Arts
Putting Pen to Paper
Today 1st November is not, as we once hoped, Independence Day but it is International Fountain Pen Day. It is the ideal day to confess that, occasionally setting the keyboard aside, I indulge in watching [more…]
Culture
Arts
Bacon Baguettes & Round Laces
My old chum Carruthers came to stay last week, he works for a major airline & has seen plenty of the world in the last forty years, as indeed I have myself. We somehow got [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 36
By now, Princess Fahds was married and expecting. Expecting a bebe and expecting the love to follow the land, as the new one’s little feet approached the oil soaked, lifeless sand. Her own life was full of wonderful things. A wonderful [more…]
Arts
A (short) Postcard From “The Firkin Fox”
I have a good friend who lives in Essex, although we are very different people we’ve always got along well since we first met, we share a sense of humour that not everyone gets. We [more…]
Arts
Midlife and the search for the ‘Wild Man’
Midway in life’s journey, I found myself in a dark wood, having lost the way. -The Comedy of Dante Alighieri This perhaps an off-beat subject for GP, but one that affects everybody at some stage [more…]
Arts
The English Pub
After many years of leading tours of European battlefields I decided to add another string to my bow & took the course at St. William’s College to qualify as a professional guide at York Minster. I [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 35
They, dear reader, say that a humble author should read, read, read as well as write, write, write. In my defence, long-suffering aficionados of our never-ending quest for Lille will have noticed, to name but [more…]
18th Century
Postcard From Cumbria (A Week in the Lake District) Part One
Some of you may remember that back in 2017 Mrs. C and I (it was all her plan really) made it our business to do 40 things together to celebrate having been married for 40 [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 34
As if mountaineers roped together, we troop along Euston Road in a line, making our way from Euston Station to St Pancras International with our packs and cases. My now middle-aged self leads the way, ahead of [more…]