Month: August 2018

Frontier Market

I started to invest in Vietnam at the beginning of June and now hold three funds that are showing a loss of 2.5%. It is a volatile market in which to invest for the long term so I’m not worried. Indeed one of my funds, VinaCapital, advises investors to take a five year view.

Published
Categorised as Business

Ham-Class

Ninety-three Ham-class minesweepers were launched between 1954 and 1959 and they cost a bob or two.

Lunch Menu

On Tuesday I had a simple luncheon comprising egg mayonnaise with a sliver of smoked salmon, cold salmon and devilled kidneys. I have now re-read Abbie and Arthur (much the better of the two Abbie books.)

Alphabet Soup

I have a fiendishly difficult quiz for you today. Here is a list of men (clue: no women) and I simply want you to guess which one of them has this alphabet soup after his name, KT, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD, PC and what these ten men have in common.

Gloriana Incognito

Monday morning and I’m out of the house early to give the cleaner a free rein to wreak the havoc that seems necessary to have a house that doesn’t give the appearance of being lived in by a smelly, old tramp.

Published
Categorised as Local

Here to Havana

Where to Havana? The bandstand built in 1869 for Kensington Gardens was moved to Hyde Park in 1886  and still has concerts. On Sunday Here to Havana were doing their stuff.

Published
Categorised as Music

Aunt Abbie

My fiction is arranged alphabetically by author, like many bookshops. Between Raymond Chandler and GK Chesterton are two slim volumes by Dane Chandos. Have you read him or even heard of him?

Published
Categorised as Literature

Douglas

He was born in London in 1913 but brought up in Paris where his father was correspondent for the Daily Herald. A degree in Mathematics from the Sorbonne gives no clue as to the direction his life took.

On Days Like These

On Wednesday evening Matt Monro was crooning “on days like these … “ Where was I? No trumpets, no foie gras but I was in heaven. Gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accurs’d they were not at Opera Holland Park on 1st August which in fact is not St Crispin’s Day (25th October).

London Views

What does London mean to you? A place to live, a place to work, a place to visit? Noisy, polluted, overcrowded? Spacious parks, world-class museums, music, theatre, shopping and restaurants? On Tuesday evening I sought the opinion of two people who, like me, came to live in London.

Published
Categorised as Music