ATM

I make no apology for contradicting myself. If you are a newish reader you won’t even know but the fact of the matter is that I wouldn’t see Sully (about the ‘plane ditching in the Hudson River), although now I wish I had. I wouldn’t see it because I knew the story. I did see… Continue reading ATM

River Ramble

This week I filled a lacuna in my tramps along the Thames. Hitherto I’d never walked between Hammersmith Bridge and Putney Bridge on the South bank.

Inscriptions

The connection between Bloemfontein, the RAF and Hammersmith Bridge may elude you. If you walk across the bridge on the upstream side you will find the answer.

Published
Categorised as History

The Ginger Man

“When you don’t have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it’s sex. When you have both it’s health.” That’s from The Ginger Man by JP Donleavy. He served in the US navy in WWII and jumped ship to go to Trinity College Dublin in 1946. Like Evelyn Waugh he didn’t get… Continue reading The Ginger Man

Published
Categorised as Family

Fulham Reach

Fulham Reach is the fancy name for the new blocks of flats on the river downstream from the Riverside Studios. I admire their winter garden but notice these new developments only take a lot of trouble over their appearance until the last flat is sold.

Green Flag Day

We (Friends of Margravine Cemetery) are proud of our slightly faded Green Flag fluttering aloft proudly showing we have won a Green Flag Award. To be fair they dish a lot of these out and not just in London but all over the world.

The Fox in the Attic

In a recent comment Richard D North drew a comparison between my stay with an aristocratic German family in 1972 and Richard Hughes’ 1961 novel, The Fox in the Attic. I must have read it more than forty years ago and had completely forgotten it, so it was a pleasure to read it again for… Continue reading The Fox in the Attic

Published
Categorised as Literature

In Memoriam

In 2008 when insurance broker Willis moved out of Ten Trinity Square into their current building, a sleek glass-clad high-rise next to the Lloyd’s building, it nearly left something behind.

The Taxman Cometh

In the summer I have the disagreeable task of gathering all my financial statements together and bunging them off to my accountant knowing her return shot in the autumn will be a computation of tax due at the end of January.

Published
Categorised as Business

Fire and Fury

Michael Wolff’s revelations in Fire and Fury about the Trump administration allege, among much else, that Donald Trump and his inner circle did not expect to win the election. This is last year’s news. It is such old hat that it appeared here in The Truth about Trump posted in July last year. Warning: this… Continue reading Fire and Fury