Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Walking the Mournes in Northern Ireland. "As we approached the cloud line we met two walkers retreating, mad-eyed and wet. 'It’s wild up there!' one of them yelled. A raven swept out of the cloud and was whipped off by the gale"
Italy's business capital. For the grafting Milanese it's "work work work, and frequent breaks for small, sophisticated pleasures—the signor cappuccino before 8 am, and the icy kick of a sparkling spritz aperol when the day is done"
Great metropolis, city of ghosts, wonderful parks, "most successful mongrel casserole anywhere". But not very nice to tourists. "There are, for instance, a dozen inflections of the word sorry. Only one of them means 'I’m sorry'"
"My wife and I have been living in France for the past nine months in a city near the Mediterranean coast. But it’s not quite what you think." Welcome to Montpellier, where the worst side of French society is on display
"Homicidal drivers, ten quid coffees, and areas in which I could not afford to buy anything more than a lock-up garage with a missing roof." And still she wants to move there. Scottish writer considers the draw of London
There really isn't much of a theme to tie these 39 photographs together, other than that they were all taken in the air, looking down. But, my, there are some beauties. Worth a few minutes of anyone's time
Reconstruction of the night the Costa Concordia became the largest passenger ship ever wrecked. It's a "story of heroism and disgrace, and also, in the mistakes of its captain and certain officers, a tale of monumental human folly"
From Marseille to Lille by way of Lyon. Cultural historian travels from France's Mediterranean coast to the north, and finds a country more conflicted than ever before as it prepares to vote in a new president
It's hard to miss the Thames, but are there really other rivers still running through the capital? Yes, more than you might imagine: the Crane, Darrent, Mutton Brook, Ching, Moselle, Quaggy, Walbrook, Tyburn to name but a few
A visit to Oradour, ravaged in WWII. "Here is a relic of something that once lived, but due to the intensity of the death which clings to it, manages to live permanently in a different guise, as a warning, as a lesson, as a witness"
Travelling from Venice to Lampedusa prompts reflections on changing nature of Italian society, how migration is re-shaping old Europe and challenging it both politically and culturally. Interesting throughout
Picture of London ahead of the Olympics. Rough, boisterous, dirty. A partial picture, and not a particularly pretty or optimistic one
"There’s always a fine sadness about Milan’s economic power, as if this isn’t quite what Italians would ever want a city to be"
