Lunchtime Prom

The Prom I went to on Monday wasn’t at the Albert Hall and there were no Prommers. It was at lunchtime at Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square.

First Slice Your Cookbook

The Earldom of Moray, pronounced “Murray” like the tennis player, is an ancient Scottish title going back to the 14th century. We need not concern ourselves with those early holders of the title. The 18th Earl, born in 1894, married a Barbara Murray from Fifth Avenue, New York, in 1922. I wonder if they were… Continue reading First Slice Your Cookbook

The Blues

It’s summertime, the weather in London is fine and everything in the garden is looking good; a sea of blue agapanthus against a backdrop of white jasmine. Yet I have never felt so uneasy about life.

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Categorised as Politics

On Appro

Although Dunleer in Co. Louth is only a village it had on the main street a department store, Matthews of Dunleer, that stocked furniture, carpets, clothes and so on. It’s on the same site today, now specialising in carpets and flooring, and has other branches around the country.

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First Night of the Proms

The Proms kicked off last night with an unscheduled piece – La Marseillaise. The Prommers were of course already standing but the rest of the packed Albert Hall rose to their feet for this mark of respect to France. 

Local News

Are you a regular? The sort that when you go to the bar the bartender says “the usual”? There isn’t really a usual post here anymore than Rachid, the cocktail barman at my club, can anticipate my order. However, there are a few bits and pieces to update you on.

Another Local Hero

If you are not a Sapper you will need to extend your vocabulary this morning to understand my post. Just three rather technical words and you may know them already. I didn’t. Here they are quoted from Wiki. 

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Categorised as History

Farmers’ Markets

When farmers’ markets first came to London they were fun, a shopping destination on Saturday morning. Now …

How to be a Brit

George Mikes came to live in Britain from his native Hungary just before WW II. His book How to be a Brit is a minor classic but it was written about seventy-five years ago. His one-sentence chapter on Sex may or may not be accurate: Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water… Continue reading How to be a Brit