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Continue reading →: Oulanka National ParkI’ve driven south and east from Pallas National Park. Initially south, to Rovaniemi, where I’ve been two times before. The first time was in September of 1990 when I was on route to Melbourne Cricket Ground in time for the Boxing Day test match, without using aeroplanes. I was hitch-hiking…
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Continue reading →: Boundary by Andrée Michaud
translated from the French (Canada) by Donald Winkler Boundary, a picturesque summer idyll for families from the nearby US as well as from Quebec, is haunted by the legend of a trapper named Pete Landry, whose obsession with a local woman ended in tragedy. When, in 1967, two young women…
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Continue reading →: Taking up an invitationThrough the Facebook group that Roja is a member of I had received an invitation for a park up. This was the VW Crafter self-build group which has been very useful over the years. The member who had invited us, Irakis, is in the process of diverting his 4 wheel…
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Continue reading →: Living Things by Munir Hachemi
translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches This short and enjoyable book tells the story of Munir, the author, himself, and three of his friends Alejandro, G and Ernesto, who, as young writers, decide to travel from Madrid and work in France for a summer, thereby gaining experience which they…
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Continue reading →: French Windows by Antoine Laurain
translated from the French by Louise Rogers Laurain’s books are always a pleasure to read, populated by quirky characters and offering a a humorous and often charming look at Parisian life.My personal favourite is Smoking Kills and there are times in this book where he alludes to that. Nathalia, a…
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Continue reading →: Sweeney Todd, or The String of Pearls by Anonymous
This book was initially serialised in 18 weekly parts in The People’s Periodical and Family Library, between November 1846 and March 1847. It was one of the Penny Dreadfuls. It has been attributed to Thomas Peckett Prest, but has been more recently been reassigned to James Malcolm Rymer, although other…
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Continue reading →: The Pallas-Yllästunturi National ParkThere’s a big old car park at Pallastunturi that dates back to before there was a Lapland Hotel at the end of the road, just another few hundred metres on. It is the site of the old hotel, built in 1938 and destroyed by German troops in the Lapland War…
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Continue reading →: Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright
Australia – Published 2024 Satirical novels can usually be read in two ways, either looking for something that isn’t always there in each sentence, re-reading passages because there may be a hidden meaning therein, or just straight up, as it comes. In this, 750 page epic, I’d encourage the latter…
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Continue reading →: Into FinlandAfter 107 days in the country, I left this morning Norway to enter Finland. Though Norway is not in the EU, it is in Schengen and its land borders are usually open. Occasionally there is a customs officer who does random stops of vehicles, but I passed through without delay…
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Continue reading →: Turning South, reluctantly..As I walked to the beach yesterday evening I met a cycle tourist, a young Finnish woman who had finished her day and was about to set up her tent for the night. No camping is permitted around the beach area so she wandered a bit higher up the hillside…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias. Rua is my fox red labrador pup, born 14 Feb 2026 and learning fast..
Where is Rua?
I was so much older then…
Quote of the Week
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, ‘What road do I take?’ The cat asked, ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it really doesn’t matter, does it?’
Lewis Carroll
Safe Return Doubtful 