Rominations

Have you been to Romania? I can recommend it. I speak as someone who has spent five days in the country. We stayed in Bucharest and Brașov: the two cities that nearly everyone on a short break visits because they are relatively close together. On arrival at Bucharest Airport you will immediately see that you…

Second chance

How often do you fail at something important, and get a second chance? As previously recounted in Useless Information, when I was a postgrad at Queen’s, back in 1983, I was picked for the University Challenge team. I've always been a fan of the show and I was fortunate to (still) be at college when…

Welcoming refugees

What have you done in the last 10 days? I shall summarise my activities - more for my benefit than yours. On Sunday 28 April I spent the entire day driving home to London from France. The following day was dedicated to unloading the car and washing clothes, sheets and pillowcases. On Tuesday I carried…

The Cockleshell Heroes II

Last week I briefly mentioned the events that followed Operation Frankton, promising to set them in the context of rural Charente. Put briefly, Operation Frankton was a commando raid on the port of Bordeaux in early December 1942, carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines. Six folding kayaks were transported to the Gironde…