Waterloo and Other Family Matters

I think I remember my maternal grandfather visiting Barmeath when I was a child; but as he died when I was four I think the memory derives from a photograph of him with me. He was Chaplain to the Bishop of Bombay and it was in India he met and married my grandmother.

A Sitting Duck

Yesterday I went to one of only four tube stations that has only one platform.

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Categorised as Travel

On This Day

I have, again, delved into The Assassin’s Cloak: an anthology of the world’s greatest diarists, edited by Irene and Alan Taylor.

Sardines

Spot the anomaly. Since 2002 Finistere has been Fitzroy. I highly recommend This Thing of Darkness (don’t let the title, a quote from The Tempest, put you off) about Fitzroy and Darwin – one of the best books I read last year.

Days and Nights on Malta

Nicholas Monsarrat is an unjustly neglected author. If you have read any of his novels it will be The Cruel Sea. I hadn’t read anything of his until last weekend.

Palm Balm

I can remember when using natural cork as a wine bottle stopper was considered bad as cork forests were being destroyed. Cork oak trees, Quercus suber, are largely (more than 60%) grown in Portugal. Now sustainable forest management means real cork is an eco-friendly, sustainable crop, supporting livelihoods in Portugal and around the Mediterranean. Using… Continue reading Palm Balm

A Vanished Mansion

I have lived in London for almost half a century. I went to Gunnersbury Park for the first time, with Bertie, on a sunny day last month.

Local Politics

I suspect the quality of candidates prepared to get involved in local politics is unsatisfactory. In rural communities a paternal squire (he or she) may shoulder the burden.