Thought Provoking???

I saw this huge oak tree the other evening in the grounds of an old country house in Suffolk, with late may-blossom in the background.

England can be so beautiful at this time of year.

I'm off to Sheffield to see a relative who is featured in a documentary film. (PS Here is the link, forgot to put it in before).  I'm told that it is quite thought provoking.  Not quite sure what to expect but it's years since I went to Sheffield, so at least I will be able to compare it as it is today with the way it was when I was a teenager in nearby Chesterfield.  I think it's fair to say that Shef will now be very different from the grimy yet characterful old place it was in those days!

As for the film, I will just have to wait and see..... "thought provoking" - what can that mean???

Don't Just See The Sights

Travel writers often have an interesting time because they have to build their trips around a theme - more memorable than just seeing the sights. Give it a try on your next trip. Even a few days can yield some unusual experiences.

I had a good trip to Canada a few years back on the theme of "Toronto and Film." The city has a surprisingly fantastical side, and my memories are also strangely fascinating. It was winter and everywhere was deep in snow. One night I battled through the dark whiteness to watch silent movies in an echoing bike workshop, where a man in a top hat played on a piano wheeled out from somewhere amongst the cranksets.

I had a strange conversation wtih Reg Hartt, whose Cineforum is a Victorian house with boarded up windows on Bathurst St, with surrealist 16mm movies and free pizza.

I ate in a restaurant to streams of bizarre, ancient television advertisements on screens all round the room - and those 1950s Japanese washing powder ads were accompanied some pretty passable salads.

Of course I talked to everyone I could. Hearing about their lives plugged me into the life of the city, and it would never have happened if I'd only come to see the "sights".