The seasons reflect one of nature's most spectacular rhythms. We are lucky that they differ greatly one from the other, each with its own particularities and its own advocates. As I see it, the best of them all is spring, which according to astronomers, started this year on March 20th. Spring is the season in which…
Food escapology
After a late start, I gradually learnt to cook and for years now I have shared the culinary responsibilities with my wife, herself an excellent cook in the French tradition. In our cooking we have always tried to follow that tradition, so get almost as much pleasure from choosing the menu, buying the ingredients and preparing and cooking…
Surely not the postman?
As life plods inexorably on its way, one might as well get used to the notion that some of the characters who once seemed to be part of the very fabric of society will recede into the background; they will flicker, fade, and then perhaps disappear quietly for ever. Among them are clearly some figures…
On Church Road
Our lunch on the first Sunday of February was very special. Just five of us were around the table - my wife Rohan, myself, our two sons and my sister - and for the occasion the number was exactly right. Only a few days before, Rohan had been discharged from hospital and this feast was…
Strapped for cash
Members of the Greyhares' generation have lived through two seismic monetary advances. In 1993 it was the introduction of the free movement of goods and capital across Europe's Common Market. Six years later we witnessed the introduction of the Euro-Zone's common currency - the euro. Now we are facing a third and, for the individual,…
A dog’s afterlife
The older I get, the more I wonder at certain of the people around me, the things they profess to enjoy, and the way they behave. In some respects, I confess, my puzzlement is my own fault; I simply cannot be bothered to find out. It was like that all those years ago when, at…
Spread a little happiness
Maybe it’s a generation thing but I am not, nor never have been, a natty dresser. Quality yes, fashion no. Indeed, for many years I aspired to the anonymous dress style of a deputy bank manager. Nowadays, if I do wear something fashionable, it is almost certainly a gift from someone in touch - usually my…
The uncommon reader
We, that is people in general, seem to have a compelling desire to label. I am talking specifically about the way we give nicknames to things, nicknames that are adopted by the people, rather than created by some official. I am sure the British are in no way unique, but here naming relates to anything from a building - in…