One of the great opera productions that I have been lucky enough to see in a life of opera-going was Graham Vick’s award-winning production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger conducted by Bernard Haitink on the night that the old Royal Opera…
It is the May Day bank holiday here in Britain and I was wondering what photograph to put up in recognition of the occasion. I didn’t have to look very far because, as usual, the always inventive owner of the…
Poor old Gordon! Well maybe not. I have to say though that I am still burying my head in my hands remembering a few things that I have said over the years which I wish I could wipe from my…
Nearly time for a nice, er……glass of water. Hmmm….delicious. How many sets of kidneys has it been through before it comes out of my tap? Too many for me to want to visualise I think. I believe in sharing to…
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. T.S. Eliot The Wasteland I have been trying to feel miserable this morning. Maybe it is the weather.…
I just ran up three flights of stairs and my heart rate is 85 beats per minute. Can’t wait for that cup of black coffee but I am wondering what it will do to my heart. Should I be worrying…
It is overcast this morning but warm and there is a sense of rampant fertility in the air as the English Spring comes to its climax here in Lewes in Sussex. I have a new addition to my garden, the…
With apologies to my friends in Scotland and Wales, today I am wearing my English hat and celebrating St. George’s Day. I know England is only a part of the British Isles, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the…
I planted my small ornamental cherry tree just before I was taken ill with a brain haemorrhage in October 2008. Hospital, a near death experience and quite a lot of pain meant Winter 2008 had its down side but, when…
A very good friend of mine sent me an article ( www.williamlanday.com/ -) the other day about how the novelist Graham Greene wrote exactly 500 words every morning and then stopped for the rest of the day even if that…