On the back burner

It is so inconvenient to have to work to earn money to live. How I wish I could devote my time to what I really want to do. I wonder how many successful and would-be writers have said much the same thing. Struggling for art is normal, but most of us forget that books, music, paintings, poetry, etc don't just happen or are given to an individual on a plate.

Now that April is here again thoughts have turned to the summer and what I will do with the 8 weeks given to me as a summer vacation. When I write that I realise how fortunate I am to have that much time. I really must plan what I am going to do and do it.

There is a possibility that I will meet up with a Canadian friend in Turkey in the middle of July. Before that I'm thinking of taking an 'Introduction to Proofreading' course in London (I'm thinking of finding a way of making an income which can be done online and in any location in the world). I realise it would be ludicrous to travel back to Norfolk after the one day course, then back to Gatwick to fly to Turkey (cheapest flights to Istanbul). When I am in Turkey I can look for locations visited by Mr and Mrs Mallowan. While I am in southern England perhaps I could visit Devon, and certainly visit locations in London including the British Museum. Planning is important if I start now I can take advantage of the cheaper fares. I really must get in touch with Mrs Mallowan's grandson to see if he would give me access to any documents related to the trips to Syria. Perhaps I could visit Churston Ferrers and take a train to Gatwick from there. It's where Mrs Mallowan caught trains on many occasions, so there would be a sense of following footsteps - for whatever reason. After all, the whole point of the project is to follow her footsteps into Syria.

Useful link to visit locations in Devon: Travel through history

Come tell me how you live

I'm re-reading Come Tell Me How You Live written by Agatha Christie. It's an account of her travels to Syria in the 1930s with her husband, archeologist Max Mallowan. As I read her recollections of her life in the desert it occurred to me that what she had written was an early form of blogging. Her descriptions of the Arab men and women with whom she has daily contact particularly resonates for me, as I am a British expatriate working in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. Her love for her husband, history and the simple life of the desert exudes from every page. It's interesting to note her affectionate observations written during a period when servants and British superiority were not challenged and the phrase'politically correct' had not entered the British psyche.

During Eid Al Adha last November I took a tour of Jordan and Syria. I missed Palmyra because we didn't have time. I had already decided that I would like to go back to Syria and take a trip, solo but with a guide, from Damascus to Palmyra. Now I'm thinking bigger. I would like to retrace the journey described in Christie's book. Along the way, I could blog my own experiences and explore the changes that have occurred in the last 60-70 years. My first step is to research her life at that time and investigate the world background that will have influenced her writing. This blog entry is my first step.