As President George W. Bush starts his new term in charge of civilization's most powerful nation, winning the election race by grossly manipulating 'moral values' that stroked the conservative bible bashing states into apoplexy - I find solace, from my despair for the world, by slipping out the door and driving north through Arizona's National Parks that conserve and protect this planets phenomenal landscapes. Route 89 effortlessly unwinds me through volcanic lav...

Caught an early morning flight from Detroit to Denver to visit Lucinda and Alexander. Surrounded by north and south versions of Table Top Mountain, Golden is a small town west of Denver that has Clear Creek shimmering through high and rocky hills that are at this moment silhouetted behind backlit honeyed Aspen and Birches holding on to their remaining Autumn leaves. The sun is still warm here and I soak up its early winter rays. I cannot help imagining the first ...

When is a city not a city - when it's Detroit, downtown Detroit that is. Cruising into the city on a slow Greyhound close to nightfall, I view silhouetted a handful of skyscrapers that I assume constitute a thriving/bustling metropolis. How wrong can a traveling Scotsman be? This is a city with no heart left in it, public transport run aground without funding. Drug trading where inner city life should be teeming, all to a backdrop of street after street of boarde...

9th Oct I'm heading up to Vermont to see my dear friend Jill and her daughter Jemma. I take a relaxing Amtrak train out of NY and quickly slide into Autumn coloured trees and long fresh water lakes that continue, respectively, to reach redder and longer states until we steam our subliminal way into the Adirondack Mountains upstate New York. Jumping off the train at Westport, I'm immediately greeted by Jill, her dog and a dramatically different America. We do lunc...

Day 1 Touchdown--"Welcome to the Big Apple" our super friendly head stewardess says as UA flight 905 smacks down on the runway. I had a feeling at Heathrow that this could be one of those coincidental meeting days when you bump into old friends at airports. Bang!! Mike Leigh is on the same plane to New York. It doesn't get any more coincidental than that. Mike & girlfriend Charlotte, bless me with a lift into the city of cities in one of those massive 'GMC...