If it was a jubilee, 50 would be golden; nice thought?
There was no plan, no target, no goal, just an initial desire back in 2014 to send the sort of ‘Wish You Were Here’ postcard from Brazil. Quite easy to develop habits and here we are, nine years later, producing a postcard every week about my observations and take on living in the C21st. Reaching the 350th immediately tells you, if you’re numerate, that another year has gone by, well, less two weeks, since the 300th.
Our major travel adventure this year was five days in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile (PCs 319 and 320), book-ended by time in Rio de Janeiro. We stayed in a wonderful hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, Noi Casa de Atacama, and from there travelled out to various places such as the Atacama Salt Lakes,
The Atacama Salt Lake, about 165kms by 50kms
… up to 4150m in the foothills of The Andes to the twin lakes of Miscanti and Miniques
The Miscanti Lake with a rain shower
and to Lunar Valley with its unbelievable rock formations.
What a strange and wonderful place, one that prompted me to paint a couple of triptychs, which I hung together.
We also made friends with Andreas and Andrea from Berlin and tried to visit in June, but EasyJet cancelled our plans, for now!
Continental travel was reflected in some memories of driving to Greece with five others in 1965 (PC346 Puds to Greece), an appropriate memory at this time of year as, on our return, we faced our A Level examination results on which our future depended. We have also stayed in Lisbon for a night (PC 349) and PC 339 ‘With a Connecting Door’ had a travelling theme. In the United Kingdom a couple of nights in the City of Bath with my mother-in-law and Toni were covered by ‘An American in Bath’ PC 337
and a rather wet week with my daughter and my three grandchildren in Devon by PC 347 Frogmore, Devon.
Dartmouth from the castle
Our Gaggia machine with some Illy grounds produce our breakfast coffees but, always looking for ‘copy’ for my scribbles, I started going for a coffee in The Hope Café here in Hove in October 2021, almost two years ago. Since then I have got to love this place, its staff, its customers and the ambience. I think fourteen of my posts in this batch of 50 concern goings on in The Hope Café and key has been my relationships with Sami & Lisa, with Mo, with the late Edith and with Josh and Susie behind the counter. Susie has of course gone off with on her much delayed ‘Gap Year’ so I rely on her aunt Libby to keep me up to date; I think she’s still in New Zealand – should have an update next week.
It’s hard to believe that after another year, the final settlements that should mark the end of the Post Office scandal and the subsequent initiation of criminal charges against those responsible remain as unattainable as ever. Because of my relationship with Sami I have remained interested in this dreadful miscarriage of justice; otherwise the story would have faded back into the general ‘news’ pot. Sami, who had gone to India to find his roots, signed up for a tour of the historical sites of the Indian Mutiny (PC 302) while he was there and found Lisa Wallace, a journalist. Sami introduced Lisa to his friends in The Hope Café and subsequently I have learned of Lisa’s awful experiences at the hands of her controlling ex-partner Andrew (See PC 335). Rightly the issue of controlling, coercive, belittling behaviour has been seen for what it is, personal abuse, and HM Government has legislated against it.
In addition to writing about the serious subject of coercive behaviour and its prevalence, one of my postcards concerned a single subject, Sepsis. (PC 334). The more people are aware of this lethal condition the more likelihood less people will die from it.
Relationships are always part of my life and part of your lives but it was only this year I learned about IRL – meaning ‘in real life’. There is obviously a genuine need to distinguish between a fantasy world and one’s real life, but when an individual can’t see or understand the difference the potential for danger to themselves and to others is apparent.
There are more and more docudramas that have an alternative belief as their framework, religious or otherwise, the top of the list being the beliefs of Ultra-Orthodox Jews. I touched in this in PC 305 exploring in brief the main ideas that run through these groups.
My postcard entitled Tradition (PC 341), prompted by the coronation of the new king, got the prize for the most comments.
‘From Pillar to Post’ (PC 308 ), ‘Bits & Bobs’ (PC 310) and ‘Jottings’ (PC 323) pulled together thoughts and observations about this and that; bits & bobs even!!
In PC 348 I recounted how Mo had asked me why I remembered Bastille Day; I explained of my more recent memory that the storming of the Bastille in 1789. Jonathan commented:
“National myths can run wild, as with Quatorze Juillet. Thus, The Bastille was a rather unimpressive fortification with low walls, not as in the paintings. It contained only 7 prisoners: 4 forgers, ‘an Irish lunatic’, an energetic adept of the Marquis de Sade, and a man who had plotted to kill the King. However, it is generally advisable to leave other people’s national myths well alone – only ours are true.”
Communication, either good or bad, is key to a better understanding of where we are, what we’re at. After reading PC 349 about Facebook’s ability to predict what one’s doing/interested in, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s the iCloud that’s listening, for I have observed it!
… or should it be the ‘ear cloud’?
I wonder what sort of summary I’ll be writing about in PC 400, before I post it on Friday 16th August 2024?
Richard 1st September 2023
postcards 