Roman Churches

I visited the churches mentioned by James Lees-Milne in his guide Roman Mornings when I last visited in 2017 but here is no shortage of churches in Rome and yesterday I went to some I had not been to. The only challenge was to work out a circular walk and to factor in lunch.

Romulus and Remus

Kipling’s poem is as bleak an assessment of the world condition today as when he wrote it in 1908. Although he was referencing Canada modern parallels come to mind.

Published
Categorised as Poetry

Stolpersteine

Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day. The person who may have done most to keep memories of victims alive is German artist Gunter Demnig. Since 1992 he has been placing small square brass plaques (Stolpersteine) on pavements to mark the last place they lived. He says “a person is not forgotten until his or her name… Continue reading Stolpersteine

Published
Categorised as Art, History

The Passenger

Last year I was taken by Max-Otto Ludwig Löwenstein‘s wartime memoir, Accidental Journey. You may remember his family were rich Jews and he went to Cambridge before being sent round and about as an enemy alien and joining the British army.

Published
Categorised as Literature

Hare and Tortoise

I have friends, yes really, that take an interest in their investments and if the performance is unsatisfactory they kick ass. That’s not my style. I await events.

Published
Categorised as Business

Die Kaiserin

A colour television in the 1960s cost as much as a new, I suppose small, car. A large Dover Sole in a restaurant cost 12/6 or half a crown. I have bought a TV for £125 (the TV licence is £175) and it does everything except brush my teeth. On the other hand I don’t… Continue reading Die Kaiserin

Leopard Changes Spots

I can’t let go of The Leopard. Encouraged by favourable reports from friends I am now a Netflix subscriber and have watched the first two episodes back-to-back.

Omnia Vincit Amor

Love conquers all; one of Virgil’s crispest and subject of much verse and prose. It could be the subtitle of many books by PG Wodehouse.

Published
Categorised as Art

A Proposal

When Don Calogero’s arrival was announced at exactly half-past four the Prince had not yet finished his toilet; he sent a message asking the Mayor to wait a minute in his study and went on placidly embellishing himself. He plastered his hair with Lemo-liscioy Atkinson’s‘ Lime Juice and Glycerine’, a dense whitish lotion which arrived… Continue reading A Proposal

Published
Categorised as Literature