Friday, July 25, 2008

Reaching the teen years

My youngest officially becomes a teen this year.In fact today. 13 years ago, it was decided that the babe was cooked and I should be induced. So he arrived a couple of weeks early. The day with its sights and sounds is embedded on my memory.
Time simply marches and babies do not keep. Neither do teenagers...
I am so glad that I was able to stay at home with my children and look after them.
In the wake of Francesco, comes a BBC 4 series about three great traveller writers of the 20th century --Eric Newby, Laurie Lee and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Last night's episode was on Eric Newby. Absolutely fascinating. Everyone in the family enjoyed it.
What can I say except it would be hard to do them justice because their words are so wonderful. If you have not read their travel books, you have not lived. Hopefully Benedict Allen's series will help raise their profile. Equally maybe the BBC will put this on BBC2 so that a large majority of the public can see.
Patrick Leigh Fremor is still alive (over 90) and hope remains that he will actually finish his trilogy about his journey across Europe in the 1930s... Sir Paddy served in Crete during WW2 and some of his exploits are recounted in Ill Met by Moonlight. He has been described as a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Grahame Greene.
The next episode is on Laurie Lee who is probably best known for Cider With Rose but who also wrote a masterful account of Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday, Michelle's youngest!

Thanks for reminding me about the travel writers programmes-- I've seen the trailers but hadn't noticed that they'd started. I'm so looking forward to the Laurie Lee one, as Cider With Rosie is one of my all time comfort reads (and co-incidentally, came into hospital with me when all my babies were born-- providing names for two of them). A few years ago I read the Valerie Grove biography of Lee, and it was so fabulous and fascinating. He sounded like such an interesting man.