Lou Reed – born March 2 1942 passed away October 27 2013 The gritty humour, candid worldly observation and often brutal honesty embedded in his verse combined with his zero-tolerance-for-bullshit, flat, gravel voiced, deadpan delivery and guitar mastery formed the core of the musical backdrop of my adult life. The world is left the lesser…
Bare stone surfaces of the surrounding mountains provide excellent acoustic sound boards for the frequent fireworks explosions that resonate all through the night. Pam is woken frequently, I sleep like a snoring log. When I wake in the morning sporadic explosions are still occurring and a layer of smoke from wood cooking fires and fireworks…
Incontrovertible evidence of how closely tied to nature humankind thankfully remains is displayed in the association of our emotions or moods to weather conditions. Blue skies have Pam bouncing around the apartment, ready for action, by the time I awaken. The flat greys of the past few days banished. ‘C’mon’ she urges ‘today is our…
Waking bleary eyed later on New Years Day morning I am none too disappointed to hear that the rain has returned. I fall back to sleep comforted by the sound of cascading water running down the stone stairs beside our apartment. The wet weather has set in, it rains for the rest of New Year’s…
New Years Eve is always a strange day for me. Thirty eight years ago this evening my family became a part of Australian National Road statistics. My mother was killed. I suffered multiple broken bones, was rendered unconscious for five days and spent three months in traction. My siblings were also smashed to smithereens and…
Thanks to its constantly maintained and incredibly successful system of fortifications, moats and city walls Dubrovnik spent many centuries as an independent maritime republic. From 1358 when it seceded from Venetian rule until 1808 when the city surrendered to Napoleon’s all conquering army to prevent imminent Russian invasion this republic known in Latin as Respublica…
Dubrovnik television has a channel that during frequent programming breaks is almost completely devoted to a live shot of the Stradun that runs the length of the lowest part of the Old City. Pam has challenged me to streak down the main street late at night to show the Dubrovnik citizens a full moon however…
Dubrovnik’s new dawn continues our sensational run of great weather. Blue skies greet my upturned face as I poke my head out of the bedroom window shutters. I have slept late, Pam has already been out and about and I find a bag of tasty fruit from the local street market on the table when…
Winter is allegedly the season of stark cold savagery in Europe. Two soft poorly prepared Aussies like Pam and myself need to hole up somewhere to avoid the worst of it. Where better than Dubrovnik Croatia, Pearl of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik is a beautiful old coastal city in the far south of Croatia. The Old…
Turns out our landlord in Korcula is an older white haired avuncular man who has a very hands on way of communicating. He constantly pats my shoulder as he ushers us into the apartment and describes the town. Walking along the waterfront and climbing the steep stairs to the road of our apartment has settled…
andtheywalked.com 