Category Archives: 20a Europe

Not the Acropolis

Posted on May 28, 2018 by

On 30th Oct it was exactly one month before Ruby flew into Cairo to meet us, and the week’s to-do list was intimidating: collect the new carnet from the SA Embassy in Athens, book the Big Green Truck on a … Continue reading →

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A Crateful of Pomegranates

Posted on May 4, 2018 by

There was no denying it. Sampson was in love. Can your husband have an affair with a dog? Granted, Monte was a darling. Young, energetic, doe-eyed, silky-haired and constantly adoring – what’s not to love? So we went back to the lovely … Continue reading →

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Pantokrator

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

Somehow, between Montenegro and Greece, it seemed all ideas of giving Monte away to some kind people had evaporated. We crossed into the Hellenic peninsula on Sampson’s 51st birthday and I think he felt the universe had given him a … Continue reading →

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Brothership

Posted on March 21, 2018 by

Of all the countries on the European continent we were due to pass through, I only had misgivings about Albania. Beyond vague inferences concerning Balkan ‘baddies’ in Hollywood movies, I could find for no logical reason for this sense of … Continue reading →

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We Are Not Europe

Posted on March 13, 2018 by

You are going to have to bear with me for the next few blogs. I usually write my most vivid impressions down as we’re going along, and polish them up for consumption later, but from November to February I was … Continue reading →

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Turning the Corner

Posted on February 28, 2018 by

It’s been so long since I’ve posted a blog, not because I’ve been too lazy or too busy, but because I’ve been too unwell. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to be more upfront and unapologetic about the effects … Continue reading →

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We Interrupt This Blog To Bring You….

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

Happy New Year from the Sampson family. If you would like to understand why I keep falling behind with this blog, what ‘relapse’ means to me and how I become too weak to write, please join us in the Big … Continue reading →

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Fashion Week

Posted on December 15, 2017 by

The day we arrived in Milan, we drove straight in to the NE area of Padova and found our friend Luca’s street quite easily, but identifying his apartment was another matter. After I’d walked up and down a few times … Continue reading →

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Punk à Chat

Posted on November 27, 2017 by

Back to the plot. So… instead of our planned Grand Tour of the ancient capitals of Europe, meandering at leisure through the Mediterranean summer, we spent six weeks in a garage. A garage in an industrial area about half an … Continue reading →

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Canary in a Coal Mine

Posted on October 18, 2017 by

(Forgive me – just one more detour before we resolve the cliffhanger…) A week after we arrived back in Spain, I woke up at 1am in the morning and couldn’t work out what was happening. My head seemed to be … Continue reading →

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