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Continue reading →: A Saloon Bar on the Nordøyvegen..The Nordøyvegen, which I wrote about yesterday, that connects the Nordøyene island group was completed in 2022, though it doesn’t connect the last island in the chain, Harøya, to the mainland. That would be one step too many at the moment, to great a cost, as the ferry that makes…
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Continue reading →: False Calm: A Journey Through the Ghost Towns of Patagonia by María Sonia Cristoff
translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Katherine Silver Cristoff’s travelogue tell the stories of the small and isolated towns scattered throughout Argentina’s far south, Patagonia, through the eyes of their residents. I have travelled here myself quite a lot over a five year period, for work and pleasure, so had…
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Continue reading →: Tunnels and LighthousesI watched the final ever episode of Curb last night, the end of the twelfth series. I can’t quite believe it’s finished, maybe David will change his mind, but as he said mid-way through the episode, he is 76. It is a bit longer than usual at 50 minutes, and…
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Continue reading →: Constitution Day and the End of a HeatwaveI celebrated Norwegian National Day with a circuit of the lake on foot with Roja, a bike ride up to the pass, and an absurdist French folklore novel. It was hot again, and wise to stay out of the sun in the middle of the day. It has been an…
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Continue reading →: Overstaying by Ariane Koch
translated from the French (Switzerland) by Damion Searls The protagonist and narrator here is a young woman who still lives in her deceased parents’ house in the small hometown she hates, but cannot bring herself to leave. She is not shy in criticism of others in the community yet aware…
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Continue reading →: The High Life on HareidlandetThis is a good place to stay and see out the heatwave that we have in south-western Norway at present, being as it is, about 150 metres above sea level, it attracts a breeze through the valley when the sea below looks quite unperturbed. It’s also ten metres from a…
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Continue reading →: The Nothing Man by Jim Thompson
published in 1954 Something I will always remember Jim Thompson for, which is of course the case here, is his quote.. There is only one plot – things are not as they seem. Clinton Brown works as a rewrite man for the Pacific City Courier newspaper in a small town…
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Continue reading →: The mountains of Hareidlandet Island
I woke this morning and pondered for a while that I may have chosen the wrong course. I came here to avoid the heat of the European summers. By 9 am it was 27C, sunrise having been 4:16 am, it had been still, an overnight low of 16C, and the…
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Continue reading →: Simpatía by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón
translated from the Spanish (Venezuela) by Daniel Hahn This complex novel begins with protagonist, Ulises Kan, a part-time teacher and film enthusiast, realising that although his own life is far from perfect, he is more upset by his country, Venezuela, which he decides, has is in a mess. However, he…
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Continue reading →: The bird cliffs on the Isle of RundeThe islands around Fosnavåg are so small that they can be explored by a hiker in half a day. Great places to stopover are fewer, which is why I returned to Mulevika last night for a second stay. This morning I drove back through town, then across the islands of…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias.
Where is Andy?
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 