Feature

Gaza City, Palestine Gaza is a land of paradox, where things are rarely what they seem. It is a country where all living things strive to continue. It hit me this morning, as I stood behind my reinforced metal security gate, waiting to be driven to a hospital. I am a surgeon, doing what I can for the injured. There is plenty to keep me on edge. Another day of mayhem lay ahead. A day of filled hospital beds, of nowhere to house new admissions, of working out what to do with[...]

Newmarket, United Kingdom “You don’t understand...” “I do understand.” “Well you don’t understand modern fashion.” And that, of course, was true. I wear trousers until they fall off, rotate two shirts until they are in tatters, love my open-toe sandals, and have all but forgotten how to tie my tie. It was Newmarket’s Guineas Saturday, the first Classic flat race of the year, and the world had come to Suffolk. The Jockey Club, that beacon of the race-going fraternity, had been in full throttle for ages. Somehow, they had told the world[...]

Ambleside, United Kingdom “Another crazy person,” grinned the stranger who had appeared, ghost-like, a shadow from the Lakeland mist. It was a Wednesday, mid-morning, and I was exhausted. “That makes two today,” I replied, my smile a failure, more a snarl, eyes screwed three-quarters shut as the wind, and the snow, and the hail, and the rain, buffeted anything and everything that attempted to stay vertical. “I’m the first,” I added. “You’re the second.” And then, somehow, I managed to laugh. My new companion joined me, the stranger from the mist, somewhere[...]

Moulton, United Kingdom I know, when walking the Three Churches route in England’s rural Suffolk, I should have felt overwhelmingly holy. Perhaps a message of subservience would have descended from the sky. The region, to put it mildly, is magical. It is the resting place, too, for so many young and fallen, thanks to global conflict. I guess when my turn comes, it is not a bad place to be. Yet I confess to religion being a million miles from my thoughts, as I slowly wandered the circular 10-kilometre route that joins[...]

Toronto, Canada I could only feel sorry for her, a wave of pity shooting through me like an arrow to the gut. She was perhaps 16, blond locks falling to shoulders, short tartan skirt rolled at the waist to take its level above mid-thigh. Bare legs, naked, no tights, no stockings, just tiny pale socks. And on her feet I could see unlaced, light brown walking boots. The girl was a serious contradiction in fashion, something clearly ignored as she stood on the Toronto street corner tapping bare handed on her mobile.[...]

Denver, USA There is a problem with Canada, however lovely it may be. You see the people appear not to want you. Their defence of the realm, for realm it still is, starts way before you get there. In my case it began in America. Their tactics are simple. If you make it hard to enter Canada, with luck you’ll go somewhere different. It was Denver Airport, deepest Colorado, and my mind anywhere than the States. I had blindly handed my passport to a rapid-fire United Airlines check-in station. A guy in[...]