Before We Leave

Totally irrelavant photo but it just makes me smile anyway.

Here are some thoughts by other thinkers about tavel and why to bother:

'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour.  catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.'

Mark Twain

'Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accouts.  Braod, wholesome, cahritable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.'

Mark Twain

'All travel has its advatages.  If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.'

Samuel Johnson

'For my part, I travel not to go anywhere but to go.  I travel for travel's sake.

The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson

'A traveller without observation is like a bird without wings.'

Moslih Eddin Saadi

'Embrace the detours.'

Kevin Charbonneau

'Not bound to swear allegiance to any master, wherever the wind takes me I travel as a visitor. Drop the question of what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day Fate allows you.

Horace

'Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.'

Japanese proverb

'The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.'

St Augustine

'We live in a world of beauty, charm and adventure.  There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.'

Jawaharial Nehru

'Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

'Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.'

Seneca

'Bizzare travel plans are dancing lessons from God.'

Kurt Vonnegut

'I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list.'

Susan Sonntag.

'Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you travelled.'

Mohammed

'The traveller sees what he sees.  The tourist sees what he has come to see.'

G K Chesterton

'All that is gold does not glitter; not all those who wander are lost.

Tolkein

'Decide how you want to feel and go wherever it takes to feel that way.'

Andy Hayes

'Laugh a lot and when you are older all your wrikles will be in the right places.'

Anon

'When you travel remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable.  It is designed to make its own people comfortable.'

Clifton Fadiman

Dylan Thomas

If you like words and the sounds of words and the unusual combinations of words then Dylan Thomas fits the bill.  He did not Go Gentle into That Good Night but raged through his life leaving a body of work that includes poems, screenplays, short stories and longer poems for radio - he called these 'plays for voices' such as Under Milk Wood.

The Outing is my favourite short story.  I love the descriptions of the characters, the humour and the combination of sounds which mean that if you read it out loud you just can't help but use a Welsh accent.

He had a complicated love life and smoked and drank excessively.  He lived in England, in London for a time, and spent time in America, but he is best known for living at The Boathouse in Laugharne, which is now preserved as a museum.

The links here take you to, firstly, Philip Madoc reading The Outing in two parts.

Richard Burton Reading from the start of Under Milk Wood.



And finally Thomas himself reading A Child's Christmas in Wales.



Illuminated Manuscripts

If I won the lottery or if someone really wanted to buy me the best present ever, it would be an illuminated manuscript.  I love how much care and attention has gone into making every page a work of art.  You can just stare at each picture and see more and more.  I am in awe of how these books have been produced whether they are religious documents, Books of Hours, Guides for kings and princes, or histories of the world.

And the best place to see them is The British Library in London.  Their website lets you view books and pages as well as giving the background and history of each of the books.  Look it up here.

Desert Island Books

Again with the rider that this is today's selection and that next time it will be different....

The Bone People

Keri Hulme

Lord Of the Rings

Tolkein

Where's Julius?

John Burningham

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

A Tramp Abroad

Mark Twain

Mapp and Lucia

E F Benson

Mr Pye

Mervyn Peake

The Persian Boy

Mary Renault

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy

Miss Marjoribanks

Margaret Oliphant

A Place of Greater Safety

Hilary Mantel

The eagle eyed will see that I haven't stuck with eight books here.  Heigh Ho!

Desert Island Discs

It's been going forever.  Started by Roy Plomley in 1942 we have recently had the celebrations of 70 years of broadcasting interviews with all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds.  This has become a national instituition.  It is part of our language.

They have now got a website where you can hear the shows from the very beginning.  Look here to find someone interesting to listen to:

Desert Island Discs

One of my recent favourites was with the children's author and screenplay writer, Frank Cottrell Boyce.  You can hear that broadcast here.

Who is your favourite?  Who was your favourite presenter?  And as for the best question of all, what would your Desert Island Discs be?  What would your Desert Island Books be? That'll be a forthcoming post then....

Words to Savour

Discombobulated

Pronunciation: /ˌdɪskəmˈbɒbjʊleɪt/

dis·com·bob·u·late

   /ˌdɪskəmˈbɒbyəˌleɪt/ Show Spelled[dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt] 

verb (used with object), dis·com·bob·u·lat·ed, dis·com·bob·u·lat·ing. 

to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate:

 The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.

Origin:
1825–35, Americanism ; fanciful alteration of discompose or discomfort

Related forms

dis·com·bob·u·la·tion, noun

Word of Mouth

So while we are thinking about words, it seemed a good time to put in a link to one of the best programmes on BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, currently presented by Michael Rosen.  If you love words too then this explores them in all of their uses and moods and varieties.

You can access current and past programmes here.

If you want to find out more about Michael Rosen, his books and poetry a visit to his website is well worth taking time over.

Words to savour

I love words.  For a number of different reasons.  This one because I love the way that modern Welsh has to accomodate new technologies.  Just spend the day trying this out in your mouth!