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Continue reading →: Carcassonne
When planning this trip one of the first decisions I made was to visit Carcassonne. When I posted my planned route on my personal Facebook page two friends of mine from Poland said they would meet me there. We booked into the same hotel, just outside the gate of the medieval…
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Continue reading →: Jaunts & Errands
Friday was a day free of commitments. At the suggestion of my local friends, I stopped by at their place for a coffee and to be briefed on a suitable excursion for the day. They sent me off to Valbonne where a market was in progress on the town square. I…
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Continue reading →: Heaven is on the Bay of Angels
Gourmet restaurant in Antibes, on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera). Specialized in Fish. Michelin-starred. Restaurant de Bacon.. I spent a quiet yesterday anticipating my visit to my favourite restaurant in the world. I did pause to worry that I might have oversold it to my friends who were about to…
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Continue reading →: Art, food and friends
My friends from London invited me along on an artistic excursion yesterday. I picked them up from their hotel (rare use being made of Speranza's +1 seat — there's no +2 when the driver is 6'7" tall) and we headed to the Fondation Maeght gallery in Saint-Paul de Vence. I…
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Continue reading →: Back in my France
I rose early, breakfasted well and was soon underway and finding the benefit of my banal choice of hotel. It was less than five minutes from the autoroute. Soon I was progressing rapidly again and enjoying the drive. I have my entire record collection in the car and set it to…
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Continue reading →: Back in France
I had a brilliant run through Spain to my overnight rest in France yesterday. Speranza performed magnificently. I resisted the temptation to race the Audi drivers provoked by her in Spain and the BMW drivers provoked by her in France. Instead I enjoyed the passing scenery, including first glimpses of the…
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Continue reading →: Spanish wine
I am in La Priorat because an old friend invited me. We first met when he arrived in Poland from Canada in 1999. I was his first professional contact there. He has been following my photographic progress on Facebook and kindly thought of me when one of his businesses – a vineyard in Spain –…
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Continue reading →: Homage to Catalonia
I rose early in Zaragoza to rendezvous with my host in Catalonia at noon. Things didn't go well. My splendid modern hotel was in the part of town developed for Expo 2008 and none of the roads were in Speranza's database. Her satellite navigation system is a banal piece of software. It can…
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Continue reading →: Through the Rioja country to Zaragoza
After one smooth crossing I can recommend the Portsmouth to Santander ferry as an easy, relaxing way from the productive North to the relaxed South of Europe. Given the number of coach tripping pensioners on board the voyage even made me feel young again by comparison. Whether I would be…
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Continue reading →: On the road again
Today Speranza and I sail to Santander in Northern Spain to embark upon a mostly recreational road trip. Political blogging is suspended until I return on October 4th and The Last Ditch will – subject to the constraints of internet access on the road – once more become a travel…
THE LAST DITCH
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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.
Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.
He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that
“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”
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They are servants. Just not of the public. He gets a full pension because he did his job for his…
One can only hope his neighbours, fellow lodge members (?) etc give him the cold shoulder.
The problem is that they already know about the blog and some read it. Why is that an issue? If…
Conversationally, I already operate on NATO “no first strike” principles. I am not going to start a political discussion with…
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The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
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