Blog Bellew - Page 215 of 312 -

Booth

No doubt you make a Pavlovian association between Booth and gin. Well the link has been broken since production ceased in 2017.

Of Mice and Men

I had a belated St Patrick’s Day dinner on Thursday. One of the diners furnished us with shamrock (above) expertly bunched by his wife. Another, who came from West Meath, turned out to be a lapsed member of the Irish Peers’ Association, a prospective member of the PG Wodehouse Society and a reader of this… Continue reading Of Mice and Men

Ten Things To Do List

1. Write thank you letter to Alistair for inviting me to the Hotel Chocolat last week. Here’s the bar of chocolate I made. Looks like a dog mess but I won’t stress that in my letter.

Family History

In the last post John Bellew died in 1679. His widow, Mary nee Dillon, built a fine chapel in the woods above Barmeath where members of our family are still commemorated and interred. He had two sons and a daughter: Patrick, Christopher and Mary. We need only concern ourselves with the eldest son.

Phantom Threads

Phantom Threads is supposed to be Daniel Day-Lewis’s swan song, but I suppose he will be enticed back to appear in cameo roles.

Back to School

It’s such a relief when there is a binary decision. On Saturday evening, either listen to Elektra on Radio 3 live from the Met or open a bottle of The (Wine) Society’s Vin d’Alsace, slot in a CD and, hey presto, High Society?

Local Notes

1. Periwinkle, planted in 1984, seems indestructible. It has spent months buried under building materials over the years and gets trampled on by me and the bin men.

Royal Collection

A friend took me to The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace to see Art & Power, an exhibition almost entirely composed of Charles II’s acquisitions.

Russian Election

There is a Presidential election in Russia on Sunday. 420 Short Term Observers have been deployed. I applied but did not get chosen. Why not?

Oh Happy Day

I have just finished reading Len Deighton’s spy trilogy Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match. Immensely enjoyable but when I started, it was with a sense of nostalgia for all that Cold War stuff. Now two things have happened.