Author Archives: Elaine Elkington

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 […]

We have BREXIT ongoing, we have TRUMP taking centre stage.  I just thought I’d take a photo or two from each month in 2016 to show that all was not gloom and doom. I’m determined to ‘think positive’ because that carries weight, rather than being crushed and feeling disenfranchised. A physicist mooted that ‘dark matter’ […]

I hadn’t been to the north of England for a long time.  In this case it was ‘needs must’ and although my sister and I set off feeling anxious, it turned out to be more like a ‘weekend break’ –  but not at the weekend. Driving first along the M40 in the direction of Oxford, […]

Things – like a walk in the park, Things – like a walk in the dark … Suddenly,  the leaves are falling all at once.  It’s Autumn turning to Winter and time for the deer cull in Richmond Park.  Clouds  are gathering … Back in Barnes, we visit the bookshop, finding that it has a […]

My friend David is a whizz at finding good travel deals.  Who wouldn’t jump at the chance of a £39 return on the Eurostar? Bon, j’ai sauté à l’occasion… Getting up in the dark and cold is never the best thing but as soon as I was at St. Pancras International I could feel the […]

Bonfire night on the 5th November follows fast on the heels of Hallowe’en at the end of October and there are always a few bangs and some stray, early rockets to chase the witches away on their broomsticks. I usually buy packets of coloured ‘haribo’ sweets, which I keep in a bowl by the door […]

Flowers are a great comfort.   They don’t make a noise, they don’t complain, you can come and go as you like because they don’t need you and, most of all, they give unstinting pleasure because they have intrinsic beauty. Flowers are also a bridge between science and art.  Many plants are used in the […]

John promised he would finish his 24/7 report by the end of May, so I kept my counsel and was as quiet as a mouse about having a few days away.  We finally pointed the nose of our old- but- still- stylish- car in the direction of the New Forest at the beginning of July […]

Piccadilly.  Pouring with rain, I struggled to get my umbrella out of an already soaking shopping bag.  I trudged on to Liberty’s via Golden Square.  Breathing a sigh of relief as I arrived but looking like a drowned rat, I began to drip my way upstairs. When I went to put my umbrella back into […]

The first book I read in 2014 was ‘WOLF HALL’, by Hilary Mantel. It’s long and was quite a challenge but I suddenly found myself ‘in step’ with it after about 200 pages.  And, by chance, I started 2015 with another long but ultimately satisfying piece of writing.  ‘THE GOLDFINCH‘ by Donna Tartt. This starts […]