The Joe Collier Blog

A few weeks ago Rohan and I watched an extraordinary confrontation between a cat and a sparrow. It happened in our tiny back garden in Richmond while we were sitting in our conservatory-cum-dining room from where very little bird activity is missed. To our delight, and against the odds, it was the sparrow who won.  …

This blog starts with a warning albeit with no apology. As many readers will know, I am a staunch atheist and republican and in this story these beliefs play an important role. With this in mind, royalists of a religious persuasion might wish to stop reading now! For others, here is a story that was…

Being in our garden in Brittany is a real treat. It is not neat and tidy, nor is it in any way formal, it’s just a long stretch of greenery dotted with surprises. Geographically speaking it is a 150 metre-long strip that slopes gently down from our house at the top to a tiny wooded stream at the…

River arrived late in Tréguennec after an exhausting journey from London with his Dad. Next morning, he was off down the garden to check that his much-loved tree house was still there and then to climb up and down its ladder before sitting aloft to contemplate. For whatever reason, he decided to build ‘bird traps’ in the branches…

This blog was prompted by a public disagreement that occurred when I was out having coffee. I was with Andrew and his dog Bella and the topic that caused the rumpus was: “Do dogs feel guilt?” It was mid-morning and we were sitting outside on the café’s long veranda. At one point I asked Andrew…

One morning, Rohan’s elderly, hand-me-down sewing machine wouldn’t start. In her search for a cause she found a tiny screw and several metal pieces loose in the lower bobbin case - the chamber into which the machine’s main needle dips to pick up a second thread.  Neither of us could screw the pieces together again and…

Since I retired my relationship with animals has changed enormously - I now speak to them! Whether it is a bird, a frog or a hedgehog, I find myself greeting them with at least a ‘Hello’. And there is more; on walks in the countryside or when working in the garden I now identify with them; guessing what they might…

I have always chatted, and as I get older I chat more. Sometimes it is an exchange with a passer-by who I have not met before and am unlikely to meet again. On other occasions it is with people I see regularly, and these days a lot of chatting goes on at our local sports…

By any measure, the events over the last few weeks have been difficult. As with the sale of any treasured possession, we were faced with a challenging mixture of anxiety and conflict.  We own a studio in Paris. For many years it has been let but just after Christmas our most recent tenants left. Knowing…

Amongst the fittings in our house, it is the curtains that are particularly dear to me and all will have been bought and made to last. Indeed, an inventory tells how one pair is over fifty years old, two are in their thirties and the youngest will be twenty this spring. With such long service…