Passacaglia and Fugue

At last, a return to northern Europe, although we decided Hamburg was far enough to justify a flight over Eurostar.

Saturday 14th: It's a prompt start but not an absurdly early one. The traffic is light and we get to the pre-booked parking on time. At Terminal 5 the baggage drop for our flight has not quite opened. The flight is a bit delayed but overall it's nothing to be that bothered about. There's an AI fail when Google tells us that Hamburg public transport operates a contactless TfL-style system; it's not true. But the ticket machines take card payments and the S-Bahn is efficient, if busy. After check-in at the hotel we take a wander around the city centre.

Chilehaus; Sprinkenhof

Sunday 15th: This is the one day with a poor weather forecast, so a good choice for indoor visits. We begin at the Kunsthalle, which has a newly-opened exhibition on surrealism. The works are interspersed across several floors, together with the permanent collection. Later we visit the Museum für Kunst un Gewerbe.

Model Ship at the Museum fur Kunst un Gewerbe

Monday 16th: Many museums are closed, so we choose carefully and go to the Maritime Museum. The collection is spread over nine floors and is indeed vast. So many model ships... but some are more interesting than others; my eye is caught particularly by the Polynesian catamarans. It feels perhaps that they acquired this space and then wondered how to fill it: Sections on sail shapes, ropes, materials, warfare, exploration, uniform, and art. After lunch we take in the St Nikolai Memorial; if the view from the tower is indifferent, the subterranean exhibition on the 1943 bombing raids and firestorm certainly makes an impression. Later we visit the Rickmer Rickmers, a rather odd iron-hulled sailing vessel from the late 19th century, and finally the Alter Elbtunnel, a pedestrian and bike tunnel under the river.

Lego model of the Queen Mary 2

A 4-rotor Naval Enigma machine

Tiling in the Alter Elbtunnel

Tuesday 17th: After battling the Deutsche Bahn app, we set out for Lübeck. The St-Annen Museum is variable, but an extraordinary instrument is to be found within: a Great Bass Shawm, of which there are reckoned to be only five in existence (which justifies the rubbish photo, as it's unlikely I will ever see one again).

Great Bass Shawm

By lunchtime, I realise I can no longer deny that I'm feeling under the weather, but we carry on. The Günter Grass Museum isn't that interesting to me, but there's a surprise bonus that, at the rear, it is connected by a short garden to the Willy Brandt Haus, and that's more interesting. Finally we take in the Europäisches Hansemuseum, which is quite labyrinthine.

On return to Lübeck station, we board a train. It does not leave on time. After about 10 minutes, there is an announcement. We don't catch much of it but it's clear that it is not good news and it sounds like the emergency services are attending an incident at Reinfeld. Another half hour or so passes, without much information. Even the Germans are a bit restless by now. I check for other options and find we can catch a FlixBus about an hour later. We decide to book that; then I'm informed that the bus itself is running an hour late. There are a lot of people around and although people are trying to be helpful, no-one seems to have much idea what's going on. Rail replacement buses are mooted but there's no sign of them. We decide to stick with the booked bus and when it does arrive, eventually, we feel a bit calmer about getting back to base, but it's been less than an ideal day.

Wednesday 18th: After breakfast I take a Covid test and, unsurprisingly, the result is positive. There are no restrictions, but I feel there is an ethical dimension as well as the obvious selfish practical concerns. At least we brought FFP2 masks, so I'm using that indoors for the rest of the trip. We take a more leisurely pace and go to the Brahms Museum and the Komponenistenquartier, where we learn about Telemann, CPE Bach, the Mendelssohns, Mahler, and Johan Adolf Hasse. "Oh yes, everyone has forgotten about him", says the museum guide. I buy a CD to mark my discovery. In the afternoon it's the ethnographic museum MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum, which seems to feel woke enough to excuse some of its exhibits, but not enough to remove or reset them.

Brahms's Piano; Mahler's Bicycle

Thursday 19th: The worst of the fever is past, and we venture to Bremen. They say UK rail ticketing is Byzantine, but the Germans seem to be our equal; it's as if it was a different train operator. We wander around the town centre, and in the afternoon visit the Kunsthalle. As elsewhere, there are quite a lot of notices about how museums are trying to ensure the provenance of their works, and make any necessary restitutions of wartime-misappropriated works. Unusually, there's an interesting contemporary film running in the museum, of a concrete boat from the Third Reich, now abandoned and decaying on a sandbank. It seems an appropriate metaphor for the far right: ugly, rotten, but difficult to destroy.

The Musicians of Bremen

Friday 20th: R is now unwell too. Based on timing, I believe I contracted Covid on my last visit to London (there were an awful lot of coughing people on the train that day); it's possible I have passed it to him, but that seems quite quick after developing symptoms, and there were also people coughing on the plane. Anyhow, we wander around the city centre again in the morning, including a return to the Dammtorpark.

Japanischer Garten

In the afternoon, we take a shorter trip to Lüneberg, which is pretty. The Nazi surrender took place at Lüneberg Heath, a few miles distant, and it's easy to imagine Monty turning up, saying "I say! This is a damned pretty spot. Let's have Jerry surrender here!" It probably wasn't quite as simple as that.

Lüneberg

Saturday 21st:A short morning in the city centre, before it's time to head back to the airport. The return flight is smooth, although the baggage reclaim at Terminal 5 takes more than an hour for reasons unknown.

We agreed last year, that this year we would holiday in northern Europe, ideally in a location reachable by Eurostar. So it was inevitable that instead we would spend a week in Malta.

Monday 2nd: Our flight departs from Heathrow Terminal 4. We arrive at our usual parking provider, only to be told we have in fact booked the "Meet and Greet" service, and need to go to the terminal instead. Fortunately we have allowed plenty of time. I feel they could have accepted the car there anyway, as it is probably stored in the same place for the week. I always find Heathrow a bit of a nightmare, but once we are through security everything progresses smoothly. It is a 3 1/2 hour flight. The first bus from the airport terminal is already pretty full and we can't get on, not helped by another bus occupying the expected space and a French party usurping any semblance of a queue. Anyhow, once we arrive in Valetta it's fairly straightforward to find our hotel - just as well, given the heat and humidity. We explore a little of Valetta, including the Upper and Lower Barrakka gardens. There seem to be a plethora of commemorative stones erected by military colleagues to the fallen over the centuries, and more recent memorials expressing solidarity with the people of the Hungarian and Czechoslovakian uprisings in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Grand Harbour from Valetta

Tuesday 3rd: We begin at St John's Co-Cathedral. For some time there is concern about R's camera lens; it turns out that the contrast between the aggressive air conditioning in the hotel and the ambient conditions has caused some condensation, which take a while to clear. We move on to the Grand Master's Palace, and then the National Library. In the afternoon we visit the National Community Art Museum, which turns out to be larger and more impressive than might be expected. There are echoes of futurism and/or fascism in some of Antonio Sciortino's sculptures inspired by Charles Lindbergh. In contrast, the Archaeological museum is larger on the map and although interesting, it takes less time.

Futurism at MUZA, Valetta

Wednesday 4th: We take a trip on the fast ferry to Gozo. The Internet was not entirely clear about this, as vehicle ferry services were more prominent and require pre-booking, but the passenger ferry was quite straightforward. We visit the cathedral and citadella museums in the complex at Victoria / Rabat.

Cathedral and Citadella complex at Victoria / Rabat, Gozo

Thursday 5th: We take the bus to Mdina / Rabat. The Domus Romana is just across the road from the bus stop, and it's our first encounter with Sir Themisocles Zammit, surely a name one could not make up. It's not a huge site, but it is interesting nonetheless. We move on to St Paul's Catacombs, Cathedral, Palazzo Falson, Casa Gourgion (an interesting museum although I can't do justice to the animated TV screens in Old Master picture frames), and the Wignacourt Museum.

Mosaic at the Domus Romana, Mdina / Rabat


Boat in St Paul's Catacombs, Rabat

Friday 6th: The St Catherine's Monastery and Garden is a calm place to start the day. Later we're using the buses again, first to Mosta for the Rotunda, based on the Pantheon, and in the afternoon to the temples at Tarxien. Finally, with advance planning we have tickets to visit the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum at the end of the day. The audio guide is mandatory and has some irritating sound effects, but it doesn't detract from the visit, and has the honesty to say that we just don't know a lot of what went on at these truly ancient remains.

Mosta Rotunda


Tarxien Temples

7th: We begin our final day with the ferry to the Three Cities. In practice we have noticed that all of Malta is pretty much a continuum of settlement, and the naming is somewhat arbitrary. We visit the Inquisitor's Museum and admire the view across the Grand Harbour in the reverse direction, to Valetta. On our return we take in Casa Rocca Piccola. Ramiro Calì's painting Electricity fuses ancient and modern in its own curious way.

Valetta from The Three Cities


Electricity

Then it's back to the airport, and the return flight is straightforward, and although there is heavy traffic at Terminal 4 we're home at a civilised hour. Overnight the thunder in the UK reminds me of the regular gun battery firing in Valetta.

The Maltese were friendly and helpful; perhaps an advantage of English being an official language. The food was always served in generous portions - the quality varied but Aaron's Kitchen and Ambrosia were both particularly good. We discovered Kinnie and - by extension - Kinnie Spritz. If we had stayed longer, there were other things we could have done, but the heat and humidity really did discourage over-exertion.

After some debate and negotiation, we decided on Seville for a summer holiday location this year. The late positioning of the Max Richter Prom was awkward for scheduling, but frankly going to southern Europe earlier in the summer would have been madness.

Thurs 7th: After breakfast, we head off to Gatwick. Fortunately I did print my boarding pass as I struggle to get the self-service bag drop to accept my phone; later I find the auto-rotate setting which I think may have been causing the PDF to flip as I turned the phone upside-down. Everything else accepts the phone version, although my phone also needs to have the magic wand waved over it at security. The flight and arrival seem fairly straightforward, but it is early evening and so there isn't much to do other than adjust to the habit of eating late.

Fri 8th: We begin with the Alcazar at Seville. It is the first of a handful of destinations where the requirement to book specific time-slots is apparent, but we are only postponed by about an hour, so there is time for a bit of wandering around. The venue is impressive and the tiling is ubiquitous. Later in the afternoon we reach the monumental Plaza de España, built for one of the trade fairs that has been hosted in the city over the years. (This one was held months before the Wall Street crash of 1929). I notice that there is frequently an aroma of brackish water around the city.

Inside the Seville Alcázar

Pomegranate tile at the Plaza de España

Sat 9th: We visit a few palaces, including that of the Countess of Lebrija. The ground floor is mostly covered with Roman mosaics lifted from nearby archaeological sites in the nineteenth century. I shall think of her as the mosaic-stealing Countess of Lebrija from now on. We have pre-booked for the Cathedral and the timing works quite well. In the afternoon we cross the river to the Triana district, where the old ceramic factory is disappointingly closed but the contemporary art museum is actually quite good. The site of the 1992 Expo is another graveyard to industrial development, with occasional business parks and lots of fenced-off wilderness, hampering our return to the city centre in the heat. We are finding that Seville is a bit bigger than it looked on the map, but the central district is mostly no-go for public transport, so there's nothing for it but a lot of walking.

The Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija

Sun 10th: We catch a bus to Italica, north-west of the city. Apparently this was one of the largest cities in the Roman world. The site is quite large and what is visible is well-presented, but it seems there has been a lot of earlier removal (see above) or areas that remain unexcavated, or under the present-day settlement of Santiponce. In the afternoon we are back in Seville and see some of the city walls and other bits and pieces, but it is really too hot to do very much. We try a craft beer place quite close to our hotel, and rather like it.

Mosaic of the Planets, Italica

Mon 11th: An early start to catch the train to Granada. We have pre-booked for the Alhambra, but our timing is askew; access to the overall site is for the day, but we miss our slot for the Nasrid palaces. It's quite a hike from the train station, by whichever route; and the signage inside the complex is intermittent. So there's a bit of a downer, but the rest of the site is pleasant, and we also get to see a few other places in Granada later in the day. We find that sangria is available in cans at the station cafe. The aircon doesn't seem to be working on the return train, I have insect bites and a heat rash, and the taxi driver won't take card payments, so it hasn't been the best of days.

The Alhambra

Garden in the Generalife

Tues 12th: After a long day yesterday, we take it easy. The Museo de Bellas Artes is free to EU citizens, but we have to pay €3 as a Brexit benefit. The Archivo de Indias is an impressive building, but it is only a building; if you want to see artifacts, the Museum of the Americas in Madrid is the place to go.

Archivo de Indias

Wed 13th: The train to Cordoba is a shorter trip and leaves at a more civilised hour. We have timed our visit to the Mosque-Cathedral quite well, despite a nervous several minutes while Renfe delay the train shortly after departure. It's an interesting space and shows the heritage of being under various "management" over the years. Is it coincidence that the Christian sections are much lighter, with the dark wooden roof beams removed? I suspect not. After lunch we visit the Alcázar, and the Roman bridge. Again it is bakingly hot, but the return train is also at a civilised hour and has working aircon this time.

Mosque or Cathedral? - or maybe both

Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos

Thurs 14th: Although the train bookings were a little awkward, we've managed to get tickets to Cadíz, and it turns out to be a very welcome trip. The sea air is fresh and the heat feels more manageable. We get to see a few sights, decide to give up on the eating late thing and have paella and sangria in the late afternoon, leaving plenty of time to catch the return train.

Cadíz shoreline

Parque Genovés

Fri 15th: The last day of the holiday is a bit fragmented, but we find a few things that didn't have listings in the Rough Guide, such as the Palacio de las Dueñas. The main archaeological museum has a long-term closure, but we find some impressive excavations at the Antiquarium under the Setas de Sevilla.

House of Bacchus, Antiquarium

Getting to the airport in good time, check-in is straightforward, but it transpires our flight is going to be delayed. Information is minimal, and Seville Airport is quite small; in fact it's the only time I have seen multiple flights listed with the same gate number, as there are few gates in the non-Schengen area. So there's a bit of a pile-up of passengers and little information. It turns out that there are more air traffic control problems at Gatwick, and it's nearly midnight before we have even taken off. Of course, this means the baggage handlers at Gatwick have mostly gone home and it does seem to take a while for our luggage to return. To cap it all, there's an overnight closure on the M25 and the diversion is poorly signposted (and Google Maps offers a contradictory route). It is 4am by the time we get home, rather more mañana than we had intended. It was a mostly successful holiday, but I think we did leave things a bit to chance; it turns out that Spanish culture is sometimes more regimented than one might expect.

We had decided that we both needed a break, and a long weekend seemed to be the thing to do. After throwing around a few ideas for somewhere that wasn't too far away, but where actually staying away would be worthwhile, we decided to base ourselves in Bristol for the weekend.

Thurs 6th: An advantage of working from home is that it's relatively straightforward to travel in the evening. Having been away on work travel earlier in the week, for me it is a case of throwing a few things into a backpack, but we have done enough forward planning and it's a simple journey along the M4 to Bristol. Things get a bit more complicated as Google has decided the route through the city centre is best. I can't really disagree with it, but it is a question of keeping your nerve, and checking later that the clean air zone does not require payment for my vehicle. (It does not. It seems that any reasonably recent car will probably be satisfactory, so it amounts to a charge on elderly, more polluting vehicles. I have mixed views.)

Fri 7th: The best weather forecast of the weekend. We start with a trip to Wells, mainly for the Cathedral, but also for the Bishop's palace. So far as I can tell, no babies were eaten. However, looking around the Chapter House, I fear the Time Lords may claim that one of their time rotors is missing. After lunch we progress to Glastonbury, to see the Abbey ruins. I am struck by quite how much New Age gibberish is going on all around me. It is rather hot as we move on to the Tor. I find it difficult to imagine a flooded landscape and the tower seems outsized for any church that could conceivably be built in the space available, but there you are. We return to Bristol and have a pleasant Italian meal at The Spaghetti Incident.

Wells Cathedral Chapter House

Glastonbury Tor

Sat 8th: The forecast is not good, so we decide on indoor attractions at least for the morning and make use of Bath's Park and Ride system. First, to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy: a small museum in the house William and his sister Caroline lived in for a few years. Initially, Herschel came to Bath as a musician, and the collection is a mixture of the musical and the astronomical. Then it's on to the Holburne Museum for more decorative arts. The weather is indifferent but mostly dry, so in the afternoon we head over to Bradford-on-Avon for the tithe barn (which turns out to be partially closed for a local production of Amadeus of all things) and some local churches. As we are in the area we also take in The Courts Garden, an interesting twentieth century garden on the site of an old mill. We end the day on the other side of Bristol, at Clevedon, where we get tapas at Escala and admire the pier during what passes for sunset.

Musical Serpent at the Herschel Museum

Clevedon Pier

Sun 9th: Tyntesfield is high on the bucket list for the weekend, so we decide to risk the weather. In fact it's mostly dry. The kitchen gardens are impressive, with several trained fruit trees around the perimeter, and there is quite a lot to see inside the house, which is a relatively recent acquisition. The chapel isn't really my thing but it is undeniably a striking feature. I acquire three books from the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series at the secondhand bookshop, only to later discover that I already have two of them. At £1.50 each it is hardly a disaster. After lunch we move on to Dyrham Park, a smaller property surrounded by a deer park. Alas, a notice informs us that the herd has been culled due to persistent outbreaks of tuberculosis. Inside the house, there's a trigger warning about some of the artifacts and their links to, or representations of, slavery. We can't undo the past, but we shouldn't airbrush it for convenience either, so I can see it's difficult to find the right balance. We end the day in Clifton, where the sun shines brightly on the suspension bridge.

Peach tree, Tyntesfield

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Mon 10th: We have some flexibility about what to do, and decide in the end to risk Stourhead. It turns out to be worth the risk - although there's at best intermittent sunshine, it is almost entirely dry, and as well as the gardens, the house turns out to be rather interesting as well. As we're heading back to the car, the rain starts, and we decide we're not going to venture elsewhere, so it's just back home, mostly along the A303 and its stop-start traffic around Stonehenge.

Stourhead

In an attempt to return to normality, we looked at a summer holiday this year. As usual, there were arguments about the Proms (partially voided by later events, obviously) and the likely weather. As usual, a compromise was reached.

Tues 30th: The advice from Heathrow is still to arrive 3 hours before your flight, so we have brought the parking booking forward by half an hour to even more ridiculous o'clock. On the bus from the car park, I discover my EHIC has expired (I confused the digits and thought it was valid until 2023). In the event, Terminal 2 is not particularly busy at 6am and we drift through security uneventfully, although more devices have been installed and I have to stand in odd postures to satisfy whatever scanning technology is now employed. Our flight is via Zurich, where - for the first time ever - my passport is stamped. We make the connection without incident, as both legs of the journey seem to have been delayed by a similar amount. We arrive at Naples and catch the bus into the city centre, then the Circumvesuviana train out to Ercolano, our base for the duration. Later in the afternoon, a trip to Oplontis proves fruitless, as it is currently closed on Tuesdays. It is far too hot.

Wed 31st: We decide to begin at the top of the bucket list, with a trip to Pompeii (which, in Italian, apparently has only a single i). It is impressive. There is nothing like it in scale in Britain, and even Rome does not feel that it compares, as ancient remains are interspersed with contemporary structures, so this really is a unique experience. We are uncertain about the single on-site cafe, but fortunately it proves to cater decent snack food at decent prices. The number of tour parties climbs during the day, probably exceeding the original population of the city, but in fact it's easy to find quiet spots by veering only slightly away from the main roads. As the day progresses, perhaps fatigue sets in - one house after another, all blurring into one - although the written guide suggests there are four distinct phases of construction. Randomly, late in the afternoon, we stumble upon a structure marked DOMVS L. CAECILI IVCVNDVI - the Caecilius of the Cambridge Latin Course and Doctor Who fame. As visitor attractions are open late into the evening and it is on our way home, we re-try Oplontis and check out the Villa Poppea, successfully this time.

Pompeii - Theatre

Pompeii - Home of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus

Pompeii - House of the Boar

Pompeii - Forum and Vesuvius

Oplontis - Peacock at the Villa Poppea

Thurs 1st: I observe I am getting bitten by mosquitoes, as before in Italy (particularly Florence). Rain is forecast, so we take the opportunity to visit the Archaeological museum in Naples. As well as Roman remains, there is an extensive Egyptian section in the basement, which proves to be more informatively labelled than is often the case, or perhaps I am just in the mood to pay more attention. By mid-afternoon we make our way to the Catacombe di San Gaudioso. This is the only tourist attraction where we are told to wear FFP2 masks (though we have been doing so anyway when indoors; we have heard enough stories of people catching covid while on holiday). It's a more gruesome tour than the Catacombs in Rome, being largely medieval.

Fri 2nd: The site at Herculaneum is a stone's throw from our hotel. The excavated site is much smaller than at Pompeii (as is believed to be the settlement as a whole), but it seems better preserved, with many buildings of two stories, although they are perhaps less ornate. The on-site museum contains some interesting artefacts, including a fragment of carbonised rope; more carbonised wood seems visible in some of the buildings. In the afternoon we head in to Naples, visiting various places including Pio Monte della Misericordia and the striking Maiolica church at Santa Chiara. We encounter a band of musicians playing what I instantly recognise as pizzica from a late-night Prom in 2019, though consulting the Internet it turns out that in Campania the style is known as tammurriata - all variants of tarantella.

Herculaneum - House of Neptune

Herculaneum - Thermopolium

Sat 3rd: It's time to visit the Royal Palace in Naples, which is a relatively modest affair; afterward, we catch the noon tour of the underground Galleria Borbonica, featuring tunnels intended to safeguard the monarchy in the event of insurrection, but later used as shelter in World War 2, and later again as storage for vehicles impounded by police, and fly-tipping by low-level organised crime groups. In the afternoon we take the funicular to the monastery of San Martino and the neighbouring castle of Sant Elmo.

Certosa di San Martino - Camera Obscura Sundial

Sun 4th: Another rainy day, at least initially, so we take the metro and the bus to the art gallery at Capodimonte. To be honest, this is a bit of a disappointment: the floors that are open are mostly consumed by one after another Madonna con Bambino, and the 18th/19th century floor is closed. As the weather has cleared, in the afternoon we take a trip out to Pozzuoli, which has a remarkable amphitheatre. Sadly there is no access to the ground level, but the underground, where gladiators, prisoners and animals were stored and prepared, is very well preserved. Due to the rain earlier in the day, the Temple of Serapis appears like an island in a lake. Despite applying insect repellent, the bites are now looking quite dramatic, and I feel the need to check symptoms of malaria and sepsis, just in case, but I am reassuringly free of them.

Pozzuoli - Amphitheatre

Mon 5th: It is well known that any English word can, if necessary, be turned into Italian by adding the suffix -o or -io, and it feels like we are playing Crescento di Morningtonio as the Circumvesuviana train takes an unexpected turn off before Naples. We decide to get out at an interchange station, only to discover that the interchange is closed. We walk in the wrong direction to the next stop, where it turns out the contactless card access is not working. Eventually we do get in to Naples, but the Trenitalia ticket machines are refusing to take card payments. We abandon them and take the old-fashioned option of going into the ticket office, where after a wait we accomplish our objective of getting tickets to Caserta. Earlier research revealed that there is a dearth of mid-morning trains, but once we have our tickets things proceed largely according to plan, so it's lunch by the time we arrive. The Bourbon out-of-town palace is on a much grander scale than their city-centre pad, and it's frequently plain that it could be an inspiration for 20th-century fascist architecture. The grounds are enormous, and we follow the rill - though it's really too big for such a name - through various levels. At the top there's an "English" garden - it's not exactly clear why it has this name, beyond the presence of one or two follies in the style of fake ruins, as though there weren't enough of the real thing in this area.

Caserta

Tues 6th: We are a bit smarter with the transport and go directly to the ticket office for a more complicated journey to Paestum. This turns out to be impressive again - three massive Greek temples in a settlement that pre-dates the Roman period. Amusingly, it turns out that the Temple of Hera is purely hypothetical - there is no real evidence for the choice of deity. The site is relatively quiet but the heat is intense.

Paestum

Wed 7th: Our final day begins somewhat frustratingly, as many places in Naples turn out to be closed or to require pre-booking. By lunch time we are heading to the airport, where our flight stubbornly declines to have a check-in desk (we have been unable to check-in online, but the booking did say "airport check-in" so this is not surprising). Eventually things start moving, but it has made our connection in Amsterdam, rather tight. The captain announces that the landing gear of the plane struck a bird on arrival, and that the delay is due to safety checks: fair enough. We make our connection in Schiphol, but on arrival in Heathrow, it transpires that our luggage didn't. We complete the requisite forms and hope for the best. A previous experience in 2017, as well as third-party anecdotal evidence from many years ago, makes me hopeful, but this is 2022 and Schiphol is experiencing problems just as much as Heathrow, it seems.

To be honest, food and drink were unremarkable, though we discovered birra rossa. Public transport was good, provided you researched it in advance - some lines (but not all) take contactless payments like TfL; the last train back from Naples to Ercolano was at 21:30 so we had to be aware when eating in Naples in the evening.

Thurs 8th - Fri 9th: Online tracking of our luggage is painfully slow, although it indicates it has been identified and forwarded to the UK.

Sat 10th: At last, our luggage arrives, in a changed world.

Book Review: City of Light - The reinvention of Paris, by Rupert Christiansen
This was a very quick read; it's a thin volume and has plenty of illustrations. The focus is on Baron Haussmann, Napoleon III's mid-nineteenth century urban fixer, although there is some background from the earlier Bourbon restoration and the book runs through to the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris commune, and has an epilogue bringing the reader up-to-date with twenty-first century changes. The perennial problem of poor quality slum housing and shanty-town dwellings has the perennial solution of clearance and gentrification. Some of Haussmann's dealings might have bordered on corruption, but at the time they generally passed as pragmatic ways of tackling the problems, at least until the bills came in. The book draws attention to various concerns of the city at that time, notably the way to curtail and control "the mob" through wide boulevards rather than narrow streets, and the progress of the railways. Yet, on the latter account, it's interesting that Paris, like London, is a city of railway termini: despite an extensive compulsory purchase scheme cutting swathes through the centre for new roads, there doesn't seem to have been any appetite for through trains, and this doesn't get a mention.

Yesterday we went to Harcourt Arboretum. Of course, everything nowadays must be booked in advance, and we'd put this off for a week or two due to weather, but the forecast was reasonable so we decided to take our chance.

It's many years since our last visit and I can't say I remember much, so I don't know how much it has changed. Not a great deal, I imagine. There is a lot of open space for an arboretum; presumably the Harcourts only wanted a limited area devoted to trees.

Palmer's Leys Meadows

Having got some decent exercise by wandering the perimeter of the meadow, we eventually found our way to the acer glade, one of the main attractions for this season. One or two trees had already gone over; some were still quite green, whilst others were in transition.

Traffic-light acer

One thing I do remember from the previous visit is the prevalence of peacocks. "The peacocks are not owned by the Arboretum. They are wild animals and may be unpredictable. Please do not feed the peacocks", warned the leaflet. Those we saw were presumably relative youngsters, as they seemed to have some downy feathers still, and they were no especially co-operative for photography. The litter of Oxford Sandy and Black pigs were a bit more open to these opportunities, I suspect having learned that the humans often approach with food.

Oxford Sandy and Black pigs

Though there were some cloudy spells, it remained dry and was often quite bright. With indoor attractions not a viable option for the foreseeable future, there's limited scope to get out and about. Covid cases remain relatively low here, but have doubled in the past week, and quadrupled from a couple of weeks ago, an all-too familiar pattern.

Harcourt Autumn Leaves

A few weeks ago, as outdoor attractions started to re-open, we booked tickets to go to RHS Wisley. Of course, the weather had other ideas, but in fact it wasn't too bad. There was a short queue, but it was self-managing with 2m points clearly marked on the ground, and the entry through the small indoor area was quite swift.

It's many years since we visited - I reckon it could easily be 15 or 20 - and I think a lot has changed. Last time we visited was in autumn; this time we got to see mid-summer. Although the glasshouses were closed, we had a good wander through most of the outdoor areas, and I picked up a couple of tips in the trials area. In these times I can't say it was a stress-free visit, but common sense generally prevailed and I didn't feel uneasy at any stage, though we avoided the shop (not least because it had its own queue).

The Laboratory

The Walled Garden

Gunnera

Sweet Peas

Bonsai

Sarracenia

I suggested to Dad that he have a look through the Proms season and see if there was anything he was interested in, to spend a couple of days in London, and this was one of the options that came up. I joined the online queue in May on the morning the bookings started; although I was about 10,000 places down the queue I wasn't too concerned that the concert would sell out, though I was concerned that the server, or the internet connection, might fail and I'd lose my place. In the event, we got good seats in the stalls; probably the best I've had, as we were looking over the pianist's shoulders from 8 rows up.

The BBC Philharmonic and Ben Gernon began with a piece new to me: Malcolm Arnold's Peterloo overture. There can't be many pieces of classical music that have been commissioned by the TUC. The piece blends Arnold's light touch and lyricism, with military marching and violence; Charles Ives and Shostakovich provide obvious comparison points. Curiously, the work returns to its contented themes for the conclusion, with Arnold expressing a hope that the sacrifice was not in vain.

I had to look up whether I'd seen Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Proms before; it turns out I had, in 2007, but in a concert where it was perhaps forgettable among the other works on offer. The soloist for this performance was a last-minute change, Juan Pérez Floristán stepping in for an indisposed Alexander Gavrylyuk. But it was clear he knew the work and played with accomplishment, but not in a showy way. Popular with the audience, he returned to give an encore of an Argentinian Dance by Ginastera.

The second half of the concert was a series of excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, sugary easy-listening perhaps, but successfully performed, and it was enjoyable to view and listen from a different perspective, with the woodwind, percussion and harp in particular more clearly in view.

This morning I met up with Dad again at Euston, for a trip to Bletchley Park. It has changed quite a bit since I was last there, with rather more exhibits and huts open to the public. I was pleased to see that the park was quite busy, with young and old alike, despite indifferent weather. Some of the exhibits are rather interactive, but it's not easy to present cryptography to non-technical people, and it seemed to work quite well. As well as Enigma, there is now much more on the Fish cyphers, a more sophisticated system, as well as perhaps bridging the gap from Morse code to modern digital communications.In keeping with the musical theme, I was interested to see in a temporary exhibition on social life at Bletchley Park, there was a programme for a recital given by Dame Myra Hess.

The end is nigh for 2018. The only thing that prevents a simple "Good riddance!" is the prospect of 2019 - let's face it, we're not going to be off to a great start given the political disarray prior to Christmas. Still, there have been some high points, so here's the best of the year for me:

• Fiction - Vindolanda, by Adrian Goldsworthy


• Non-Fiction - Machine, Platform, Crowd, by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson


• Music - The Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Proms


• Film and Theatre - Loving Vincent


• Museums and Exhibitions - The Course of Empire at the National Gallery

Other highlights: (fiction) Two Cousins of Azov; (non-fiction) Come to Finland!; (music) the Tango Prom and the Estonian Festival Orchestra; (film) The Post; (museums and exhibitions) Goscinny at the Jewish Museum, the Ateneum in Helsinki, and the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga.

No Food and Drink award this year, but special mentions for O'ver and Belgo Centraal, both in London.

It would appear that I predicted my demise at work in 2017's end-of-year post; disappointingly, that proved to be correct. So far, the new job has disappointed (and the Crossrail debacle doesn't help); there is scope for it to pick up in the New Year, but we shall have to wait and see. I don't think it would be good to move too quickly in the current circumstances. If there's no deal, then we shall all be "enjoying" our new "freedom" and blue passports from April; but, provided somebody does something at Westminster, it seems likely that things will drag on for some time yet.