Travel – Page 4 – Nyamazela

IOW: Hovercraft, Intrigue in Cowes and miles of shipwreck coastline

Posted on 22 Apr, 201631 May, 2016 by nyamazela

Ratty, the rat from Wind in the Willow’s: “There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

alternate endings — Not my pink-nail-polished finger.

Do you remember the ‘Choose your own adventure’ books? The protagonist is “you”, and you are given choices that lead to alternate outcomes. You’d get to a certain page which said something like, “If you want to investigate the noise in the attic turn to pg85. If you decide to put earplugs in your ears and hide your head under the covers, turn to pg76.”

Not great literature, but as a recovering control-freak, I understand the temptation to try and be the mistress of my own destination/life/story. Continue reading IOW: Hovercraft, Intrigue in Cowes and miles of shipwreck coastline

2015: my year in pictures and snippets

Posted on 19 Jan, 201631 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“Today, given a 35mm camera and a built-in exposure-meter, anyone can be an expert photographer, but it was not so easy fifty-years ago…. Clicking the shutter even once was a serious business that had to be carefully thought out beforehand.”

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl

I’m eavesdropping on a table of paint-spattered construction workers in my local cafe. As they hungrily devour their ‘full English’ they are cross-examining one another’s attempts so far at keeping to their new year resolutions.

Have you made some new years resolutions? After examining my own year in photos, the mantra, ‘get back into my photography’, seems to ring out boldly and would appear on my list if I had one. I have long neglected my photography and sadly my big Nikon and expensive lenses have spent a shameful amount of time in the spare cupboard. The curse of the iPhone – so very small and convenient – sadly the results are somewhat disappointing. Bear with my poor efforts as I take you through my year in pictures:

JANUARY

We saw the new year in (2014/2015) with a group of special friends in a cottage on the cold Yorkshire moors doing a murder mystery dinner – in full costume and character. “Such fun!” (Miranda voice).

Continue reading 2015: my year in pictures and snippets

St Petersburg: gangsta grannies, advice unsought and a chance to walk on water

Posted on 1 Jan, 201631 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“There exists in St. Petersburg a powerful foe … This foe is no other than the Northern cold … At nine o’clock in the morning… it begins to bestow such powerful and piercing nips on all noses … At an hour when the foreheads of even those who occupy exalted positions ache with the cold, and tears start to their eyes, the poor titular councillors are sometimes quite unprotected. Their only salvation lies in traversing as quickly as possible, in their thin little cloaks, five or six streets, and then warming their feet in the porter’s room, and so thawing all their talents and qualifications for official service, which had become frozen on the way.”

The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol

Like characters in a winter fairytale, we’d had our fill of mulled wine and turkey, opened our presents, wished our friends and family a Merry Christmas and gone home to pack our passports and winter woolies. Early on the 26th, we made our way to Heathrow to catch our flight to St Petersburg.

When we booked our trip to St Petersburg back in September, I allowed myself to dream of a magical storybook land of romance and wonder, covered in a foot of white, fluffy snow. This, Hubby assured me, was a given. I’d read some of the drama of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin and could picture Gogol’s beloved frost-bitten Petersburg with all it’s delightful Russian characters. Thermal underwear, merino wool socks, earmuffs, proper winter coat and woollen hat at the ready! Continue reading St Petersburg: gangsta grannies, advice unsought and a chance to walk on water

Heat, dust and the ‘Big Four’: unlikely lessons from the Pilanesberg

Posted on 18 Dec, 201531 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“The Go ‘way birds do not feed on ticks and have nothing to do with the game; you find them where there is no game, and it always seemed to me that it is not concern for the game at all, but simply a combination of vulgar curiosity, disagreeableness and bad manners, that makes them interfere as they do.”

Jock of the Bushveld by Percy Fitzpatrick

In some strange supernatural way, the ‘bush’ ‘calls’ to me. I’m not sure that this is a concept anyone but South Africans can truly understand. When I’ve been away for some time I begin to have dreams of giggling hyena and hooting owls – both by day and at night. My heart grows a little achey and a restless feeling mounts in my spirit. It beckons ruthlessly, and eventually I must answer. Continue reading Heat, dust and the ‘Big Four’: unlikely lessons from the Pilanesberg

Itchy feet: the suspense of saving, dreaming and planning

Posted on 24 Nov, 201531 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“Akaky Akakievich was taken away and buried. And St. Petersburg was left without Akaky Akakyevitch as if he had never been there. Vanished and gone was the being, protected by no one, dear to no one, interesting to no one, who had not even attracted the attention of a naturalist – who does not fail to stick a pin through a common fly and examine it under the microscope.”

The Overcoat by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol in The Collected Tales

Poor Akaky Akakievich, I thought, while reading this story. A copy clerk with nothing in life, but the excitement of skimping and saving every possible rouble he could spare in joyous anticipation of having a new overcoat made with chintz lining, small silk double seams and a cat fur collar.

Oh, the happy months spent, in an otherwise dull life, dreaming of such an overcoat!

I am sitting in my usual coffee shop drinking tea. Continue reading Itchy feet: the suspense of saving, dreaming and planning

A Halloween post-mortem from Germany: pumpkins, people, the ‘principle’ & the power of imagination

Posted on 3 Nov, 201531 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“Then suddenly a change, the passing of something – I knew not what – and then a stillness that could be felt. Nothing but this gaunt quiet. London about me gazes at me spectrally. The windows in the white houses were like the eye sockets of skulls. About me my imagination found a thousand noiseless enemies moving. Terror seized me, a horror of my temerity.”

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

Don’t be afraid.

This is not another pointed missal about whether Halloween is right or wrong. At this time of the year spirits are high and opinions are emphatic. Despite not growing up with it, I’m learning to welcome strong debate. Continue reading A Halloween post-mortem from Germany: pumpkins, people, the ‘principle’ & the power of imagination

Stockholm: a weekend wandering around Water World

Posted on 20 Oct, 201531 May, 2016 by nyamazela

“But that’s the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to know what people are talking about. I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”

Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, I find, is a bit like Marmite. People tend to fall into one of two categories – they either love his writing or hate it. My guess is that those who hate ‘him’ have found themselves, their accent, culture, country or town the object of his comic musings. I have a few personal favourites: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Shakespeare and Made in America. But there are priceless quotes and observations in all of them – in my opinion – but then, I love Marmite too. Continue reading Stockholm: a weekend wandering around Water World

Having a Wale of a time and other such stories

Posted on 16 Jul, 201531 May, 2016 by nyamazela

(The Secret Seven driving along the A470 towards Caerphilly.)

S-J: Where does uncle Gary live?
S: In Caerphilly.
S-J: Is he the same colour as us?
(6 of the secret seven, mouths open suppressing a giggle.)
S-J: Is he peach?

My observations: my family in action.

Four adults. Three children. The Secret Seven have taken South West Wales by storm.

On Friday last we took a leisurely drive from London to our cottage on a working sheep and cattle farm out among the hills, hedges and narrow roads surrounding Monmouth. A converted barn was the only place that could house seven of us. Continue reading Having a Wale of a time and other such stories