I am working my way through the 98 page Mobility Plan for Tavira. I have already sent in a response before the deadline of 21st March. But now because the deadline was extended after the protest outside the Camara I plan to rework my response into something much more coherent and considered. Jim and I…
I was contacted by the association ACTIVE ECOTOPIA to translate documents and help spread the message about a possible threat to the Community Gardens in Tavira. Jim and I were part of the protest a few years ago to save the historic Agricultural Centre in Tavira where the Community Gardens are now flourishing.I have translated…
Electricity has occupied my thoughts in the last week. Solar electricity and charging stations to be more accurate. To help the planet, we invested in an electric car, mainly because we are more or less 100% solar at home. Last week, we took off through the dry, red Alentejo countryside to Evora – a Roman…
Leaving San Francisco, we stopped off in Berkeley, or to be precise, we went onto the University campus. I half hoped to see Barbra Streisand or at least a few students demonstrating, calling out lies, declaring a strike, or asking for signatures for a petition. I love that part in the film ‘The Way We…
In 2017, Jim and I started talking about a trip to California. My ageing hippy consciousness kept telling me to go and visit the places I grew up in films and books. I also now have a couple of dear American friends, one of whom lived in California and helped with ideas for the trip….
I have fallen in love with Cambodia. We have been here for over two weeks, and I feel rejuvenated in a way that I find difficult to understand or articulate. I am trying to work out why Cambodia has enlivened my spirit. The intense oranges and greens of the landscape and the solid temples, mixed…
With kind permission of the Edward Lear Prize for poetry, here are the 2017 winning poems. Winning Poem by Ashwin Dias The Funny People of Sri Lanka There was a young woman from Galle Who’s name no one could recall Whomever she metHer name they’d forget The pretty young woman from Galle There was an…
Edward Lear was a 19th Century English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet. He is known mostly for his literary nonsense poems and prose and especially his limericks. His poetry takes an irreverent view of the world. Lear’s nonsense poems delight in the sounds of words, both real and imaginary. A stuffed rhinoceros becomes a…
An evening of culture, featuring an extravaganza of dance and movement opened the Galle Fort Literary Festival in Sri Lanka. Guests sat in front of an iridescent red stage, while a crowd of onlookers stood behind newly erected barriers as an orchestra played music. Dressed in traditional costumes performers from the army, airforce and navy,…
As part of the commemoration of Shakespeare’s death 400 years ago this year, a film version of the play King Lear was shown on Wednesday 22 November in the library in Tavira. Produced in 2006 by Director João Garcia Miguel, this interpretation conveys an inner and outer turmoil that arguably reflects current global themes. While…