Corner Shop

Doreen Fletcher has been recording the architectural history of the East End since the mid 1980s. She did this for her own pleasure and has only recently been “discovered”.

Of Teeth and Travel

Cereal House on Mark Lane was home to the London Commodity Exchange when I started in the City in 1976. There were futures markets for sugar, coffee, cocoa, etc there, as well as a bar. In 1981 the grandly named International Petroleum Exchange opened in a room that had been home to a defunct futures… Continue reading Of Teeth and Travel

Carlingford

This is my uncle getting ready to water ski on Carlingford Lough in 1969; no wetsuits in those days. I took the picture and if there’s a bit of a wobble it’s because I was timid about following him into the icy waters.

In Rome and Brussels

Naughty Margaret did not confine her friendships to the Bonaparte clan, as her album reveals.

Naughty Margaret

Earlier this month I introduced my great, great great grandmother, Margaret Bryan. She kept for a few years an album with entries by her friends and today it’s time to take a look at some of them.

Whither Oil?

This chart is not slap-bang up-to-date. The price of Brent is now around $60. I never fretted unduly about oil prices; that was the advantage of being a broker.

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Categorised as Business

Take the Pine Line

Having a cheap and cheerful lunch in Venice reminded me of a day out in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence some five years ago. If you like a good train journey and a cheap lunch, read on Macduff.

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Categorised as Travel

Driving Prince Philip

Neither the very young nor the very old are good drivers. My first lesson was in a farmyard at Barmeath in my grandmother’s Morris 1000.

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Categorised as Family

Bridges

On the seven mile stretch of the Thames upstream from Hammersmith to Richmond there are nine bridges. I’ve always wondered when they were built.