Smell the flowers while you can... UK AIDS Memorial Quilt at Tate Modern
Colourful and poignant memorial to the tragedy of the HIV/Aids pandemic, which took so many people in the Eighties and Nineties, many of them my closest friends and fondest playmates. I liked the panel with the motto “For those we dare not name” which encapsulates the ethic of gay promiscuity before HIV/Aids. Most of my friends requested that mourners wear white or colourful clothes for their funerals. Several times I played out one last time a deceased’s favourite HiNRG music and gay anthems like “I am what I am”. The diversity of styles and the colours of the Quilt community art project reflect that mentality of life lived to the max then snatched by disease.
I first remember seeing panels of the Quilt at the Body Positive Centre, the London Lighthouse and the Mildmay when visiting various friends, some for the last time and some who are named on a panel in the Quilt. Revisiting today the complete tapestry exhibited in all its tragic extent is a raw experience. I celebrate being a survivor of those times, and several other events since. Fantastic that “I’m still here” (as the song in Sondheim’s Follies runs) and with that there’s a duty to “smell the flowers while you can”, a great motto that’s a reminder of those cruel times.
AIDS UK Memorial Quilt at Tate Modern continues until 16 June 2025
More photos: Smell the flowers while you can... UK AIDS Memorial Quilt at Tate Modern
Temperate Cloud Forest - Lake District National Park
Rhododendron flowers and Skiddaw Little Man summit (865 m.) in the cloud
Gardening in Keswick in temperate cloud forest weather: there’s been 68 mm of rain in my garden in the first ten days of June, great for horticulture but not enough to replenish the lakes and a disappointment for visitors.
Greta Gorge & Brundholme Woods - Lake District National park
Gorge of the River Greta
Brundholme Woods
Short ride along the railway path to Threlkeld and back to Keswick through Brundholme Woods. Plenty of flow in the Greta from recent rain but the lakes are still well down on their usual levels for June. Special treat was sighting an Osprey, although it was being harried by crows.
More photos: Greta Gorge & Brundholme Woods - Lake District National park
Rukka rain gear ride
Out to Penrith on the old roads for a pre-MoT check on my Ninja Z250SL. Not wonderful riding weather but my Rukka PVC rain gear from the Nineties copes fine, plus the big TCX moto-X boots. Unfortunately the cracked headlight is a problem but better to know now so a replacement (£££ = eek) can be obtained.
Keswick garden hedgehog - Lake District National Park
Fantastic to sight a hedgehog in my garden in Keswick in the vicinity of the hedgehog house I placed outside when I first took over this garden. This was at the end of a rainy day, the sort which my cloud forest garden thrives on. Also the earthworms and other garden animals which hedgehogs and some of the birds enjoy to eat: so there aren't a lot of slugs and snails here... This hedgehog seems in robust health and confident; maybe this is a female and maybe the shape I saw of its behind as it sauntered onwards suggests there may be hoglets on the way.
Bulwer St. W12: start of the “Long Way Round”, 2004
Two bikers set off twenty-one years ago to ride to New York the long way round the world from this street just off Shepherds Bush Green in West London. Actors Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor’s 115 day, 118,478 mile road trip and adventures inspired a generation of bikers and changed the shape of motorcycles on the roads.
Revisiting Bulwer Street today, it’s now one-way, the steel shutter remains but No. 27 is being refitted as an artists’ workshop; there is a parking at the end of the road for delivery scooters but I don’t see any large motorcycles. The front door of Lytton House next door is now painted the same blue that No. 27 was in the bikers’ time. No historical plaque at No. 27. Yet.
Read more: Bulwer St. W12: start of the “Long Way Round”, 2004
Athens - Olympia - Kalavita. Inter Rail 81 pt 2
Acropolis, Athens
Beograd, Yugoslavia
The train journey from Venezia to Athens was overnight; note the working steam locomotive in the engine shed in Beograd (Belgrade) even in 1981. Athens was a culture shock, a bustling business city, not only even hotter, another currency and another language but another alphabet so we had trouble even reading the signs. We stayed in a hostel and found we picked up crabs from the beds but enjoyed a boat trip for a day out to the island of Aegina.
More photos: Athens - Olympia - Kalavita. Inter Rail 81 pt 2
Pointe Rouge, Marseille
Fountains working again in Marseille Place Castellane with the tram line installation nearing completion on the far side. Onwards to the beach for fun on gravel and sand on my classic Marin Palisades Lite.
Oh to ride in Provence now that Spring is here
Gorges de l'Ardèche - Belvédère du Serre de Tourre
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Three day’s excellent touring in Provence, Dévoluy, Ardèche and the Cévennes plus the Pôle Méchanique circuit. My CBR600RR running great. Variety of roads, marvellous spring views and friendly, family-run hotels with fantastic food.
Easter fizz
Comparing three bottles of fizz for our Easter entertainment; all are made by the additional fermentation method, equivalent to the méthode champenoise.
Seatallan (692 m.) and Middle Fell (582 m.) - Lake District National Park
View over Wast Water to Scafell (910 m.) and Scafell Pike (978 m.), on the right, also Gable (899 m.)
Greendale Gill - Tongue Gills
Up on the fells and away from the crowds. Seatallan (692 m.) summit gives a fine view of the coastal apron of Cumbria, reminding me of the coastal apron typical of mid-ocean volcanic islands; also a fine view down to Blengdale. The path is unmarked but there are fell runners’ routes and precipitous turf staircases.
Middle Fell (582 m.) isn’t as high but has one of the stunning panoramas of the Lake District. There’s an unbroken view over Wast Water to Scafell (910 m.) and Scafell Pike (978 m.), on the right, also Gable (899 m.) and hazy views of Skiddaw (931 m.) and Blencathra (868 m.) in the distance. Great spring sunlight and visibility though the outline of the Isle of Man was only very indistinct though the mist.
Thanks to Samuel for another great choice of route
More photos: Seatallan (692 m.) and Middle Fell (582 m.) - Lake District National Park
Yves Castagnet at the organ of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Well that was an extraordinary recital, I’ve never been to anything like it. Firstly the restored cathedral looks fantastic inside, the masonry is clean and white, the rose stained-glass windows newly bright too. The huge space of one of the tallest of the Gothic cathedrals seems both enhanced but also relatable somehow: it doesn’t recede in to the dim distance like I think it used to, the bright stone and new lighting imposes on you.
I haven’t heard this organ since I passed through Paris on my way back from Lausanne before I went to university, when fortuitously the organ was being played. I’ve never quite forgotten the impact of this big instrument in a magnificent Gothic cathedral with the reverberations being as much a part of the music as the notes.
Read more: Yves Castagnet at the organ of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Hiking the levadas of Ponta do Sol - Madeira Island
Levada Nova da Lombada (425 m.)
Probably the most satisfying hike I’ve done on Madeira: spectacular views and waterfalls though difficult as a circular hike because of the narrow path, the rocky overhangs, tunnel and the opportunities for a cold shower. Madeira Island is renowned for its extensive levadas (irrigation channels) which are great hiking routes as well as aqueducts and sources of hydoelectric power. In particular, the levadas of Ponta do Sol have a long and complicated history, including fatalities during construction, a violent riot in 1962 over the right to water when the Levada Nova was proposed and grim origins as supplying water to the sugar cane plantations founded by João Esmeraldo (died 1535) using slave labour. Christopher Columbus stayed in his palace in Funchal on his return from his third trip to the Antilles in 1498, married his daughter and himself became a sugar cane magnate at the time when the product became known as “white gold”.
More photos: Hiking the levadas of Ponta do Sol - Madeira Island
