The Elphi

I went to visit sugar and oil traders in Hamburg a few times over the years, unfortunately before the Elphi opened in 2017.

My Faithful Friend

Vecchia Zimarra is an aria in Act IV of La bohème in which Colline (bass) sings farewell to his old coat. He is going to sell it to buy medicine for the dying Mimi.

Lumley Chapel

There is an abundance of magnificent funerary monuments in England. Yesterday I went to Cheam and saw some corkers.

News from the ‘Hood

Morrisons bought some of McColl’s branches out of liquidation in 2022 and have rebranded them Morrisons Daily, including the Barons Court branch. I haven’t been in yet but hope there will be some Morrisons ready meals on the shelves. Not the crap McColl’s used to stock to sell to students.

Forty Years On

If you walk into the study on the ground floor at Barmeath there is a black Bakelite switch inside the door.