Splanky in Greenland
Settlement and Unsettlement on the North Atlantic Seaboard

Latest

Jan
19
View from my hotel window, Nuuk, Greenland

Ancestor

From time to time on this, my first visit to Orkney, I am in touch with my Irish relatives, who
8 min read
Jan
12
George Mackay Brown's flat, Stromness, Orkney

Stromness or Hamnavoe

To the Vikings, the anchorage in front of the small Orkney port of Stromness was known as Hamnavoe, Old Norse
8 min read
Jan
10
How to Settle #1—Bruce Chatwin's Imaginary Desk

How to Settle #1—Bruce Chatwin's Imaginary Desk

3 min read
Jan
05
Rome, 1996 The writer at work

Stopping God

It is so beautiful up here: it is a stopping place. Sylvia Plath, Berck-Plage Many years ago when I was
5 min read
Dec
29
Skara Brae and Skaill Bay, Orkney

Skara Brae

That day of the scuttle centenary, while they laid their waterproof wreaths and rang their bell, I had been up
12 min read
Dec
22
Scuttle

Scuttle

Just before noon on midsummer’s day, 1919, the interned battleships, cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats of the German High
5 min read
Dec
15
Crossing I

Crossing I

4 min read
Dec
08
Stag, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska

Stag

6 min read
Nov
24
Star Carr Pendant, front and rear

Deposition

6 min read
Nov
17
Star Carr, Vale of Pickering

Star Carr

9 min read