PASSPORT & ANTHONY

Anthony’s grandad travelled the world serving in the army. He retired in the 70s giving him time to satisfy his undimmed wanderlust. Anthony was ten when they first set off revisiting the countries his grandad had served in. Over six years they travelled to China and Hong Kong, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece, Russia and Italy. They shared a curiosity for the world but a conspiratorial silliness too. The window of a hotel in Rome provided a good height for dropping grapes on passersby. Their last trip was a flight on Concorde. At sixteen, just a couple of years shy of legal drinking age, they shared a glass of champagne, steadying it as they craned to see the North Sea below. When his grandad died his granny gave him all the photographs of their trips carefully stuck into a sugar paper book, their beaming faces on a commemorative plate from China and his grandad’s passport with stamps from every place they’d visited.

31 Jul 2011