Category Archives: Reflections

November Daily Blog 5: clichés, truth and poetic cobblers.

Posted on November 5, 2012 by BarryH

Mention ‘Autumn’ and like-as-not someone will think of and, if they don’t have a filter between their mind and their mouth, trot out the line “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.  It has become so much a cliché that I … Continue reading →

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November Daily Blog 3: trees and autumn.

Posted on November 3, 2012 by BarryH

Not since the introduction of a virulent strain of Dutch Elm disease from North America in 1967 have trees been a main news item in the UK but, thanks to the Chalara fraxinea fungus affecting native ash, trees are now … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Pontypool, Reflections | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

November Daily Blog: towards a philosophy of enjoyment.

Posted on November 2, 2012 by BarryH

With the challenge to find something worth blogging about every day it was disconcerting to see Friday begin very grey, very wet and with a mountain of clearing up after having friends over for a meal on Thursday evening.  I’m … Continue reading →

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New challenge: A blog a day during November.

Posted on November 2, 2012 by BarryH

When I’m in Greece, which has been most of the summer for the last 3 years, I post a blog every day.  Similarly when I was in the Canadian Rockies for a month 2010-2011 I would come back from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | 2 Comments

Symi, Kardamyli and Cricieth: a short tale of literary connections.

Posted on October 31, 2012 by BarryH

One of the pleasures of travelling is meeting people.  One of pleasures of returning to familiar places is renewing friendships. A conversation with a friend in a taverna on Symi in 2010 sparked my interest in the author Bruce Chatwin.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Reflections, Wales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Remembering

Posted on October 28, 2012 by BarryH
Posted in Reflections | 1 Comment

The Llyn Peninsula: looking for variety.

Posted on October 15, 2012 by BarryH

For the last week I have been on a ‘travel and landscape’ writing course at the Welsh National Writers’ Centre at Ty Newydd near Cricieth on the south coast of the Llyn Peninsula, an area of Wales I have never … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Autumn, Grey Britain, Reflections, Wales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just add sunshine: gardens, cacti, thistles, Brecon Beacons, trig points.

Posted on July 30, 2012 by BarryH

Summers in Grey Britain aren’t as hot and sunny as they used to be.  Or are they? Is it that the pattern of summer has changed or it just that our memory of the past is coloured by a good … Continue reading →

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Getting the grey out of my brain: Kinder Plateau, trespass and a lot of history

Posted on July 18, 2012 by BarryH

After climbing Cadair Idris in Snowdonia on Friday, I stayed with my daughter and her husband in the Manchester area and, with a better-than-expected weather forecast, on Saturday I headed for the Peak District. I was brought up in Salford … Continue reading →

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Down to earth with a squelch, naked garlic, blue sky thinking

Posted on July 5, 2012 by BarryH

Arrival back in the UK from Athens was not as unpleasant as the avuncular pilot predicted at takeoff.  Rather than raining and 14oC, the weather in Manchester was about 18oC, dry with sunny intervals and there was a modest amount … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Grumpy Old Men, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment