Sweet Afton

I bought some shares in an investment trust last week and yesterday was writing up the trade. Idly turning back the pages I took a look at my first entry.

Theorbo Time

You don’t see a theorbo for years and then two come along together. About ten years ago I went to a concert at St Paul’s School to raise money for Venice in Peril.

Dear Diary

I know that you are not interested in my diary but last week was rather testing. On Monday I was bobbing around on a trimaran on the Solent. On Tuesday I consulted my (Investec) broker over a leisurely spot of lunch outdoors in Chelsea. On Wednesday an old colleague took me to lunch in the… Continue reading Dear Diary

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Categorised as Art

Sailing on the Solent

Let me introduce you to Ischnura, a female dragonfly, and the name of this trimaran. She was designed and built in Denmark about ten years ago and now she scuds across coastal waters in the UK.

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Categorised as Sport, Travel

Leonard Rosoman

I’m the man on the Clapham omnibus – I don’t know much about art but I know what I like – and I have the cheek to share with you the, usually under-rated, artists that I admire.

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For Starters

There are two great American novels narrated through the eyes of children – both girls, as it happens. One is To Kill a Mockingbird and the other? Here’s how it starts.

Something not on Wiki

People (not me) rely on sat-nav to get from A to Anywhere. I rely on Wiki to get background facts and so on. Today’s subject falls through the Wiki sieve and does not have an entry.

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Categorised as Art

Dou at Dulwich

  The Dulwich Picture Gallery doesn’t get the visitors it deserves because it’s not on the tube. It is a ten minute hop on the overground from Victoria to Dulwich West and then a ten minute walk through the leafy purlieus of Dulwich.

Plane, Train or Slow Lane?

I haven’t ridden my Brompton bike for years. I say this is a safety play as I don’t want to be squashed under a lorry. This happened to me on Hyde Park Corner in the 1970s and I don’t want a repeat. You may say I’m lazy.

Landmarks

John Smith and I share a birthday, albeit his was in 1923. Rather a common name, his I mean? Certainly, but he was an uncommon man.