Category Archives: Uncategorized

All the gardens around here abound with bluebells – the rather fat and fleshy ones, known as ‘Spanish’ bluebells rather than the more elegant, woodland type. It would be interesting to know the history behind this, as my neighbours complain about the fact that however many of these bluebells you pull up, they return in […]

I’m not quite sure of the date but it was around this time. I walked into our garden and looked up to see this balloon, which seemed to be just skimming our neighbour’s chimney pot. Luckily, my camera was on the kitchen table and I managed to get this shot. It wasn’t until afterwards that […]

I hadn’t spent much time exploring the north coast of France, except for lovely Dinard – (see Dinard film festival entry). Usually, it was ‘à travers La Manche’ and then full speed ahead for the autoroute to the south. But I was about to find out what I had been missing, when my sister and […]

London, a yellow-grey, clammy cold. Cloud, like heavy piles of damp, seeping cardboard. But the holiday week I had booked last November was coming around and Switzerland beckoned. I searched in the back of the cupboard for our walking boots. John’s finally came to light and looked still serviceable. Annoyingly, mine seemed to have disappeared, […]

I mentioned that John and I had joined The Cloud Appreciation Society, set up by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. There is, on the website, a photo gallery of weird cloud formations, taken by people from all over the world. Some of the cloudscapes are astonishing. I have always been fascinated by the different types of clouds and […]

Our Canadian friends, Doug and Margot, had decided to leave their comfortable flat in Kensington after five years and return to their roots. Doug wanted a change from city life too, as he had various projects in mind. They ended up finding a farmhouse with some land, three hours drive north west of Toronto, in […]

John and I were invited to a wedding at Monteviot, in the Scottish Borders. I thought it might be a good idea to make a long weekend of it, so we could do some exploring. We took the train from Kings X to Berwick-on-Tweed. Gaia had found us a wonderful car hire firm, East Coast […]

This bush – a relative of the more exotic Hibiscus and called Common Mallow – has lived outside our house in the front garden longer than we have lived inside its walls. It started off pink but for some strange reason it diversified, first to pure white and then to white with a burgundy coloured […]

This photo is just to show the pleasures of leisure in the sunshine. Perhaps the title of the book isn’t as recreational as it could be but it’s good to see John enjoying ‘time out’, although I’m not quite sure what he is reading. It looks suspiciously like a report of some nature. Maybe the […]

I used to think it wasn’t worth going ‘on holiday’ for three or four days but our recent foray into Sussex proved otherwise. My Alastair Sawday choice of bed and breakfast suited us very well and the location near Midhurst was perfect for exploring. As we drove into the town centre we espied on our […]