Sue woke first and nudged me ‘Do you think there’s someone outside with a torch knocking on the van?’
‘No’ I reply, determined to stay asleep.
But then I hear it too – a clear double knock followed by a voice ‘You can not stay ere …. you must go.’
We have to make a decision, the first of a number over the ensuing hour.
‘As remote as anywhere in Essex’ says the AA Illustrated Guide to Britain’s Coast in 1984. If it was true then it certainly still is I reckon as I walk along the top of the sea wall that’s offers resistance to the highest of tides in the Roach estuary. To my left are the salt marshes with the myriad of channels gradually drying with the receding water before giving way to the mudflats and then the thin channel of deep water. A few yachts sitting just outside the channel are pulling at their moorings as white horses stream past them. To my right is a wide band of tossing and writhing reeds running parallel to the wall and beyond that huge, empty fields with a few trees and hedgerows in the distance.
A long, hot Summer requires a soundtrack to help us all along – and here, somewhat belatedly, given that we now seem to be cooling down a tad, is the SUMMER RELEASE from THE BLOKES – PATH OF THE GODS.
This piece was also published by offGuardian:
In Britain, if it wasn’t for BREXIT we would be discussing (among other things) Labour’s proposed economic policies, including an expansion of public sector spending. There would be a storm of media led disparagement about plans to stimulate the economy through borrowing and increased taxation and concerns raised about not paying down the national debt. As Theresa May said whilst campaigning for the last general election “There is no magic money tree.”
Well there so is ……………….. but ……………………
Introduction
Sue and I undertook a short van trip around parts of Slovenia and Croatia in the spring of 2018. Whilst there it became apparent that the impact of the war in 1991/92, triggered by Croatia’s declaration of independence from the then still intact Yugoslavia, was still a major issue for the country’s inhabitants.
Two experiences in particular had a big impact on us and fuelled our curiosity as to why this conflict had broken out in Europe only 26 years ago; the siege of Dubrovnik and the partially derelict villages in the interior of the country around Plitvice Lakes. I wrote pieces on these whilst in the country and (foolishly perhaps) suggested that I might attempt to answer the ‘why question’ when back in Britain ……….
We had been pre- warned, although it didn’t prepare us for what we found. A blog by moho owners had talked about their drive up the valley towards Plitvice National Park and seeing the bullet holes in the walls of houses, a relic from the battles between Croats and Serbs in the early 1990s.
Ladies, I am reliably informed, like to attend to their correspondence in the morning – preferably propped up in bed with a view of the Adriatic and a cup of tea provided by the manservant. This is all good – it allows gentlemen to focus on their studies with a mind sharpened by that first coffee of the day. A sharp mind is a must when dealing, for example, with the complexities of the competing forces at work in post WW2 Yugoslavia and the impact these had in the subsequent Homeland War.
I had not visited Dubrovnik before. I know many have and may have had a similar experience, but it provided me with a rather sharp ‘in’ to the reality of recent Balkan conflicts.
By Bryan London (no relation)
I think many of us have at least one self-image of ourselves which is partly based in reality and partly aspirational – eg athlete, musician, writer, mountaineer ……
This song was written in 1976 for the ill-fated band Xylophone Moustache – ill-fated because they broke up before ever playing a gig. This song was never performed or recorded.
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