My first reaction to the needle in the haystack art event story was, why is he doing it in France? How many Parisian art-watchers will be au fait with English idiom? If Tate Modern showed a man stirring butter into … Continue reading
My dreams were so vivid and peculiar, I feel the need to write them down. There were three of them and I can’t remember in what order they came, or if I moved back and forth between them. We were … Continue reading
If our idiom-coiners are to be believed, ducks have only death to look forward to. They are doomed, and in this they are not alone. This morning I looked out on our pond and saw an inert object adrift in … Continue reading
The attraction of a second hand book resides not only in the price tag but also the clues to be found inside, about its life story and the lives of those through whose hands it has passed. The shelves of … Continue reading
I had a rare endorsement from my son recently, when he asked if he could borrow my ski helmet. “What’s wrong with yours?” I asked. “Your helmet is so beaten up, it looks really cool,” he said. He’s right. After … Continue reading
Of course Bond skis. Half Swiss by birth, he is a citizen of the world, the go-to can-do man. Which is your favourite Bond skiing sequence? The Spy Who Loved Me perhaps, when James slaloms through crevasses and skis off … Continue reading
Nov 7 update: Le Ski’s appeal deferred until May 2014 for further investigation, so the ban stands for the coming season. I’m up to here with mid-morning hot chocolate. If the French ski hosting rumpus makes me drink any more … Continue reading
Progeny pressure is a terrifying thing, because it never lets up. Daddy daddy daddy …. please please please …. why why why Why, in this instance, could we not keep the Volvo XC90 I had borrowed for the family ski … Continue reading
On a hot August day we went to Portmeirion – hydrangeas resplendent – and ate lunch in the garden at Castell Deudraeth, the hotel on the water having reduced its non-residents offer to ‘light bites’ (no reservation). Lunch at the … Continue reading
Made my annual visit to the Dyfi Valley Bookshop in Machynlleth in case any of the 100-odd novels written by my great aunt Berta have fetched up there in the last 12 months; or (less likely, since he is much … Continue reading