Boxcars

Boxcars is the (American) slang for throwing double sixes in a game of craps or backgammon. For those of us outside the United States a boxcar is a railway freight wagon and apparently the six pattern looks like one – no, I don’t think so either.

Published
Categorised as Business

High Tide

Three years ago the BBC made a short film warning that flooding in Paris was inevitable and they have been proved correct. The last time the Seine rose to such high levels was in 1910 and, although it didn’t burst its banks, the flood spread through tunnels, sewers and drains causing much damage.

Local Hero

This is a photograph of Sergeant-Major Champion in full dress uniform. James Champion was born and died in Hammersmith and he came to my notice when I saw his headstone in Margravine Cemetery. It was put up last month although he died in 1904 and the Cemetery closed for new burials in 1951.

The Big G

Opening later this Summer at the Royal Academy there will be that hardy annual,  the Summer Exhibition, followed by a David Hockney show that will help balance the books. Hockney’s latest riff is portraiture.

Published
Categorised as Art

Pavilioned in Splendour

Earlier this week I alluded to the remarkable success of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The credit often goes to Prince Albert but it was the brainchild of a civil servant, Henry Cole, among much else the inventor of the Christmas card. Joseph Paxton lent a hand, designing the Crystal Palace to house the exhibits… Continue reading Pavilioned in Splendour

A Great Exhibition

I like reading lists. A chap called Ben Schott has taken advantage of my predilection by publishing books of them that he calls Miscellanies. Here is a list (not one of his) that interests me.

Caroline

Once upon a time, on a dark and stormy night in the North Sea – so long ago there were no wind farms or oil rigs – a funny looking boat bobbed around.

Boring is Best

  There has been nothing to get excited about in the UK stock market recently. The FTSE 100 has been moving sideways, at best, for about three years.

Published
Categorised as Business