Arts
A Postcard From India; Delhi
I thought long and hard(ish) on how I could start off a series of “Postcards” about our trip to India. The whole thing came about following an off the cuff remark whilst discussing, with my [more…]
Travel
19th Century
Murder Most French
Every once in a while, as one turns a page in an old family photo album, one runs the risk of falling across a cause célèbre or even a grisly murder. If, after braving the [more…]
20th Century
Small Towns in Austria
Lans A sign to the right of the crucified Christ announces that we are arriving at the Tyrolean hamlet of Orfsende Von Lans. That’s certainly what I thought. Further investigation shows we’re leaving, and not [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Innsbruck
Zurück in den Tag Am I allowed to say that back in the day I loved Austria? Yes, it was too expensive, yes it was full of unrepentant Nazis, and yes the whole place was [more…]
Arts
Pumpkin time
By now, you will doubtless have figured out that I have a very keen interest in glass, so while we were visiting the lovely Northeast of England for a few days recently, we took the [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From West Germany
Donaueschingen Strict privacy laws and the German people’s well-practiced challenges to any risk posed to that privacy means that Street View isn’t available in the Federal Republic. Identifying the locations of old photographs, in this [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Seine Bridges
As we reach the end of our 1952 Nostalgia Album adventure to Gibraltar and back, my father and his parents remain at the top of the Eiffel Tower gazing at the more distant of the [more…]
17th Century
A Postcard from the IFG Part Two
International Festival of Glass, Stourbridge, August 2022 In Part One, I just about managed to shoehorn two days of the fantastic Festival. Before I carry on telling you about the rest, a quick gallop though [more…]
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…]