Author Archives: davidsprott

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About davidsprott

Artist, writer, veteran IT professional

Nervous Breakdown Britain

Just hours after I penned this piece, I hear that Angela Merkel has doubled down on the tough EU negotiating position. She is reported to have told Leo Varadkar, “ . . a hard border has to be on the table in … Continue reading →

Posted in Brexit, Brexit Britain, Democracy, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Theresa May’s Brexit Strategy?

I cannot reveal the source of this draft document. However, it seems to be an interesting approach that could just break the current Parliamentary logjam. . . . discussion draft for No 10 strategy group circulation only . . . . proposed statement re the EU … Continue reading →

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On the Border

You can drive to one of the most historically significant memorials in Europe in under an hour from where we are staying in Eastern Austria. And yet most of us will be unfamiliar with the name – Sopron, a small … Continue reading →

Posted in Brexit, Democracy, Travel | 1 Comment

Return to the Wienerwalt

The drive from Lake Simssee to the Vienna Woods is quite short, about four hours. We make a good stop at a Landzeit service area for lunch. The quality is superb, and we reflect on the sorry state of particularly … Continue reading →

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Holidaying with the Germans et al

Leaving the Toggenburg we take the most amazing highway from the Voralberg to Innsbruck which is deep in a valley between high mountains and much of the road is through tunnels with short glimpses of the high points between. From … Continue reading →

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Flowers in the Lower Swiss Alps

Down the years we walked in the Swiss, French, Italian, Austrian and German Alps, and always admired the alpine flowers. Magnificent colours in frequently exquisite plants. But we have never experienced such a profusion of species as we found on … Continue reading →

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Walking in the Lower Swiss Alps 2

Continuing on, we have walked pretty much every day we have been here in the Toggenburg Valley. Even on rest days we will have done an easy walk. For example, today we did 13 kms in 4 hours in the … Continue reading →

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Birds Have the Last Word

I mentioned we have several birds of prey on the Toggenburg property; buzzards of some sort seemingly nesting in the tall mature trees in front of the old house. The activity in the early morning and evening is considerable and … Continue reading →

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Hiking in the Lower Swiss Alps

We are now in eastern Switzerland. From Lake Constance and Bregenz we drove due south west for about 90 minutes to the Toggenburg – a steep sided valley some 30 kms east of Zurich. This is the mid-level Alps; peaks … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Bregenz in Festival Mood

  We arrived in Bregenz last night. Found the SeeCamping site right on the shore of Lake Constance/Bodensee and pitched. It’s a great site, huge but not crowded. The facilities are brilliant, typical Austrian/German. Visitors are as usual a mix … Continue reading →

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