WORDS & ROADS: May 2010

Patrick Leigh Fermor, February 11, 1915–June 10, 2011, was an intrepid traveller, a heroic soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. After his stormy school days, followed by the walk across Europe to Constantinople that begins in A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople—From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube (1977), continues with Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople from the Hook of Holland—The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates (1986), and finishes in his yet-to-be-published final book of the trilogy, he lived and travelled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. His books Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958) and Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece (1966) attest to his deep interest in languages and remote places. In the Second World War he joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania, and fought in Greece and Crete. He was awarded the DSO and OBE. He lived partly in Greece—in the house he designed with his wife, Joan Elizabeth Rayner, nee Eyres Monsell, in an olive grove in the Mani—and partly in Worcestershire. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to literature and to British–Greek relations. He is considered by some to be the best writer of travel literature.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Memories

I recently found these remnants of a letter and a card, written both sides, in one of my boxes of memories. I am somewhat embarrassed by my arrogant twenty-two-year-old self in the scrap of letter (top image). Note that I was rather partial to the French beer, Kronenbourg, at the time. My brother, Felix Hayo Scharnberg, was in an apprenticeship in Weßling, Oberbayern, Westdeutschland, as cabinet maker, finishing carpenter, and building staircases (middle image; front of card). Almut Weigandt (bottom image; back of card, in her neat hand) was a co-worker and friend at Fondation Perceval (Camphill) in Saint-Prex, Vaud, Switzerland. She was a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent young woman from Kassel in West Germany. This friendship faded with time and distance.