Too much flying around. Time to chill out.

Saturday afternoon, 2000 feet over Kuala Rompin. In Malay “kuala” means an estuary or a confluence of rivers. Next to the meandering Rompin river, further inland, lies one of the world’s oldest rainforest, the Endau Rompin national park with some unique flora and fauna, including the endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros.

Ponggol Marina. It droppeth from heaven upon the place beneath. Sunday without wakeboarding.

Daily stop at the fuelling station - Florian Steiner - probably the best espresso in Heidelberg. 

Stellenbosch (FASH), probably one of the most beautiful airfields in South Africa.

Buildings in Al-Balad (old city of Jeddah), some made of coral, with their  intricate window shutters, airy balconies, and carved doors. Beautiful and neglected. 

Rounding Cape Point, the southwestern tip of Africa, in the Cape of Good Hope, at 2000 feet in Piper Cherokee. A dream come true.

Alahlam Coffee Shop in Al-Lith. Standing here it is difficult to imagine that back in the 7th century this was one of the major trading places on a route that brought us the arabica coffee beans. From the Kingdom of Kefa (present-day Ethiopia) across the Red Sea to Arabia, and then to the rest of known world.

Springtime is not too far away.

Since my adolescence Foyles, this venerable bookstore in Charing Cross Road, has exerted a magic power over me. I could hardly pass by without being draged into its messy maze of rooms filled with books, books and more books. Time would invariably stop each time I entered and I never left empty-handed. Things are different now. It has been modernised and some of the old charm, together with the grumpy old lady in the science section, is gone. It is a far cry from the world of the firm’s legendary owner, the late Christina Foyle, who used to run the ­bookstore almost as a ­chaotic and eccentric extension of herself. Perhaps it is good she did not live long enough to learn that in Britain digital books are expected to outsell print titles by 2015.