America
An Eventful Ride
I was spending a few weeks with “Bestie” at her home in Northern California. She has a beautiful house which overlooks her downward sloping meadow, about five acres, at the bottom of which is a [more…]
Hobbies
Arts
The Geek’s Guide To Distilling Commercial Grade Whisky For £8 A Litre Bottle
First, for those people in the UK and other countries where it is illegal to distil spirits without a licence, here’s the legal bit: “It is illegal to manufacture spirits in the UK without a [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 26
February 22nd, 1811. Late last night, as we were heading north-west in a moderate wind, a tremendous grinding crash threw the whole ship askew, and we found ourselves drifting with the sails flapping dangerously, threatening [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 19
I can’t understand why people are rude to the staff. I was always getting told off for being kind, or even just polite, to the maids and servants, or ‘helpers’ as they were often known. I was hissed at for always saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Enquiring politely about their families was frowned upon and helping them with their chores got the second greatest insult [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 25
December 25th, 1810. We celebrate our first Christmas at sea – or at least, the English humans and bears of our party do, for the Russian crew prefer to wait until their laggard calendar produces [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 18
Mr Gecko lived in the roof space of 25 St Therese Street, in the subdivision of Yulo, in Josephina City, near the creek, slightly inland, on Josephina Island, half way down the Philippine archipelago. He [more…]
Cooking
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
Yes, there are two paths you can go by. But in the long run there’s still time to change which road you’re on. – Lao Tzu There exists in nature a particularly blasphemous little organism [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 24
December 1st, 1810. We have crossed the Equator again, in the opposite direction. Our polar bears Boris and Beaivi must be the first of their kind to have ventured into the Southern Hemisphere, if only [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 17
Ferdinand Marcos having been deposed and his People Power successor Corazon Aquino having failed to control the country, an election was due in May 1992. In which, fortunately, no one from the Aquino clan wanted [more…]