Category Archives: Uncategorized

I meet up with my three university friends four times a year, as near to each birthday as possible.  This time the venue was Daylesfords in Chelsea. The food is both healthy and delicious. And downstairs they have an excellent deli. Many years ago, John and I rented a flat in Ebury Street.  You can […]

In the last days of September, we went on a five day voyage of discovery to see aeroplanes at Duxford,  Sutton Hoo, Ely cathedral, Wicken Fen, the Tide Mill at Woodbridge and the castle and oysterage at Orford.  Fen country. Somewhere we had never explored.  And I forgot to take my camera. Bof … but […]

If somebody asked me what Hammersmith is like, I would probably say I don’t spend much time there but it’s a great place from where to get to anyplace else. There’s the Piccadilly and District lines and across the road the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines (with new, spacious walk-through trains). And there is […]

This small reservoir lies close to the Thames and sometimes you can count up to twelve herons as you walk around it.  It is quite hidden from the main towpath and you can be quite alone in your ramble. stopping from time to time to look at birds and surprise the occasional water rat. This […]

One of the top pests in London dwellings is the small but deadly clothes moth, whose larvae are at this very moment chomping happily through your or a near neighbour’s cashmere jumper.  All wool garments spell ‘feast’,  the banqueting parlour being your wardrobe or wherever you may leave your jumper – hanging on the back […]

I’m a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society which was started up by Gavin Pretor-Pinney in 2005.  As a child I was entranced by the vastness of the sky.  I loved it best in summer, when it was blue with teased out, white, wispy, cirrus clouds. Lying in the grass on a hillside, lazily tracking […]

A cold and damp yet, oddly, humid summer 2015 –  with warm splashes of  reviving sunshine – enough to invigorate the spirits while drinking a glass of wine in the garden.  I’ve been out and about – like a curious cat, investigating and exploring, sniffing out the beauty and the beast in the city. Unfortunately, […]

Norway! We were invited to celebrate a Norwegian friend and colleague’s 70th birthday – first  of all in Oslo – then to be whisked away to a mysterious and, as it turned out, magical island. To be honest, I was excited but also slightly fraught. John was flying back to Heathrow from Seoul and there was […]

I met my friend Carolyn for lunch at Casa Brindisa in South Kensington in May. The food is very good and the service friendly and efficient but what I want to say here is that the cappuccino topped the list of my best to date!  A real treat.  I hope they can keep that up. […]

April was packed full of highs and lows – all squashed up together –  just like no buses followed by three,  racing each other round the corner.  At times, I found myself taking on the air of a bull with its head down, deeply frustrated and ready to charge.  But, all in all, it was […]