Business
The Bell Hotel, Epping
A disappointed migrant sits in his hotel room. England is not as he expected. A bee lodges in his bonnet. He puts pen to paper and troubles the letters page of a London newspaper. Here’s [more…]
Month: August 2025
Arts
Jinnie’s Story, Book Eight – Chapter Twenty-Five
Jinnie and Rick flew back to the U.K. together on the overnight Virgin flight. As they checked in together, Rick benefited from Jinnie’s automatic upgrade to Upper Class. As they strolled from check-in to the [more…]
Communism
Command Economies
After a once in a lifetime budget that was designed to promote growth, fill a fictitious £22 billion black hole and encourage new jobs, what are we left with, little to no growth, a £50 [more…]
Hobbies
The Lakes to London by Bus
For a few years I have always fancied travelling to London from my home town only using regular bus transport. The rules would be no trains, no taxis, no trams, no coach travel, however walking [more…]
Human Interest
The Italian Job, Part 5
Sunday morning saw us re-pack our overnight bags back into the car and we left the IBIS at about 10:30-11:00AM. As we were coming down towards half full and because fuel was relatively cheap in [more…]
20th Century
A View From (Just By) The Greenhouse; A Mini Postcard, A Lament
I saw the squirrel before it saw me. It loped towards me by the verge before turning into the yard and setting off up the path, where it was met by Burt and the B&M [more…]
20th Century
Book Review: On top of the world – Mallory and Irvine
With the somewhat macabre discovery of Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine’s foot, still in its boot, on Everest last October – Mallory’s body having been found some years before – my interest was awakened in the vast [more…]
Literature
Crawick Multiverse
On a short break in Scotland last year we took the opportunity to visit the Crawick Multiverse, a spectacular 55-acre art-land located in Sanquhar, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. This unique site, designed by the renowned [more…]
Authoritarianism
Control freakery
When I worked in Kuwait we were joined by three Polish programmers. Two really were programmers, the third was there to keep an eye on the other two. He was expected to work as a [more…]