Gdansk - Millennial

'May you live a thousand years', spits a vengeful harpy at a rival in an eighteenth century comedy. The problem with birthdays is that as one gets uglier and older they become more painful and less easy to celebrate. Human life is but short when compared to that: of cities, and unlike humans they can resurface themselves with new beauty.

Not often does a really big birthday occur, however, such as this year's at Canterbury, and in 1997 that city must share glory with a venerable Polish port on the Baltic Sea For 1997 is also a star date for Gdansk. The city of shipyards, of the Teutonic knights, of the black towers of granaries, of the birth of Solidarity in 1980, is 1000 years old this month.