The Joe Collier Blog

Over the last few years I have befriended a stray cockerel, an abandoned kitten and most recently a hedgehog. In each instance the friendship lasted weeks. This blog is about three more relationships - all were fleeting with the first two occurring in England and the third in France For walks on muddy days I wear a sturdy…

From King Henry’s Mound in Richmond Park the views are magnificent. On a clear day, St Paul’s Cathedral can be seen ten miles to the east. Windsor, which is sixteen miles to the west, is more difficult and deciding which bump on the horizon is the castle relies heavily on guesswork. As we stared, a couple who…

There are no butchers’ shops near us in Richmond and when a meal has to be special and the menu demands, we almost always buy our meat at a butcher a tube ride away. Being served from a selection of the highest quality products by people who know and love their business is a real…

Three weeks ago, on Saturday 22nd of January to be precise, I turned eighty. This blog is about that birthday and how, despite earlier worries coupled with elements of dread, the day turned out to be very special. Amongst other things I had often thought that I might not last long enough to be there to celebrate in person - at my age the future…

As a child, I would love watching people mend, make or create. I would stand in awe for hours in the local carpenter’s workshop or blacksmith’s forge. How a plank of wood could be turned into furniture or bars of iron into bespoke shoes for a horse was simply magical. But it was not just…

Two of the ‘greats’ who shaped modern South Africa were Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. Both fought tirelessly against apartheid but it was Mandela, whose struggle led to 26 years in prison and whose influence was the greater, who I admired the most. In keeping, when Tutu died a few weeks ago, after I had reflected on…

Over Christmas there was an added treat. For the first time in years the meals were made complete, now I could see things that, a few weeks earlier, would have been a horrible blur. After years of feeling an outsider, I was able to enjoy the expressions on the faces of family and friends as we chatted and laughed. The removal…

For several years we were on nodding terms. I knew next to nothing about the man at Number 12, and I imagine he knew little about me. I would see him on my way to and from the shops as he stood outside his front door - usually smoking. Now I know more; he can…

Europe’s Celtic Fringe is very important to me and now, through photos of its coast and hinterland, its richness is being celebrated in an exhibition in Paris. It is my visit to the exhibition and the effect that seeing the exhibits had on me, which inspired this blog It was a cold and wet November…

Opinions of others can change in a moment and several years ago this happened to my wife, Rohan. In our family, her account of that day’s events has become legendary and recently she retold the tale to friends over tea. It is that retelling which prompted this blog. The story was several years in the…