{"id":175,"date":"2003-05-17T12:32:51","date_gmt":"2003-05-17T12:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/?p=175"},"modified":"2020-09-25T08:40:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T07:40:04","slug":"travelling-with-john-mandeville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/travelling-with-john-mandeville\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling with John Mandeville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or Braking For Unicorns\u2026<\/h4>\n

Not so long ago, I drove past the Walt Disney building in Burbank. Imagine St Peter\u2019s meets Bedrock with a hint of Stonehenge, but constructed by a pastry cook and you\u2019ll have a pretty clear idea. With the seven dwarfs (well, six; Stupid or whatever his name is, is tucked up under the apex) shouldering the entablement of an ersatz Greek temple. Ungainly atlantes (I did my homework, caryatids are the female ones) on an unexpected structure, even for Hollywood. Of course, it didn\u2019t take long to imagine it being excavated millenia hence by a team of archeologists from another planet. What on earth would be their definition of our religious beliefs\u2026 but then again they might not be that far off after all.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, that is very silly, but leaps of the imagination are like that, into empty space, eyes closed tight, not knowing where you\u2019ll land. That\u2019s why I like to travel like the (most probably) legendary Mandeville: to meet a rhinocerous and see a unicorn. That\u2019s why I drive slowly, you never know what\u2019ll turn up.<\/p>\n

Wherever I am, whenever and however, everything puzzles, dismays or delights me. Hopefully, I will not grow out of it. I\u2019m far past the age where I can hope to grow up.<\/p>\n

I have a love for maps and foreign lands, but never together. Which means I spend hours poring over the intricacies of old maps and the rest of my time getting lost\u2026 story of my life.<\/p>\n

Blue Ribbon:
\nJust found out that I\u2019ve received an award! This is my very first award since I won a traffic safety poster contest in high school, so it certainly is a landmark. Given the rhythm at which I seem to be chalking them up (one every 30 years) I better make the most of it. Imaginales 2003 award in the illustrated book category (http:\/\/www.imaginales.com<\/a>). Have to rush off now, and dust off that mantelpiece.
\nOn the drawing board: Yet more Tolkien illustrations (for a change).<\/p>\n

On the bedside table: The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton, American Gods by Neil Gaimon and the Lore of the Unicorn by Odell Shepard. (If I can remember, I\u2019ll post the titles of the books I\u2019m currently reading, usually about a dozen at any one time – which may explain why I get lost so easily\u2026)<\/p>\n

Coming up: Some more Tolkien illustrations\u2026 and, it looks like the documentary is going to happen. At last, a chance to talk about myself! (At least I\u2019m familiar with the subject\u2026)<\/p>\n

Sorry for such a brief entry, I\u2019ll make it up next week.<\/p>\n

See you next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or Braking For Unicorns\u2026 Not so long ago, I drove past the Walt Disney building in Burbank. Imagine St Peter\u2019s meets Bedrock with a hint of Stonehenge, but constructed by a pastry cook and you\u2019ll have a pretty clear idea. With the seven dwarfs (well, six; Stupid or whatever his name is, is tucked up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,47,18,46],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","tag-illustration","tag-madeville","tag-tolkien","tag-unicorn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1PY8Y-2P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}