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Archive for August, 2005

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Je voudrais two plates, a box of crayons, anti-inflammatories, and a plastic bag silvousplait

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005

And so we have the linguistically awkward situations I found myself in, in Paris. The city of verbal paranoia. Even though I have never formally studied French I was determined not to speak English and got away with the French I had most of the time (thanks to a phrase book with phonetics). But after being mocked for my pronunciation of the number one ‘un’, I found I was no longer able to order anything in a single portion, it was deux everything after that.
cafes_in_montmartre.JPG paris street.JPG
Despite this hiccup I had a deliciously indulgent week with my sister and ticked off many of the ‘must-do’s’ and also had time to just chill out and enjoy sunning in the gardens, leisurely strolls past buskers along the Seine and doing the crossword in cafes in bohemian Montmartre
buskers.JPG seine.JPG
[read on]

Posted in Paris, France | Comments Off on Je voudrais two plates, a box of crayons, anti-inflammatories, and a plastic bag silvousplait

Taking photos one-handed

Sunday, August 14th, 2005

Granada
Synchroniously a friend of a friend of a friend – an english speaking german woman – was driving to Granada, so I hitched a lift. We took the inland route through naturally desolate dry, dusty plains of various brown and yellow tones;
inland road.JPG
and industrially desolate cities that literally pack and litter the coast line.
The atmosphere was set by the sweeping saharan winds of dust that danced and settled across the windscreen.

I arrived in Granada in the arabic quarter with its winding cobbled streets, too narrow for cars, too steep for bikes – a maze of colourful corridors packed with market stalls and wandering people. I found the teahouse Pervane owned by the Sufis that were to meet me. I spent a couple of nights with the Sufis – which was challenging since only one man spoke moderate english – but we managed. We spent each night at the teahouse with random individuals pulling up a stool; sometime for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours.
winding alleys.JPG
Time has a different quality in Spain. Everything goes at a slower pace and at a different rhythm. While the days can be quiet and crawl along, the nights are warm and lively. Life is lived passionately and without pretense, which is at once shocking and liberating. From Granada I continued alone onto Sevilla, my last stop.
[read on]

Posted in Spain | Comments Off on Taking photos one-handed

Hola!

Saturday, August 6th, 2005
Plans, even the flimsiest ones, are bound to change. I arrived at Jerez airport to be met by my old Australian friend Ingrid and her Spanish partner. red van.JPG blue toes.JPG[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Spain | Comments Off on Hola!

On holidays

Thursday, August 4th, 2005
Just in case anybody notices my sudden and dramatic absence for msn messenger, I am officially on holidays on the continent. I fly to Jerez in Spain tonight, meet up with an old friend, and bus it to her (now) ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in England | Comments Off on On holidays