Gwendwr Gardens

This is a pre World War II map showing part of West Kensington, north of Talgarth Road and west of North End Road.

Meet the Saint

Meet the Tiger (1928) is the first book Leslie Charteris wrote about Simon Templar, aka The Saint. I have the lot on a top shelf and sometimes read one.

Published
Categorised as Literature

Estonian Voices

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is a professional choir based in Estonia, founded in 1981.

Published
Categorised as Music

Flying Boats

When Barnes Wallis and Nevil Norway (aka Nevil Shute) were tinkering with designs for passenger airships at Vickers, Short Brothers had another vision for inter-continental travel.

On the Beach

You don’t have to have read Howards End to know its epitaph: “Only connect”. Only one other book has a similarly well known inscription; On the Beach.

EU Rules OK

Two years ago I was on Malta, population about 500,000, and more recently Estonia, population 1.3 million.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Let’s Get Metaphysical

“That’s a super-good idea” used to be an expression I used and sometimes still do but the world has moved on and now it’s not even cool to say cool or super-cool; mega-cool might cut it.

Published
Categorised as Poetry

Furnivall Gardens

On the north bank of the river, south of the A4, aka The Great West Road, lies Furnivall Gardens. You may think of it as being between The Rutland Arms and The Dove.

Vanilla Ninja

Yesterday was unusual. It was almost the first dry, sunny day in London this year. It was the second time I have used real money this year.