Sid and Doris Bonkers and their Epic Journeys
"Everybody is normal until you get to know them"
“S” writes: Hey! It’s Tour de France time! I’m soooo excited!! I get to sit on the sofa with the remote control for the television, it is a Very Responsible Job and I take it very seriously. [It’s ok, we’re watching it on ITV4 catch-up on the PC – D.] I am “G”s biggest fan, well not biggest of course…
Read moreThe SS16 runs along the whole of the top/east/back-of-calf coast of Italy, and we’ve actually cycled up about half of it, now I look at the map. We started at Bari and left just before Pescara. And here are some things that flitted through my Doris-ian mind as I pedalled along it. We started in the “deep south” of Italy. …
Read moreAs we progressed south through Serbia and Bulgaria, we started to see a fashion for pre-booking grave spaces. The his ‘n’ her graves have been a bit thought-provoking, but in Apricena we find a huge newly-built mausoleum where you can reserve as many slots, for as many generations, as you want. Having seen a couple with their fronts off, I…
Read moreI thought you would like this notice, which was posted at intervals alongside a very nice cycle lane somewhere south of Giovinazzo. Showing various famous Italian cyclists, it contains suggestions such as cyclists: I will run red lights with caution; pedestrians: I will jaywalk with caution; and generally: don’t be a jerk. Splendid stuff. Says all you need to know…
Read moreSo I mentioned Spotto and its variants. Part of the pleasure of this game is creating new versions on the fly – “Boato” has been going for a while and requires the boat to be in a very unlikely position/condition, for example in the middle of a roundabout. In Lesvos we were talking to some repeat visitors who explained that…
Read more1. Coffee OMG we are back in the Land of the Latte. Brits drive the Italians mad by calling it a Latte, obviously it is a Caffe Latte otherwise you will only get a funny look and a glass of hot milk, but ever since maybe Hungary we haven’t had a decent cup of coffee. In Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey…
Read moreAs I mentioned, I got a bit philosophical while cycling across the Danube plain, and I decided it was time to focus on something other than war. 1. Mosaics I have always been fascinated by mosaics. I had “Mini Mosaic” as a child, fun to make the mosaics but a terrible challenge to prise the little tiles out of the…
Read moreThe mosaics in the Chora church were really fantastic and inspired me to Poesy: I am a Pasha With a hat I wear my turban Just like that Some people say That it’s too fat But I am THE Pasha And this is MY hat.
Read more“This is my flat.It is part of a larger house. When the house was built nobody had balconies.Now we all have balconies, and mine is very traditional, with windows and wooden walls.People point to my balcony and say ‘That balcony will soon fall off the building’.I know they are just jealous.”
Read more1. Domes “We in Turkey love domes. We can make any building shape you like out of domes. We make big ones then smaller ones round the edge, then smaller ones to fill in the bits. Some people build their religious buildings with sloping roofs with straight edges but they are wrong, and we must kill them. Other people build…
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