It comes as no surprise, to me at least, that during recent trips to Paris there were moments when staircases dominated my thoughts; on one visit the staircase was threatening, on the other it was seductive. Architecture has always fascinated me, indeed, in my early teens it was my dream career and, while there is…
A great escape
In a few days, on the 14 June to be precise, around two thousand men dressed up as soldiers will gather in Naseby, in the heart of England. There, they will form up as two opposing armies and do battle. It will be a festival of make-believe in which these soldiers re-enact a key battle…
She’s leaving home
After almost three hours' work we stood in a row on the quayside waving her off. It was an emotional moment - at least for me. There was nobody on board the good ship Ann, no one to whom we were saying goodbye and no one to miss. It was just Ann herself and, anyway,…
Parking mad
Driving a car is full of challenges and on this particular occasion Janine, who is in her sixties, was at the wheel. Her driving is typically calm and careful; she is certainly not a risk-taker. The driver in front suddenly applied his brakes, and in seconds Janine's demeanour changed. She lowered her window, stared…
A fleeting moment
Thanks to the enduring suspension of our host's old Mercedes, our descent of the winding drive to the riverside clearing couldn't have been smoother. Phyllis, who collected us from the station, had invited us to spend a night at her family's water mill. The once-dilapidated seventeenth-century mill had been restored by her father Bastiaan and he had also…
QPR stew
This is Joe Collier's famous QPR stew. It is not known whether King Alfred famously burnt his cakes whilst listening out for match reports of his football team (Winchester Albion) but this is Joe's explanation for how he charred the beef, and accidentally added a certain je ne sais quoi to the dish! The stew is best accompanied by baked potatoes…
Time traveller
The other day my mind played a trick on me. While fully conscious, I suddenly saw myself standing staring at a poster on a wall in a Paris street in 1944. The experience was most odd and, because of the poster, very moving. The feeling was quite different from the experience I get when my…
Friends reunited
It is a simple truth that relationships change with age. For my part, over the years I have become closer both to other human beings and to some of my possessions. In this particular story, the possession was a bone china mug. It all started when I went downstairs to make an early-morning cup of…
Spring in Paris
The seasons reflect one of nature's most spectacular rhythms. We are lucky that they differ greatly one from the other, each with its own particularities and its own advocates. As I see it, the best of them all is spring, which according to astronomers, started this year on March 20th. Spring is the season in which…
Food escapology
After a late start, I gradually learnt to cook and for years now I have shared the culinary responsibilities with my wife, herself an excellent cook in the French tradition. In our cooking we have always tried to follow that tradition, so get almost as much pleasure from choosing the menu, buying the ingredients and preparing and cooking…
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