Category: Family

Black Mischief

Dr Sylvester Nyatsuro, a 45 year old black British GP practicing in Nottingham, has been given a white family’s farm in Zimbabwe by the Zimbabwean government. He has lived in the UK for at least fifteen years but is eligible on two counts: he is, supposedly, an indigenous black African and is a friend of… Continue reading Black Mischief

In the Swim

I recently wrote about my local art gallery in Charing Cross Hospital. There is also a sports club there with a 25 metre swimming pool that I splash around in a bit. But there is another local-ish swimming option.

Rapunzel – The Blonde Years

There is one room at Barmeath that I’m pretty sure I have never been into. It is on the upper floor of a turret and was approached by an external, rather rickety, wooden staircase.

My Local Art Gallery

London is full of lesser known galleries and Barons Court has one. It is less than five minutes walk from my front door on the Fulham Palace Road, so really Hammersmith. 

A Column about Wellington

I am not done with Trim. Besides the cathedral with its Trollopian politics (see I’m a Believer?) two famous people lived just outside, on the road to Summerhill. Indeed my sister and brother-in-law live on that road too.

I’m a Believer?

I have known Trim since 1963. Its Norman castle is the best in Ireland. The gardens at Butterstream (above) are not the best in Ireland; saying that would cause uproar at Barmeath. However, they were good enough for the Prince of Wales to visit in 1995. Trim is a small city in Co. Meath. It… Continue reading I’m a Believer?

School Stories

It is striking how many successful authors started off by writing school stories: P G Wodehouse, The Pothunters; Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall; Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, though it is set at university.

Dear Judge, Dear Ireland

My sister as a teenager was on her hunter on the road between Grangebellew and Ballymakenny. She may have been going to the blacksmith whose forge was out that way. She was thrown off and lay unconscious on the road until a Good Samaritan, in the form of Frank Rowe, found her and brought her… Continue reading Dear Judge, Dear Ireland

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Albinia

A goddaughter had her first child on St. Stephen’s Day, known in the UK as Boxing Day, this year. Mother and daughter are both well and the chosen names are Meredith Grace Albinia.