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…
After eight years in the job, I stood down in December as Chair of the Herne Hill Society. Hardly world-shattering news, I realise. It seemed a good time to step aside and let someone else have a go - if I could find someone to take it on (which I did, eventually). Membership is increasing,…
It's really not something I like to do. Everything I've ever been or done revolts against the idea. It is like throwing away food: it's just plain wrong (and another thing I almost never do). But we have far too many, and at 65 I have come to recognise that most will never be read…
As mentioned in a previous post, I joined the British Library in January 1986 and left in March 2015, retiring at the age of 60. So that's more four and half years ago (I haven't lost my razor sharp wits) and it won't be long until I am 65. I have restrained myself from writing about…
Half Moon Lane can be chilly at this time of the year, but I am basking in the warm glow of a job well done. It's nearly a week since a very successful event at Herne Hill Station and I am still asking myself how we did it. In under six months we planned and…
When did the First World Ear end? The answer is, it depends on where you were living or stationed. It was only when I started researching Herne Hill's casualties that I realised how many had died after 1918. Often it was as a result of disease, gassing or wounds sustained during 1914-18, but many were…
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…
There will never be another Armistice Centenary. On Sunday 11 November 2018 at 11am - exactly 100 years after the guns fell silent and the slaughter stopped - local people and visitors gathered for a brief commemoration at our Sunday market. *** For more than 12 months I've been leading a Heritage Lottery-funded project to identify…
The Wight Stuff 