Culture
A Potteries Idyll
This will be quite brief for a Sharpie article (I can almost hear the collective sighs of relief) but it acts as a bit of a paean to The Potteries, and one not only from [more…]
Culture
Culture
(Not) A View From The Greenhouse; After The Goldrush. The End
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a hospital. Not an A&E, thankfully, but a famous hospital in the North West of England where I attended for a “pre-op” appointment. It’s an indictment, albeit a [more…]
Culture
The Nepo Thing
While the term “nepo baby” is a recent addition to cultural vocabulary, the phenomenon of nepotism in entertainment, fashion and media has existed for as long as these industries themselves. Family connections have always played [more…]
20th Century
A View From The Greenhouse…..Fixing The Foundations, To Build Back Better
On Sunday night just passed we were treated to the sight of upwards of 150 tractors, of varying shapes and sizes, convoying around the villages in this part of Cumbria be-decked in Christmas lights. As [more…]
Authoritarianism
A View From (The Shed By) The Greenhouse; Scales Of Justice….Innit?
It’s often quite surprising when you find something that you didn’t know was lost, as happened recently with this set of scales. I didn’t “rediscover” them myself, the buildings and maintenance department did, but we’re [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse, Edizione Apulia; Seconda Parte (All In It Together)
The hotel outside Matera is new and consequently very modern, the food in the restaurant was pretty good, but the waiting staff knew we were a tour party and treated us accordingly. Not rude, as [more…]
Arts
Basilica Santuario Santo Stefano – The Seven Churches of Bologna
It is a short walk from the twin towers, past the oldest house in Bologna, to Via Santo Stefano. For the most part the journey is under a colonnade of stone, cast in cool shadow [more…]
19th Century
Postcard from Birmingham, Part Six
In recent weeks we have allowed ourselves to be distracted by summer riots, 1980s football matches and pop concerts, the Falkland Islands and even the delivery of mail to the South Pole at Christmas. Puffins [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse; Edizeone Apulia (Prima Parte)
And so to Italy, but not before making sure the Buildings and Maintenance team had been fully drilled in the routines required to ensure I didn’t return to any kind of disaster. I needn’t have [more…]