Apologies for the long silence.
I had intended to continue posting whilst travelling in Italy, Switzerland and France but due to a technical glitch it simply wasn't possible.
Jane and I started our trip from Lucca in Tuscany and travelled by rail on the legendary Bernina Express through the Swiss Alps, then homeward across France to the Channel, where our journey, which had previously been hassle-free and joyful, quickly became significantly less so in the hands of Condor Ferries, the monopoly sea-transport provider for Guernsey and Jersey.
Condor's dire reputation precedes them and already this year their performance has been particularly poor, causing despair in Jersey, where they make a serious effort to promote tourism.
We had been dreading this final leg of our journey and, indeed, once again Condor lived up to our expectations.
Twenty-four hours later however, I feel sufficiently recovered to reflect on the numerous highlights of our travels, from Baroque concerts in awesome surroundings in Italy, a feast of Piccasso and Klee paintings in Switzerland, the snowy passage through the Alps in the magnificent red Bernina Express, to the quiet pleasures of Besancon and Rennes in France.
Returning to Guernsey is always a pleasure, despite the frustrations of local travel, and the island looks positively springlike.
We came back to a high tide in Bordeaux bay, clear skies and sunshine. My heart soared.
Here then, in quick succession over the next few days, are the posts you should have been able to read.
HIBERNATION
Hibernation over, they wake
hungry then swiftly re-engage
with animal things: so the cycle
begins again. We understand that.
Is it fanciful to wonder
if they dream? Or is their slumber
incomprehensible, like death,
devoid of sense of anything?
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