Animals
The Day I Met Trixie
Somewhere a cockerel starts crowing. It is 3 am and barely an hour since the passing of the last “booming bass” tricycle. Not to be outdone a dog starts barking, then another and another and [more…]
Travel
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, The Trocadero
On their Nostalgia Album 1952 road trip, my father and his parents have reached the top of the Eiffel Tower en route to Carlisle after visiting Aunty Lil in Gibraltar and taking in the healing [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…]
Arts
The Marisco Tavern
One or two Puffins may well be of a vintage where the adage “you’ll never forget where you were when it was announced that JF Kennedy was shot” rings true. SWMBO and I are fortunate [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Paris
This week’s first picture is of the unmistakable Eiffel tower. In 1952, without a phone mast, the landmark was 984 ft high with a viewing area 906 ft from the ground. We shall assume my [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Orléans
In the old photo above we observe Orléans cathedral at the end of a wide cobbled street with a row of cars parked on the right hand side. Not its real name (Basilique Cathédrale Sainte-Croix [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Lourdes
Unlike my father, grandparents and daughter, I’ve never been to Lourdes. Given the proliferation of places of worship that have sprung up around the Pyrenean town since the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to [more…]
18th Century
One Small Step for Man… Brindley and the Trent and Mersey Canal
In an earlier piece, I mentioned the Trent and Mersey Canal, with its company headquarters in Stone, hinting that its history and the political shenanigans behind its construction might be worth an article in its [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Admired From Nevers to Carlisle
Admired from Nevers to Carlisle As my grandfather’s Ford 8 made its intrepid conquest of the 7,000ft high Pyrenean pass of Col de Tourmalet during the return trip from Gibraltar to Carlisle, we fell upon [more…]