Author Archives: Elaine Elkington

John was invited to give a presentation at a conference in Amsterdam.  I thought we could go the weekend before and explore a city I hadn’t been to for maybe fifteen years but had good memories of.  I don’t really like trying to mix business and leisure.  But –  I could see a peep of […]

After our Sussex weekend, which turned out better than expected, we (I) decided on a long weekend to John’s favourite county  –  Dorset.  Holidays proper never seem to materialise because work is always more important, so I pounced on what had been designated ‘holiday’ in the diary, now rather brutally raided by ‘important’ meetings,  and […]

I hadn’t been to Canary Wharf before.  Coming out of the Underground, it seemed as if I’d been transported to a city of the future.  Glass skyscrapers, men like clones in dark city suits and white shirts walking in almost empty, silent and pristine streets. Reminiscent of surrealists Giorgio de Chirico mixed up with Magritte. […]

I have to admit I do like window shopping  –  along with millions of others. I’m more interested in how things are displayed in shop windows rather than just rushing in to be a consumer of what’s on offer.  These, sometimes brilliant, displays of a transitory nature are often overlooked from an artistic point of view. […]

No two week holiday for us this year after the big flood in the kitchen, which set off waves of extra building works.  But finally we had new floors and the end of six months ‘camping’ in dusty chaos was in sight.  What about a few days deep in the countryside, exploring the Somerset Levels? […]

I took this photo as we were about to cross the road at South Kensington after an interesting lecture at the Science Museum. It seemed to me a little ‘cameo noir’ from which you could create an interesting story.  Even the shot is out of focus!

It’s quite difficult to dig John out of his chair in front of the computer to have a walk at the weekend.   I just felt I had to go out and walk up river but it was already twilight and darkness was rolling in.  I decided to go anyway and tempted John to come […]

We’ve had an ongoing water crisis. Huge water and heating bills didn’t make sense –  we finally tracked down the culprit.  An invisible leak from a corroded hot water pipe, lurking in concrete, deep under the maplewood floor.  All the pipes in the kitchen had to be replaced – we had to say farewell to […]

It all started with a business contact of John’s who invited him to dinner in Lewes one Friday evening.  It seemed a long way to go just for dinner and if he drove there and back he wouldn’t be able to drink wine.  If I had been him I would have suggested a lunch meeting […]

This was a day of domesticana  –  just as well I didn’t have to travel as Storm Doris was making herself felt with gusts of winds that made the house creak in its old joints and had the trees swaying wildly, which we don’t see often in London.  I kept hearing odd noises downstairs as […]