A Day at the Races
Fin Vin De Leu ridden by Peter Toole – my first bet of the day. They came, er, somewhere between the front and the back. As the big race to the British General Election is announced today, I am still…
Easter Chicks turn helmets into bonnets
I live in Lewes in East Sussex where we do things differently. No one reminds me more about my home town’s delightful eccentricity than the new owner of the shop that used to be Crocodile Rock just across the road…
Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories and El Greco’s Crucifixion and a game of croquet – the essence of Good Friday
On Good Friday I always think about the deeply moving music composed by the Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis Victoria (1548-1611) and remember the time when I used to sing either his Requiem Mass or his Tenebrae Responsories at Easter…
Appreciating the mundane
My wonderful new electrical sockets OK, I know it isn’t pretty but I am excited by the latest addition to my study. Alex the electrician spent the morning putting up this wonderful bank of electrical sockets next to my desk…
It’s the economy stupid
Here in Britain the election campaign is well on its way even if we haven’t been given the date yet. It is that odd time in the political cycle when our politicians start to talk to us. This is serious…
Wolfgang salutes Wolfgang
There are times when I wonder why we bother at all. You know, after Shakespeare and Joyce and T.S. Eliot, what’s the point! I keep going though with my poetry here in the little room at the top of the…
Sowing, pricking out and potting on
I have been fulfilling my primeval and natural human role this weekend preparing for this year’s harvest – well, hoped for harvest. I have now nearly emptied my propagator and pricked out and potted on all those fragile little seedlings…
Good riddance to the Gang of Three.
I feel mildly disappointed, a bit naive and very disillusioned when I think about British politics these days. I am referring, of course, to the latest scandal to hit our Members of Parliament. Three former cabinet ministers, fervent supporters of…
My Spring garden, at night, in the rain….perfect.
I was walking home from my tai chi class last night feeling tired in the rain when I trod in a puddle and remembered it was the night for putting out the rubbish. I felt irritable, miserable and over-wrought until…
I think of America as I go to the doctor
I am off to see my doctor this morning and it isn’t going to cost me a penny. Two weeks ago I was having the latest in my regular consultations with the very very bright woman who is my consultant…