Already this year I have spent three months in France and I plan to be there for at least another two. Next year I imagine it will be even longer. Inevitably, with these extended periods abroad, I began to wonder exactly where I belong - a question which, at my stage of life, comes as…
Reflections of a postmodernist
It’s not that I have a problem with modernity, but upgrading one’s life isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Of course there are benefits but there can be losses too. What seemed like an obvious advance can give rise to pangs of nostalgia for the old way of doing things - was the…
The north wind doth infrequently blow
Sometimes gardening demands invention. Last week, it required the construction of a moveable gated fence, seven meters long and one meter high running across our lawn. The requirements were that it should be sturdy enough to keep in a small dog, easy on the eye and flexible enough to allow it to be folded away…
Communication gap
Several years ago I was in a taxi heading for Moscow airport. I spoke no Russian and the driver no English, but that was no obstacle. Soon we were chatting away about football - what else? The topic of our conversation was Manchester United. One of us would mention the name of a player -…
They was robbed
Football divides us, and for those of you who see the 'beautiful game' as irrelevant, aggressive or even repulsive, here is a health warning: this blog is not for you. However, those who empathise are invited to read on. The final Saturday afternoon of the season was a topsy turvy affair with anxiety and exhilaration…
Pfizer go home
Our house guest's question came out of the blue. Anne, who comes from France and has known me for years, suddenly asked why I had stopped railing against the pharmaceutical industry. Were the companies suddenly behaving themselves? I replied with some inner satisfaction that since my retirement I was a changed man. Instead of living…
Hold very tight please!
In central London last week I found myself re-living memories of my childhood - and there was an added pleasure: I was allowed to make the sort of very English public announcement of which boyhood dreams are made. The incident involved a new double-decker bus, one of those red, recently-introduced, London Transport Routemasters whose design…
30 Years A Shave
Joe Collier learns the importance of keeping up appliances Getting old seems almost unreal. As a child, then as an adolescent and later in my twenties, old age seemed a long way off and not much fun. And some things were clear - when old age arrives bodies stop working. Walking sticks, glasses, false teeth…
My little eye
There is more to spying than international espionage. Forget the events that forced Edward Snowden to take up residence in Moscow, Julian Assange in Ecuador's London Embassy, or the conversation that led to a Richmond spy's confession [Secret Newsagent, Greyhares blog, 9 April, 2014], in reality spying or being spied upon is a mundane, everyday affair.…
Secret newsagent
The man who owns the open-all-hours newsagent just round the corner is, as tradition would have it, in the centre of the community. He knows and treats his customers very well. Indeed, he makes a point of greeting us all individually either by first name, by title (Doctor, Professor), or by nickname (in my case Mr. le…
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