'm through Customs and Passports and on my way to my final destination. I've already walked out of the lift when I realize I’ve left my suitcase behind. I turn round to get it but the lift doors have already closed and the lift has gone. I freeze as the emptiness sets in. The lift has gone, my bag in it. I'm bagless and liftless. Where has it gone I wonder? Where have they both gone?
