Arts
The English Pub
After many years of leading tours of European battlefields I decided to add another string to my bow & took the course at St. William’s College to qualify as a professional guide at York Minster. I [more…]
England
Hobbies
Postcard – A walk up Ingleborough from Storrs Common, Ingleton
12th August 2019 You can follow my walk on the map on Street Map Ingleton is on the A65 Skipton Kendal road about 10 miles west of Settle. It comes as quite a shock to [more…]
19th Century
Postcard from Smardale Gill
Retirement, as I’ve mentioned previously, takes some getting used to, especially when you’ve become accustomed to a kind of semi-formalised regimen that has developed over the best part of 50 years. Although not without things [more…]
Arts
Where England’s Sorrows Began
Much has been documented, quite justifiably, about the major confrontations of the Civil War, 1642-1651. This article relates to a much lesser know event but one that nonetheless proved quite significant. What was meant to [more…]
Arts
“Push-Back” isn’t Racism
Rule Britannia I had an urge to write something about “racism” and I want to reframe it to what it really is, “push-back”. “Push-back”, in my context, is where you’ve had enough of a behaviour [more…]
Arts
Weekend Postcard from Cumbria, Part Two
The best laid plans of mice and men. We’d sort of decided that, after an early night on Friday, we’d make a mid morning start on Saturday and try the Dovedale trail, possibly taking in [more…]
Arts
Weekend Postcard from Cumbria, Part One
Finally, after six attempts, we managed to complete our long awaited balloon trip on Friday last. Another forty things to do at forty, combined with a special birthday present from the daughters to Mrs C. [more…]
Arts
English Alabaster
On a mini-break to London some years ago, we decided to have a look round the Courtauld Gallery (in the old Somerset House, which used for decades to be the central registry of birth, marriages [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Legs Cross Bank
Having written this over 6 months ago I have since realised from the comments I never read that many on GP are still wedded to the Greco-Latin version of history. It is ironic that the [more…]