I am not sure why I did it… but riding west on the E20 from Skara out of the corner of my eye I saw something in the hillside and rode for a while arriving at Kinne-Vedums. This masterpiece of 12th Century building is as fresh and dominate as the day it was erected by the Master Stonemason Othelric. I wandered a little in the immaculate grounds seeking shade in the shadow of the surrounding trees and took refuge in the quite calm of the cross vaulted ceiling and frescoes from CG Hoijst and Johan Laurell comissioned in 1754. 
Live unlike the others
“Life on the road is hard. I talked to my bike. It’s a bit crazy, but I talked to it every day, not to abandon me, not to let me down, not to break down, my motorcycle represents my life, more than just a bike”. I though it was just me but this quote is from Cyril Neveu so I guess its normal behaviour from a solo motorcyclist in a strange far away land. If you are planing a trip, long or short my advice is just do it… you will remember the sites you saw and the things you did, they will travel with you forever and if you go… I promise you this… you will not come back the same.
Family selection and extermination
It has taken me a while to write this, what I mean to say is this is a motorcycle travel blog, I am not party political or even religious – but you need to see what I have seen… Auschwitz and Birkenau in south-west Poland. So here we have a place known to us all, renowned for all the wrong reasons, the site of the murder of over one and a quarter million individuals, people like you and me, our wives, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, 12,000 murders a day. So ask yourself, are you an enemy of the state, a communist, a socialist, a criminal, an engineer, a doctor, educated and professional, a church leader, an immigrant, a Jehovah’s Witness, a gypsy, homosexual, antisocial or Jewish – I would be selected on at least two counts.
BUGN DRHQ FPNE QXVN IKPV HYSD
If you get a chance go to Bletchley Park. Its a haunting place that was the location of the UK Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), and perhaps most famously the site that allowed Dilly Knox and the team including Alan Turing to build the Bombes which helped crack the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. I had to double check my facts after my first visit as I just could not believe that in the UK homosexuality remained a criminal offence until 1967. Turing committed suicide on June 7th 1954 after begin persecuted for being gay. It is little recompense that the UK government officially apologised to him for the “the appalling way he was treated”, but on the 24th December 2013 Turing was pardoned posthumously by the Queen – its not the finest moment for our democratic system and tolerant culture – live and let live.
Little Blackall Street – Go Figure
Stumbled across some excellent street art last weekend in Little Blackall Street in Shoreditch,London EC2. Turns out this little alley supports displays from RUN, C215, 616, Swoon and Alice Pasquini as well as Pichi and Avo, some of the original work is covered under hoardings but even those have been enlivened. Did a bit of digging and found some “whose watching the watchers” art on display and when I checked on street view I found this – the irony is not lost on me…
