Food for thought...

What's been and is being read on board to keep the little grey cells oiled...

'My need for this strange landscape was profound. Travel, which is nearly always seen as an attempt to escape from the ego, is in my opinion the opposite. Nothing induces concentration or inspires memory like an alien landscape or foreign culture. It is simply not possible (as romantics think) to lose yourself in an exotic place. Much more likely is an experience of intense nostalgia, a harking back to an earlier stage of your life, or seeing clearly a serious mistake. But this does not happen to the exclusion of the exotic present. What makes the whole experience vivid, and sometimes thrilling, is the juxtaposition of the present and the past - London seen from the heights of Harris Saddle in New Zealand.' - The Happy Isles of Oceania, Paul Theroux

'The word death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips. The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death , jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favourite toys and his most steadfast love.' - The Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz

'The world requires at least ten years to understand a new idea, however important or simple it may be'. - Sir Ronald Ross, The Path Between the Seas - David McCullough

'One of the important educational accomplishments that gave a man social standing and ease in polished company was the Grand Tour, usually a visit to France and Italy, made at an impressionable age by way of education.The grandest of grand tourists would take a retinue of servants and a tutor with them, but they wuld also meet artists and scholars who were resident in the places they visited... The tour could take years - the point was to absorb culture, not to cover a great distance.' - Architecture, A Very Short Introduction

'We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with emphasis on "good" rather than "time" and when you make that shift in emphasis the whole approach changes.' - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance