A childhood friend lived not far away just across the Boyne in Co Meath. His parents had generously and compassionately asked a cousin to come and live with them. She was Miss Chapman, a spinster whose half-brother is TE Lawrence.
Underneath that pile of unread books is what I grandly call my library steps, although it came from IKEA where it is called a step stool. The pile has grown since my trip to Wales where I went to charity shops in Pembroke and LLandeilo.
At the MP Evans AGM last week a Dutch friend reminded me of an anniversary. The Battle of the Medway took place 350 years ago this week. The Dutch navy broke through a protective barrier (the Gillingham Line, as impregnable as the Maginot Line) and attacked naval ships anchored off Chatham.
Fear not, The Empire Trilogy has nothing to do with Star Wars but it is about three films. They were made in the 1930s, directed by Zoltán Korda and produced by his older brother, Alexander.
I left James Lees-Milne behind in London so was pleased to find a copy of The Diaries of Auberon Waugh, a Turbulent Decade, 1976 – 1985, when I was in a charity shop in Pembroke.
When I arrived in Carmarthenshire on Sunday the house was called Llwyn Piod (that’s Welsh for Magpie Grove). Yesterday the council and Royal Mail gave their consent for it to be called Fox Hall so change your Address Book.
Yesterday we visited Pembroke Castle. The site of the castle was first occupied by cave dwellers in the Old Stone Age, some 12,000 years ago. In the late 11th century, Roger de Montgomery, a cousin of William the Conqueror, built a castle here. It was constructed of timber, not stone.
Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years and 216 days. She spent just seven days of her reign in Wales, not because it rains as she was partial to rainy Scotland.
I was at Trim Cathedral for Holy Communion on the Sixth Sunday of Easter and paid attention to the Dean’s sermon. The First Lesson was Acts 17: 22-31 and this provided his opening.