After two weeks in France (again) we headed back to London on Friday 11 April. We drove north to spend a lovely evening in Saint-Malo, where the sun came out just as we arrived. On our previous visit we'd seen that it would be possible to walk out on the causeway to the islet where…
My wife plays a Brahms intermezzo on the piano while I read the Times Literary Supplement. This sickening scene takes place at our holiday home in Charente. But there are worse things to be accused of than being middle-class. We returned from France on 27 February - and here we are again. They are forecasting…
Tue: Exceptionally cold, even for January. Leave Herne Hill 11am, arrive Liverpool by train mid afternoon. To M&S to buy clothes for Mum (she has shrunk), then to lawyers to sign probate declaration for Dad's estate. Train to Birkenhead then taxi to Upton, arrive at house and turn on heating and water. Open post: only…
As I've said before, I am not much of a musician. I'm resigned to the fact that, at my age and with arthritic hands, I will not get better - but I am still ambitious, within my limitations. I try my best. When One for the Wall re-formed, eight years ago, the idea was just…
You have to treat yourself once in a while, innit? I freely admit to having several guitars. There is the Fender F55 12-string I've had since 1973. But one of the tuning pegs is knackered and it has no pickup or on-board tuner. I don't play it. I could sell it. Maybe I will one…
Have you ever trapped your finger in a door frame? I hadn't until we were in holiday in Suffolk this August. I don't recommend trying it, because it hurts like hell. And all because I was careless and not looking at what I was doing. I well remember losing a toenail 40 years ago. You…
I am so looking forward to the Queen's Christmas address to the nation this year. "In difficult times such as these it is such a comfort to have one's family around one..." Leaving aside that Harry and Meghan have run away to California (which looks a better plan with each passing day), it's no longer…
Since I last posted I’ve been busy. Not full-on busy... but it’s hard to know what others are doing - aside from The Wife, who’s been slogging away, non-stop. Meeting after online meeting, all day long. She gets up early to get some actual work done. So I ought to do my bit. But I…
"Where would we be without the web?" says everyone I talk to. Mind you, nearly every conversation I have is on the internet these days, so they would say that, wouldn't they? Shares in the company that owns the Zoom platform have, appropriately, rocketed. It’s not only Zoom, one of many technologies that allow meetings…
It’s a fortnight since I wrote my last blog on - you guessed it - Coronavirus, which certain persons close to home suggested was alarmist, depressing, over-reactive etc. But it wasn’t hard to guess that where Italy led we would follow - even if we are a few paces behind. If I sound like a…
The Wight Stuff 