20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Kent
Canterbury In our family album, my father and grandparents visited Kent and Sussex for a holiday in 1948. This was a time of great change and transformation in those counties as they, and the rest [more…]
Travel
18th Century
A View (120 Miles Or So) From The Greenhouse; Whitby(ish) A Postcard
First things first, as the saying goes. Starting bottom left, the vine flourishes and has benefitted, in no small measure, from a good old fashioned “clip out”, more of which next time. Before we get [more…]
20th Century
Scottish Tour, Part Three
Cape Wrath Cape Wrath is a cape located in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. It is known for being the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain and boasts [more…]
20th Century
Slow Boats To Africa
Previously, in “The Sore Seated Safari”, we followed one Charles Henry Freeman and some compatriots, on a 1929 road trip from the town of Iringa, in Tanganyika, to Nairobi in Kenya. But what were they [more…]
20th Century
A Scottish Tour, Part Two
Loch Ailort As we accompany my grandparents (and their caravan) on their 1956 Scottish road tour, we reach Loch Ailort, a west coast sea loch and popular tourist destination. Or do we? The location of [more…]
Arts
Postcard From November, Part Six
Happy Birthday to Me My birthday is November 4th and as a child my main memory of it was always of my parents laying on a party for my friends who all turned up bearing [more…]
Arts
A Scottish Tour
In 1957, Scotland was undergoing significant social and economic change. The post-war years had seen a boom in heavy industry, particularly in shipbuilding and steel production, but by the late 1950s, this growth was beginning [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Liverpool
Mrs B and I are currently on a QM2 cruise to Liverpool and back to Southampton which occurred because of the cancellation of a transatlantic sailing after a fault was found in the funnel, of [more…]
21st Century
Detour To The Eternal City
We interrupt my grandparents’ 1950s Continental road trip to bring Puffins a contemporary photo montage just arrived via that modern-day family photo album that is Instant Messenger. Inspired by childhood dinner table tall tales of [more…]