Chelsea Morning

Have you noticed this structure just off the King’s Road at the end of Dovehouse Street? It is a flight of stairs leading nowhere used to train firemen to deal with fires in blocks of flats. There are more beautiful buildings in Chelsea, two of which have a military heritage.

Princess Margaret

I am sure I am not alone in deploring Craig Brown’s vulgar “biography” of Princess Margaret. It is a scurrilous hotch-potch of unreliable, disloyal and deeply offensive gossip garnered from a muck heap of diaries and newspaper articles.

Strangers

Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 novel Strangers on a Train is pretty dark. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film is a lot better. I’m hoping to introduce two strangers.

Published
Categorised as Business

Carmen

I was watching the second episode of Yes, Prime Minister in which Bernard explains to Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, that he has not much to do; no department to run, just chairing Cabinet meetings, Prime Ministers questions, and a chat with the Queen on Tuesday evenings.

What a Difference

What a difference a day makes. On Wednesday it was wet and cold, yesterday it was sunny and there was more than a hint of spring in the air.

Spam

I’m finding Anthony Powell slow going. He does not spoon-feed his readers. Towards the end of A Question of Upbringing Jenkins witnesses a meeting between Sillery and Buster. “Whatever they had found in common was satisfactory to Buster, too, since he laughed and talked with Sillery as if he had known him for years.”

Published
Categorised as Literature

Reconstruction

90% of the medieval centre of Nuremberg was destroyed by Allied bombing in just an hour. How was it rebuilt? Here are some pictures.

Pigeon Diplomacy

FTWeekend often provides instructive and profitable insights. An article last weekend seems to be a watershed moment illustrating the former.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Carnival

I’m a bit behind, chronologically. On Saturday morning I went to Albrecht Dürer’s house while Robert was playing in the quarter finals.

Published
Categorised as Art, Travel

I’m into Something Good

An obsequious, chastened Pious brought him the gin on the stoop. Morgan poured two inches into a glass full of ice, added some bitters and a dash of water. He hated the drink but it seemed the apt thing to do; end of a tropical day, sundowners and all that.