Arts
Pumpkin time
By now, you will doubtless have figured out that I have a very keen interest in glass, so while we were visiting the lovely Northeast of England for a few days recently, we took the [more…]
Culture
Arts
Blaise Hamlet
Blaise Hamlet is a collection of 9 grade I listed cottages situated to the North West of Bristol, near the village of Henbury. The cottages are all owned by the National Trust (admission to the [more…]
17th Century
A Postcard from the IFG Part Two
International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, August 2022 In Part One, I just about managed to shoehorn two days of the fantastic Festival. Before I carry on telling you about the rest, a quick gallop though [more…]
21st Century
A Postcard from the IFG Part One
International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, August 2022 Earlier this year, around May-June if I remember correctly since it was right in the midst of the chaos of our moving home, it was with some excitement [more…]
15th Century
The Amazing Life (And Death) of Xpoual (Es-po-al) De Colon
There is no definitive date for the birth of Xpoual de Colon. It is believed he was born between August 26th and October 31st in 1451 in Genoa, although there are also claims that he [more…]
20th Century
Meeting The Queen
I have a little anecdote on meeting The Queen. My late father was born in Lewisham, London and was brought up by working class parents in a council estate. After he got demobbed from the [more…]
19th Century
Sabrage, or how to show off at parties
You have all seen old Hollywood movies showing Napoleonic cavalry officers celebrating by cutting the tops off of champagne bottles. The name for this is sabrage. As with most things in movies there is some [more…]
Arts
The Detritus of Death
I was thinking about a title for this article for some time and “The Detritus of Death” was the best I could come up with – even if it does sound like a Doctor Who [more…]
Arts
Towers And Lovers
The train from Cartagena is eleven minutes late arriving into Alicante and almost twenty minutes behind schedule by the time it leaves for Zaragoza. Not that anyone minds, it is the way of the things [more…]