Category Archives: Travel

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Hot enough in London today

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The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, and the rain dabbed here and there, but nothing too serious – the perfect day to stroll along the South Bank and then over Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s.

We looked in on the beautiful craft shops on the first floor of the Oxo Tower, and then wandered on past Tate Modern, and the schools out for end of term trips, their uniforms and chat filling the grass beneath the trees. Buskers took up the edges before the airy bridge over the river.

The Morph, dressed ‘in London’ above, was outside the Tourist Information Centre, one of a whole tribe, each dressed differently, who we came across dotted around the City. Their pedestals, and each has one, includes information on Whizz Kids, a charity for young wheelchair users. I’ve just looked them up and I see the Morph tribe are all part of Morph’s Epic Art Adventure.

After lunch near St Paul’s, loving the indoor cool, we only had time for a quick walk around the Smithfield area, looking in on the church of St Bartholomew the Great, then over the Barbican, past the Ironmongers’ Hall, and on, too fast, and too hot, to catch a train from Waterloo.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Hawke’s Bay – ‘food and wine country’ – flooded

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This photograph was taken from Te Mata Peak, Hawke’s Bay, in June 2022. Today, Hawke’s Bay, a peaceful, agricultural region, is covered in the debris and deluge thrown at it by cyclone Gabrielle.

When I visited the area I stayed with friends from Zimbabwe, former farmers. They’ve built new lives for themselves in Hawke’s Bay. None of it has been easy, but they’ve never stopped. It was a privilege to stay in their beautiful home, and to get to know the area a little.

One day trip was to a stunning old farm house, where the owners had been on the land for several generations, running cattle and sheep on the steep hillsides along the coast. The farm stretches down to a lonely beach. Beyond is the ocean, that goes on and on to Argentina and Antartica. It was idyllic to visit, but it cannot have been easy to develop.

Now, Hawke’s Bay is faced with clearing up and building again.

Here is a link to an article in the New Zealand Herald (2021), about marine heatwaves around the east coast of North Island.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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A glass of sagardoa in Oñati, in the rain

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We visited Oñati on a wet weekend. It was a place to stop en route to the monastery just beyond the town. Hoping for lunch we parked the car, and went off in search of the main square.

In the end it was easy to find as we could hear it before we could see it, and most people seemed to be heading in that direction.

The square’s porticos were old and imposing, with music pounding out from one corner, where a large group of parents with pushchairs seemed to be registering for an event. Avoiding the rain we squeezed through them, and made our way round to one of the less crowded cafes on the far side of the square.

We chose the first one we came to. We were early customers, and a table in the corner was free, so we settled in with a bowl piled with olives, a plate of hot, paprika-spiced chips, and some sagardoa (cider) to try. The sagardoa was served by a young woman, who poured the golden liquid from about a foot above the glass, explaining that it always had to be poured from height.

Slowly we dried out, lingering over coffee, and enjoying the warmth and the chat as the bar filled up behind us.

Here’s a link with a sagardoa example.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023