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…]
Bassman
Arts
Cruisin’ with Mr Covid
Cruising usually gets the eye-roll treatment from Puffinry, but Larry the Cat has an interest, so there. Mrs B and I seized the opportunity for a change of scenery. At certain points in your life [more…]
Arts
Rosebud in June
Here’s a welcome to the busting-out-all-over month of June. As you know, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. An ache for home according to the Greeks, and perfectly understandable if you were in your [more…]
20th Century
Men in Crates
The ripping yarns of derring-do served up by AWS are green in our memory, but here’s a caper that is more a case of derring-didn’t. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Umaru Abdulrahman Dikko [more…]
History
The Brown Bull Hotel
In the eighties I worked as a Home Office representative in Immigration Tribunal Appeals in London. We were a team of ordinary civil servants and were pitted against solicitors, barristers, silks, practitioners with an agenda. [more…]
20th Century
Dad’s Virus
Music fades. Captain Mainwaring is in his chair at the Church Hall office. Frowns as he looks at the important-looking document in front of him. Sgt Wilson sidles in… Sgt Wilson: “Good evening, sir. [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lundy Island
“I’ve just got back from Lundy Island.” These words are often greeted by furrowed brows and hazarded guesses as to its whereabouts. “Oh yes – somewhere in Scotland, isn’t it?” Hands up Postalliers who know? [more…]
Arts
Meet Markos Vamvakaris (“Mark Cotton”) – Patriarch of Rebetiko
Some things are not quite what they seem: hardly an earth-shattering perception, but you have to start somewhere. I imagine that a fair number of GPers have spent a holiday in Greece. I dare say [more…]