A ferocious blizzard was pummeling the car, threatening to send us tumbling into unknown peril. Aside from a few yards on each side, our surroundings were rendered invisible by a forbidding wall of relentless snow. Only a series of regularly-spaced poles marking the sides of the road served to guide our tentative advance. White knuckles…
I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but I was definitely younger than ten years old when I realised that England is not a big country. At least some of my early childhood misconceptions on the subject can be traced back to the military style planning with which my father would prepare for each family…
Every journey is a quest of sorts but, as we leave the familiar behind, what are we looking for? Perhaps it is the enticing prospect of the unknown. Perhaps we are in search of the simple pleasures of immersing ourselves, however briefly, in another way of life. Perhaps we just want a break from the monotony…
It has been a few years since we decided not to have a real Christmas tree. Our decision was not a comment on the bizarre ritual of placing a dead tree in the middle of your home, but rather on the practicalities of the exercise. However much you may enjoy your first days in the…
Standing behind the reception desk of a hotel in south west Iceland, the clerk was being as polite as his utter bewilderment and exasperation would allow. He was wearing the expression of someone who has just suspected he is the victim of a prank. His haunted eyes scarcely blinked as they flitted around the room,…
“Why don’t you call her?” I asked. A look of stunned incomprehension swept across my daughter’s face, draining it of all color. Had I suggested to her that she set fire to her legs, I doubt the expression would have been much different. “Well, I texted her over an hour ago to ask if she…
Thank you for your message. I’m currently out of the office and will not be checking email during my absence. In case of need, I can be reached on my mobile phone. However, before you consider calling me, please be certain that the survival of the human race hangs in the balance – and that…
My father died on the day after my 23rd birthday. Now, almost 25 years later, I often wonder what things would have been like – what I would have been like – had he survived. These thoughts find a sharper focus now because, when my father was my age, he had less than three years…
Journeys And 