Archive for September 2011
A master class in story-telling.
September 27, 2011
Paul Kelly - master story-teller
In a small bar in lower Manhattan last night, an Australian singer-songwriter showed me just what great story telling is all about.
Paul Kelly has written a lot of songs in the past 30 years – and over two nights he’s playing a slection of them …. in alphabetical order.
He made me cry three times (or was it four) – and he only got as far as L.
Posted in 
Not getting arrested is fun too…
September 19, 2011
Driving into New Mexico
…or what I did on my vacation, Part 2
I’ve always found the story of the Manhattan project fascinating – this ultra-secret project developed on an isolated plateau in New Mexico.
It was known as ‘Project Y”.
It all sounds like something out of a movie, but it was very real and it really did change the face of the world in which I grew up.
It was therefore inevitable that while on holiday in the south-west, we should turn towards Los Alamos.
What I did on my vacation – Part 1.
September 6, 2011
My first sight of a cliff dwelling.
My head is full of the strangest facts – and it’s all my parents’ fault.
When I was a kid, they brought a never-ending stream of books into the house. The types of books were often surprising – I think a lot of the time my parents got them because they were cheap (we didn’t have a lot of money). I read those books from cover to cover – even the encyclopedia!
One which totally captured my imagination at the age of about 10 was a book about the cliff dwellings in the South West of the USA – at Mesa Verde and the surrounding areas.
I was fascinated by the ancient culture that had built such amazing homes – and then just vanished.
Well – I’ve finally been to those cliff dwellings – and all I can say is “Wow!” Read the rest of this entry »