That'll do, Jools. That'll do! Welcome to Substack and congrats on your first post. I wonder whether you've connected yet with any other writers who may have similar experiences of travel writing here? Sure there's a category in the Explore tab for travel... Anyway, I'm thinking about trains. Do you know Monisha Jajesh? She is the train travel go-to (I follow her on Instagram) And an old school friend, Jamie Lafferty, who has also grappled with the language and politics with a small p of travel writing / travelling to write about places.
Love the family history slant in your words as well. This is my absolute Special Interest...
I especially enjoyed reading about your dad. My mum comes from a rural town in Japan (full of rice paddocks) and when her parents were told she was going to marry a foreigner, the story goes, they just sat shocked for hours, even when it got dark. It’s not something you do. Back in those days, saying goodbye was so uncertain, you didn’t know whey you would see each other again.
For your dad, it must have been so unsettling and he must have built a strong backbone of “just get on with it”. How do you feel about your Italian and other roots? Are you fiercely half italian and half british and ??
Thanks Mika. Interesting to learn about your family too. I hope that you’ll post about that more here.
Good question about my national identity too.
I think that I feel mostly British with a splash of European. I was gutted when we came out of the EU for this reason. I don’t really feel that Italian although I have been there a number of times.
I think that’s largely because I don’t know of any family there. I’ve tried to learn the language for at least 35 years with little success!
Thought I’d already replied to this one, weird! But yes I know Monisha a little. Don’t know the other guy you mentioned.
And just started exploring the travel collections too. Lotsa distraction there I’m sure!
Thanks so much for sharing my debut btw! 🙂
That'll do, Jools. That'll do! Welcome to Substack and congrats on your first post. I wonder whether you've connected yet with any other writers who may have similar experiences of travel writing here? Sure there's a category in the Explore tab for travel... Anyway, I'm thinking about trains. Do you know Monisha Jajesh? She is the train travel go-to (I follow her on Instagram) And an old school friend, Jamie Lafferty, who has also grappled with the language and politics with a small p of travel writing / travelling to write about places.
Love the family history slant in your words as well. This is my absolute Special Interest...
I especially enjoyed reading about your dad. My mum comes from a rural town in Japan (full of rice paddocks) and when her parents were told she was going to marry a foreigner, the story goes, they just sat shocked for hours, even when it got dark. It’s not something you do. Back in those days, saying goodbye was so uncertain, you didn’t know whey you would see each other again.
For your dad, it must have been so unsettling and he must have built a strong backbone of “just get on with it”. How do you feel about your Italian and other roots? Are you fiercely half italian and half british and ??
Thanks Mika. Interesting to learn about your family too. I hope that you’ll post about that more here.
Good question about my national identity too.
I think that I feel mostly British with a splash of European. I was gutted when we came out of the EU for this reason. I don’t really feel that Italian although I have been there a number of times.
I think that’s largely because I don’t know of any family there. I’ve tried to learn the language for at least 35 years with little success!