The Collector

James Agate was a drama critic for The Sunday Times and the BBC. Between 1935 and his death in 1947 he published nine volumes of diaries. Wryly he called them Ego.

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Categorised as Literature

Charles Boutell

I share some of the same interests and initials as CB. He is a Victorian, a Norfolk man, no fool; he went to St John’s Cambridge (BA) and Trinity Oxford (MA).

May Hill

On Friday morning we climbed May Hill. It’s 971 feet above sea level and has a trig point at the summit.

Planting Trees

English gardens and parkland changed decisively in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as plant hunters brought specimens back from Asia. EH ‘Chinese” Wilson was one of the most famous, bringing around two thousand plants and trees back to Britain and America, while working for James Veitch & Sons in Chelsea and the Arnold… Continue reading Planting Trees

Scrambled Eggs

Brexit was inevitable. Breakfast in the British Isles is not like breakfast in Europe. If you can’t agree about brekker it’s time to part brass rags.

The Devil’s Pulpit

Many years ago I walked along the Wye (my grandfather caught a 41 1/4 lb salmon on the river in the 1930s) with Ingaret the Navigator; more recently along Offa’s Dyke with Robert. On Wednesday these two paths intersected at Brockweir.

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Categorised as Travel

Going West

We drove to the Forest of Dean on a wet Tuesday. I am getting to know the green car better. Sometimes it is breathtakingly brainy, at other times exasperating; in fact just like Bertie.

For a Few Dollars Less

Bertie likes to sleep by the door in case he gets left behind. I wouldn’t normally follow his advice but if, like me, you put your money in managed funds Bertie has a point.

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Categorised as Business

Be Prepared

UK and Irish passports are valid for ten years. Bertie’s Pet Passport will be valid from Friday until all the pages are full or until we leave the EU without a deal. Then it becomes complicated for Bertie.

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Categorised as Politics

The Play’s the Thing

Over the years I have seen many plays in theatres great and small. The first play I saw professionally staged was Seán O’Casey‘s The Plough and the Stars at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 1966; I still remember it.

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Categorised as Theatre