Introduction (personal)

 Martin Sheffield's own page.

Slightly eccentric, I have a pet hate: 

internal combustion engines,
generators of noise, filth and loneliness.

and a favorite pastime:

Scottish Country Dancing,
a source of physical and mental well-being,
of fun with friends.

For more info about avoiding the former, or about joining in the latter, choose:

• - Cycling,  

• or -

• - Scottish Country Dancing
   
   

Or contact me directly:
<mj.sheffield(AT)orange.fr >
replacing (AT) by @, of course,
-- je traduirai tout en francais, si vous voulez, puisque c'est en France que j'habite.

Present homes: Grenoble at the foot of the French Alps, and Torremolinos on the Andalucian coast.
Previous homes: London - GB,
the Hague (den Haag) - NL,
Casablanca, Marrakech, Taroudant - Morocco,
Chapel Hill (NC) - USA,
Valence - FR.
Most of these towns are flat and perfectly suited to cycling, though many of their inhabitants
do not seem to realize this, unfortunately.
Some of them also have Scottish country dance groups. 

Wife: Genevieve.
Children: Delphine & Raphael.

- - - - - - -

Another thing that annoys me is people fighting about religion and other superstitions.
The churches have caused enough pain and suffering throughout history.

I am a confirmed atheist.

This means that I belong to a large group, but it's a group that goes largely unnoticed,
since we do not go about trying to convert people that think differently.

Why is it that, in the 21st century, some people seem to have nothing else to think about and fight for, than the superstitions of bygone ages?

Are there not more important things to worry about?

I remember learning at school that humans were rational beings, that philosphy was one of their great achievements.

Yet most of our history we have been fighting and killing to set up totalitarian states ever since Emperor Constantine discovered something he called "Christianity".

He then set about forbidding independent thought,

and the popes, rabbis and mollahs have followed his example

(emulated by a few like-minded German and Russian dictators).

Will the 21st century see a return of humanism?

- - - - - - - -

December 2005 : I had just returned from a trip, perhaps I should say a pilgrimage to Morocco.

A visit to an old friend that gave me a moving glimpse of the effects of war,

of injustice,

and of the strength of human nature.

Read the account

: Prisoner in the Sahara.

- - - - - - -

"At least a third of global warming gases are caused by the burning of fossil fuel
in automobiles.

Bicycles are the most efficient means of human transportation,
and cars are many times less efficient.

The age of luxury driving is over.
"Cars are the knives.
Roads are the scars.
Gasoline is the drug.
Who is addicted?"

Scottish country dance

Danse écossaise (en français)

Scottish country dance groups and clubs in France

Calendar (scd events in Grenoble)

Le Chardon du Dauphiné (club de Grenoble)

Booklets of my modern country dances

A few modern country dances in the Scottish tradition

Dance holiday 2008, Trieves

Dance holiday 2009 ?

Previous dance holidays in the Alps

contact :

mj.sheffield

(AT)orange.fr

True story :Prisoner in the Sahara

Histoire vraie : Prisonnier au Sahara

Cycling
(freedom of movement)

Atheism (freedom from fear and superstition)

the webmaster in the Drummond of Perth kilt