René’s old blog

This site is some twenty-five years old, and it contains lots of ancient stuff, much of it utterly dated and useless.

Sorry about that.

If anything, I post very unevenly, and about whatever occupies me.

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Most recent posts

  • Berlusconi covers up Truth – literally

    Berlusconi covers up Truth – literally

    When Berlusconi became prime minister recently, he chose a new backdrop for press conferences. His choice fell on a 18th century painting by the Venetian artist Gianbattista Tiepolo called “Truth unveiled by Time”. It is an allegory showing Time, in the form of an old bearded man, undressing Truth, a beautiful young lady, while Lie…

  • Opus

    I clearly haven’t been following the news properly in the last few years, if I could overlook the return of my all time favourite comics character, Opus. The strip runs in Salon.com, among others.

  • Beagle Paddling

    Beagle Paddling

    We took our beagle Jamil paddling one day in Venice, just to try it. He sat in the rear hatch of my Rockpool Menai 18, with his own little canine PFD on. There are a few photos below. Beagles aren’t usually fond of water, but he was calm enough for a short paddle. After about…

  • Adventure Kayak editorial

    Adventure Kayak editorial

    Tim Shuff has an editorial titled “Apologies to Everyone I’ve Ever Left in my Wake” in the summer 2008 issue of Adventure Kayak magazine, where he discusses the problem of mock waiting when paddling, based in part on my account of the things that went wrong in Sardinia in October last year between Wendy Killoran…

  • Returning from Elba

    Our visit on Elba is over, and we’re on our way home to Venice now. I went for a short paddle yesterday, at Cavoli on the south coast of Elba, in the largest of my new kayaks for Venice Kayak. I just went a few kilometres down the rocky coast, explored a small marine cave,…

  • Elba

    We’re on the island of Elba now. Venice Kayak had three kayaks from Sea Kayak Design delivered there quite some time ago, with the intent of picking them up there some time ago, but nothing went as planned and we only managed to get here now. The kayaks have been in care of Gaudenzio Coltelli…

  • The Redentore

    The Redentore

    We went to see the fireworks in Venice on Saturday evening, for the Redentore Feast. I have never seen the city so crowded, and Venice is often crowded, but the fireworks were simply spectacular. It was absolutely the greatest firework display I have ever seen, and it went on for well over half an hour.…

  • The Redentore Feast

    Tonight is the night of the Redentore feast here in Venice. We’ll take the bus to the city, where we’ll meet my friend Marco and some of his friends on a sail boat to watch the fireworks. We’ve never seen the Redentore feast before, so its probably going to be quite interesting. It is one…

  • Parcel update III

    Parcel update III

    So, the miracle has happened. The parcel sent from Barisardo in Sardinia in October last year has finally been delivered to my in-laws in Palermo, after over eight months in postal limbo. From what I hear, the content was rather smelly, so the washing machine has been working in overdrive since the parcel’s arrival. It’ll…