The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny - ENO at the London Coliseum

Brilliant new production in English by ENO at the London Coliseum of The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny. Brecht tackles the big themes: food, sex, fights and whiskey: so basically decadence. Weil’s music fortifies this, both in songs and underpinning dialogue and speeches. The Coliseum is one of London’s largest stages but the austere staging and lighting managed to convey the aesthetic of an intimate production, as in the early Berlin performances at the Kroll theatre.
The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny is an opera that is still difficult to take in because of its overt political commentary, much of which seems simplistic and now dated. The first night of Mahagonny in Berlin in 1930 was besieged by protesters, not the only opera in history to trigger riots but these were Nazis and eventually they destroyed almost all of copies of Mahagonny when the publishers were raided then burnt out.

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Keeping my hedges and me in trim - Lake District National Park

Workout outside today: a session on my garden’s hedges is at least as good a workout as a session in the gym. Keeps the hedges and me in trim: that’s the hedges less spiky and my upper body and core worked, plus chats with my Keswick neighbours.
Great to workout in such lovely cloud forest scenery! And then off to the council tip to recycle the four bags of cuttings.

At sea

At sea in the English Channel, off Worthing.

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Ashness Bridge - Watendlath - Lodore Falls: Lake District National Park

Watendlath Bridge

Ashness Bridge

Riding routes I avoid in the tourist season. It’s a leg-warmer to pedal up to the ever-popular Watendlath Bridge, passing over the lower Ashness Bridge. Plenty of flow in the beck making Lodore Falls roar, and a treat to visit almost alone. Even the road round the far side of Derwent Water under Catbells was quiet.

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Newlands - Buttermere - Whinlatter: Lake District National Park

Ride up Newlands Valley from Keswick, the narrow road beautifully clear of traffic. A bitter wind at the col but plenty of flow in the waterfall.
Sunny intervals round Buttermere and Crummock Water then Lorton and back over Whinlatter Pass. Snow lingering in the gullies on distant Helvellyn.
The window in the weather didn’t last so although that was my first ride of 2026 on my Ninja Z250SL, it wasn’t a long one.

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Château Langoa Barton 2004, Saint-Julien (Médoc)

Bottle of the 2005 vintage from a château favoured for his cellar by my Father in recognition of the name Barton, the same as our neighbours’ in Trumpington, Cambridge.

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ATR 72

Boarding ATR72 at Roland-Garros airport, La Réunion. Cargo at the front, self-loading freight (passengers) to rear.

Tropical fair weather clouds

And so back to the UK, my first leg was on an ATR 72 turbo-prop plane, pressurised cabin and flying up to about 4250 m. to Mauritius. Cramped and noisy compared to a jet. Amazing to think that before jet travel to La Réunion it was planes more basic than this which forged the routes.

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Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion

Piton des Neiges (3070 m.), view from Cilaos (1150 m.)

View of Cilaos village from GR R1. Indian Ocean horizon beyond the crater.

Hiking up the inside of the volcanic crater from the town of Cilaos on the GR R1 long-distance hiking route. This, the Forêt du Grand Matarum, is primal tropical forest, never harvested. But all the species have arrived from somewhere since the volcano went quiet so there’s a hotchpotch of trees and plants we know from Europe plus many from elsewhere.

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Tropical bikers - Road of 400 bends - Île de la Réunion

No, not bikers on Mars. This is one group I talked with at Plaine des Sables (2347 m.) on the recently-active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise. These riders like four cylinders, think 600cc is enough for la Réunion and were wearing safety kit. Up in the clouds but really bright: UV Index 10 and +22°C.

Restricted as a tourist to four wheels plus pedalling a mountain bike when I can hire one, I’m deeply envious seeing Sunday bikers riding out on the fantastically engineered roads across the centre of Réunion Island and up in to the cirques and volcanic craters. The landscape of the Piton de la Fournaise looks like Mars, except it has cars and daisies. There was volcanic activity here just last weekend,

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Route forestière de la Roche Merveilleuse, Cilaos - Parc national de La Réunion

I hired the only hardtail bike available in Cilaos, a Scott Aspect 50. There’s a forest bike park just outside the town with a selection of graded trails. Unfortunately the road tyres and brakes really won’t do that - I turned back after 10 m. down one of the red trails. So just the loop up to 1500 m. altitude on the forest road, but good enough to ride through cloud forest of Cryptomeria trees with the track lined with Ginger plants.
Cilaos (1150 m.) also has a mini BMX pump track, hidden and away from tourists. The locals made space for my efforts, then showed me much more. Anyhow great to feel the Gs of a different track to Keswick and Marseille and the bike was fine for that.

More photos: Route forestière de la Roche Merveilleuse, Cilaos - Parc national de La Réunion