Arts
Another Caribbean Christmas, Part Two
Day One – Christmas Eve I woke up at 04:15, before my alarm went off, with my stomach turning over, I was either worried about the antigen test and failing at the last hurdle, or [more…]
Travel
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Nineteen
Having visited Helsinki Central Station, nearby shopping streets and the cathedral, our mystery family will have made their way back to the ferry at Satama, pausing to have their photograph taken beside the distinctive dockside [more…]
Arts
Another Caribbean Christmas, Part One
I have been looking forward to getting back on board a cruise ship for some time now. Covid has caused the cancellation of 3 cruises for me so far (June 2020, Christmas 2020 and June [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Eighteen
From Helsinki Central Station, a five-minute walk takes one past the Ateneum and along Ateneuminkuja and Yliopistonatu to Senate Square, at the north end of which and up some steps sits Helsinki Cathedral. Billed as [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Seventeen
Last time on Mystery Album we decided Helsinki Central Station showed the world a particular kind of Art Deco that stamped on some of the movement’s expectations. Purists half agree, preferring it transitionary from Art [more…]
History
Postcard From Kyrgyzstan
There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell Swiss Bob but haven’t got round to. Perhaps you could oblige? Next time you bump into him, drop into the conversation that, after two years sitting around on [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album , Part Sixteen
Last time on Mystery Album I forgot to tell Puffins that the first Swedish monarch, King Gustav VI Adolph, to be interred at Kungliga Begravningsplatsen and away from Riddarholmen Church (apart from the wayward Christina) [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Fifteen
Last time on Mystery Album our mystery posh mystery photographer family looked out from a Stockholm City Hall corridor, next to the Golden Hall used for the Nobel Prize winner’s ball, towards the Riddarholmen where [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 30
I was delighted so many readers have enjoyed my recent accounts of sailing in the north of Scotland and thank DJM for writing – “A life well lived”. I couldn’t ask for a better epitaph [more…]