On A Clear Day

It’s grand to be in London on a cold, dry, sunny December day when the air is gin clear. There may be a bit of pollution but it’s invisible unlike the pea-soupers in Holmes’s London and World War Two.

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.

Rise Up

“Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second Napoleonic Empire in 1870.” (Wikipedia)

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.

General Kerrich

“Here Lies Buried General Walter D’Oyly Kerrich, Colonel Commandant Royal Late Madras Artillery, Eldest son of Thomas Kerrich Esquire, Died 27th January 1911.”

Forty Years On

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

A Vanished Mansion

I have lived in London for almost half a century. I went to Gunnersbury Park for the first time, with Bertie, on a sunny day last month.

Local Politics

I suspect the quality of candidates prepared to get involved in local politics is unsatisfactory. In rural communities a paternal squire (he or she) may shoulder the burden.

Barons Court Station

This post, written in February 2017, describes some of the features of Barons Court station. It depicts an architectural rarity, deservedly Grade II listed. Unfortunately and inexplicably some of my photographs have disappeared, so I took some more yesterday.