It's hard to believe that a full decade has passed by since I returned to England following a second six month teaching stint in Bangkok, Thailand. It was June 2013 and one of the first things I did was to take a long walk in The Peak District with my friend Tony.
As I recall - and the pictures prove it - it was a lovely summery day. Above is one of the pictures I snapped at The Magpie Mine near the village of Sheldon. It is a long-abandoned lead mine but the manager's house is in good repair as you can see.
Typical limestone scenery above The River Wye with ancient drystone walls dividing the sheep pastures while below - not far from the village of Monyash - farmers are bringing in their newly cut hay for winter fodder.
In the middle of the month, Shirley and I packed our suitcases and headed off to the islands of Malta and Gozo in The Mediterranean Sea. We had never been there before. I took a hundred photos or more and here's a random selection of the images I brought home:-
Above I spotted that shadowy illusion while below a man sits fishing on the edge of the old salt pans. At high tide the rock pools would be filled with salt water and after the tide had receded and hot sunshine had done its job, bags of sea salt would be raked up.
Below - I took this picture on the island of Gozo and it's still my favourite image from that holiday. It must be very hard to grow vegetables on sun-baked Gozo but the men in the foreground are doing their best. On the horizon is Ta' Ġurdan Lighthouse where later that week I came across a local man shooting passing birds. Many Maltese and Gozan men call this hideous activity "sport".
Yes it was a decade ago and I was only 59 years old and there was no war in Ukraine and we had never heard of COVID and if you had told ordinary Americans that one day Donald Trump would be their president, they would have split their sides laughing.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/CcUzDNt
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