REMADE IN CHINA, REJUVINATED IN SWEDEN, RECHARGED IN CORNBURY, REVIVED IN EDINBURGH - AND SO MUCH LOVE AT THE LORDS - SUMMER OF 24

 I've had a humdinger of a summer. Do people still say, humdinger?   Four days in Edinburgh
during the festivals, staying at the Finlay, a converted ship in Port of Leith harbour, and the House of Gods in the heart of Edinburgh, watching brilliant and unexpected performances at the Fringe (Bills 44th and Why I Put a Flare up my arse for England). and to the International Edinburgh Book Festival where I learnt about the disruptively innovative Futures Library in Oslo.   

A week in West Sweden, the region outside Gothenburg staying in a glasshouse in the forest, foraging for wild chanterelles and making rather good mushroom soup.   And then to China, Anhui, to the Paper Museum, which was incredible, as if made out of paper (see pix), and the faces of the people even more evocative than the architecture.   The region inspired films Avatar and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.   China in miniature.  

And to top it all off, the cherry on the icing on the fike of a summer, was the event at the Lords, after seven years of research the de Bono book Love Laturally, published and Lords and Baroness and Knights attended and brilliant speakers and the sun shone.  de Bono did good, and for once I admit, so did I.