I don’t know whether you know about Nkisi nkodi. It is a Kongo nailed figure, a container or statue of forces directed at an end. It is one of the most potent figures of African art. The nails are hammered into the wood whilst ritual curses are spoken. Each object may have dozens of these…
Continue reading ➞ Icelandic Sagas- ways of living and dying
I am standing in front of Hotel Adlon in Berlin. I’m here in search of Bernie Gunther. After Bernie was forced to resign from the Berlin Criminal Police he worked as house detective at the Adlon. The hotel is exactly as I imagined it on Unter den Linden. I am standing with my back to…
I've cycled to Quarteira from Vilamoura, distance of just under 5 miles. It's a very warm morning. The sun is a strong even searing midday brightness glistening and bouncing off the sea. Even I with my dark eyes, have to squint. This is November but it could easily be midsummer. The restaurants are…
Continue reading ➞ Wub, swibble & pizzled- neologisms and meaning
It is now decidedly Autumn. The leaves are about all turned or already fallen off their branches. The pavements have that irritating layer of sodden, rotting leaves. Our back garden has the wonderful show of brown and reddish yellow, of mustard and red pepper, of berries and the yet to be plucked speckled apples. It…
Continue reading ➞ Variegation, difference and other matters
I have been re-reading Pablo Neruda, in a collection that Jan bought for me in the USA in July 1982. We were married later in October of that year. The trip to Philadelphia, Washington and New York followed a successful trip to the West of Ireland. At the time I was still obsessed with…
In my father's generation there was a lot of talk about "the Golden Fleece". This symbolised the reward of a quest for education in Europe. In a sense it valorised education to mythic proportions, equating it with Jason's exploits and achievements, all against the odds. In the same breath, alongside this talk of "the Golden…
We walked from Brocotia to Limestone Corner. It was the rarest day for the North East, warm, bright and even the breeze was not bracing! This was my first time walking any part of Hadrian's Wall. Looking north towards Scotland, the Cheviots about forty miles away, rose gently in the background. The land rose and…
The drive into Haworth was all uphill, past Peckett Well into Oxenhope, the church of St Mary the Virgin, to our left and Bay Horse pub further up. Then downhill into Haworth. We parked by the station and walked the cobbled Lower Mill Hill Farm Road and across and up into Main Street. It…
In Leonardo Padura’s Havana Fever (part of Havana Quartet) the protagonist, Mario Conde has now retired from the Police Force and works as an antique dealer, specialising in books, whilst still investigating crime. Padura's Cuban noir is next to Pedro Juan Gutiérrez’s Dirty Havana Trilogy as introduction to Castro’s Havana. In relation to…
Continue reading ➞ Afro-Cubans in Lagos: Hilario Campos & Feliberto Muniz
Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) travelled in West Africa from 1893-95. Her description of the mangrove swamps along the Nigerian coast is definitely the best that I have encountered There is an uniformity in the habits of West African rivers, from the Volta to the Coanza, which is, when you get…
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