DannyB

An Object from a War

A festival in a local park. A Ukrainian flag flying next to a collecting tin with ‘For the Ukrainian Army’ written on it. The war feels real, here in the town, a few streets away. A woman in her early thirties and a small boy with black rimmed glasses and gappy tumbledown teeth. They bothContinue reading “An Object from a War”

Micro-Electronic Capital

A Bob Dylan song, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (demo version) came up while I was listening to music on shuffle mode. It was like a rip in the time-space continuum. It evokes a memory so painful it takes my breath away. It’s not so much to do with the lyrics or the musicContinue reading “Micro-Electronic Capital”

Engels in Eastbourne (Radio Ga Ga Reprise)

Eastbourne has a lovely sea front and some glorious sea. It’s easy to understand why Engels liked to spend his holidays here. When he died Eleanor Marx helped row a boat out into the channel to scatter his ashes upon the water. The town has some good architecture, varied and of a range of stylesContinue reading “Engels in Eastbourne (Radio Ga Ga Reprise)”

The Battle of Good and Evil in Metz

The railway staff at Nancy station have been kind and helpful with my queries over the past couple of days, helping me to change a ticket to Paris and with some other things. Yesterday a woman with blond hair and an oversized SNCF coat helped me. The railway workers have smart uniforms here in France.Continue reading “The Battle of Good and Evil in Metz”

Bon Weekend

The train from Reims to Nancy moves in a dream-like state through the French countryside. Waves of hills and hedgerows, yellow fields of rape crop, clusters of trees on the horizon, deep greens of ripening wheat and barley. There are low lying clouds and as the train hits them at speed they burst and fillContinue reading “Bon Weekend”

Rue de Mars, Reims

Reims has an atmosphere of wealth and understated power; the old power of landed aristocracy. These may just be ideas rattling around in my head, but these ideas have power over us. It is curious how the immediate impressions we have of an unfamiliar place can form. These things should be studied closely. For atmosphereContinue reading “Rue de Mars, Reims”

As a Tourist, in Paris

Paris is infected with building-itis too. As the train comes through the outer suburbs and into the city itself, lines and lines of tower cranes. Half built luxury apartment blocks, leisure and retail complex investments, gated communities, poor quality cheap builds (and expensive lets) that will quickly become the new slums. The city has concentratedContinue reading “As a Tourist, in Paris”

Towards a Republic

A great luxury in the early morning is to have a cup of black coffee with a single spoon of demerara sugar. There was a vague memory, dusty cobwebs in the mind, the last thoughts before sleep. A book. Which book had I been thinking of? It was noticed by accident while the thought wouldContinue reading “Towards a Republic”

Shore Line Strolling

Complete silence seems the wrong environment for meditation and contemplation. I would for ever be listening for any possible noise. All that silence would drive me to distraction. Sitting on a piece of rock armour on the beach works much better. The slosh of the waves messing about on the shore line is part ofContinue reading “Shore Line Strolling”

Refugees on the Train

There were refugees on the train. They’re coming from everywhere. They looked tired. The air of exhaustion that living on the road for months creates. Towns and villages bombed. No one can remember when the war started or where. Was it British jets bombing farms and factories in Libya or the United States carpet bombingContinue reading “Refugees on the Train”