http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-827605.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-827605.html?r=RSS <p>'What are they singing about?" I asked the interpreter. They'd been singing for ages, all the women, shuffling their feet rhythmically, walking around in a big circle. They are a handsome race: tall and slender, with the perfect poise that I assume develops from carrying heavy things on their heads. The women walk as if they are wearing heels, but most of them had bare feet. I'd been helping them carry rocks, for making dry-stone walls. Some of them had children tied on their backs, as well as boulders on their heads, but now the work was done. </p> Alex James Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-821977.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-821977.html?r=RSS <p>I was facing a whole day of interminable terminals &ndash; airports, aeroplanes and queues &ndash; and felt the best way to approach it was as horizontally as possible, sound asleep whenever I could be. When travelling by air now, I just want to arrive. I'd take being asleep in economy class over being wide awake at the pointy end, any day of the week.</p> Alex James Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-817898.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-817898.html?r=RSS <p>The second cup of coffee and the second cigarette are the best of the day, I've realised. There's something about the second time around that beats the first. I'm 40 this year and I've already seen most things I'm going to see, but I'm starting to appreciate that seeing things for the second time is when you see them best.</p> Alex James Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-813912.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-james/alex-james-the-great-escape-813912.html?r=RSS <p>I'd never been this far up the other end of a bacon sandwich before. It felt like I had stumbled into a parallel pig universe that stretched forever in all directions. Strange place. They were lying down, most of them, decorating a big, cosy cloud of straw like plump sultanas in a cake, with their huge, mad faces all turned in my direction, eyes staring back wherever I looked. One pig's face is quite enough food for thought, but I was completely overwhelmed by the countless expressions and endless variations of form: a sea of swine. </p> Alex James Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:01 +0100