Time travel

Maybe one day we will all be able to flip backwards and forwards in time. Currently, we can guess at the future but not experience it. However, it is possible to savour the past through a vast mass of information: archaeology, art and architecture, etc, etc – and through stories and films. Everyone has their own favourite period to explore. My personal choice is to discover all I can about Georgian England, especially that part known as the wider Regency period. I have Jane Austen to thank for opening the door into a world where I at once felt at home. Part of my exploration of that era is to write stories set in Regency times. But there is a twist – being a bit of a wanderer, I like to take my characters on journeys to far-flung places. The more research I do, the more people I find who lived, worked and adapted to life overseas throughout that era.

One famous example is Lord Byron. His connection with Greece is well-known. But he travelled extensively in the eastern Mediterranean. In the town of Tepelena, Albania, where he visited the ruler, Ali Pasha, in 1809, the main square is now called Lord Bajron Square. That is a wonderful tribute by a kind people, always eager to welcome visitors to their land, so long as they come in peace.