My recent trip to Canada was full of surprises. Not least amongst them was the decor at my Bed and Breakfast. In my limited experience B&Bs are more functional than fun. My week at Wendy's was different - here was a visual cornucopia. Each day for a week I worked with my son Joshua on…
Time traveller
On trips abroad my mother-in-law would wear two watches. Wherever she was, she needed to know at a glance exactly what the time was at home. I would tease her - surely she could work it out for herself! And why did it matter anyway? But she never changed. Then, one morning last week, I…
London Brick
I knew every inch of this house, he had said, passing a shaky hand over the wall by his bed. Grandfather, you can’t smoke your tobacco in here. You know what the doctor said. There, I’ve opened the window for you. After the stroke, that last time, when words had failed him, he had scratched…
Tomato wars
Frank is a thoughtful man who rarely smiles. He also happens to be the owner and chef of Le Symphony, a favourite café of mine. His menu is limited but his omelettes are a dream, and when I am in Brittany it is with him that we - Bernard and I - have lunch most…
When words failed me
It has been a terrible few weeks and I am writing this blog in the saddest of circumstances. At the end of February my wife and I were completely thrown by the death of our eldest son. It has all been very painful, but one way that has helped us deal with our grief has…
Teenage love poem
I can see it now-- the Chaldon Village Hall Coats to the left, backs to the wall “Baby Love” blasting through a crack in the door And not getting home ‘til a quarter to four. Oh ramshackle hut, roof painted green Parents OK, they’ll know where you’ve been. A table set up for collecting the…
Legend of the District Line
As I get older I get more picky, and this extends to where I sit when travelling. For some time I have had favourite seats in cars and planes. The list now includes places in the underground, more specifically, in trains on the District Line. Here, making sure I find one of my favourites is…
The only way is Sussex
There was a short detour to be made before booking into our restaurant-cum-hotel on the edge of Lochinver. Our aim was to pick chanterelles. In Scotland they are at their best in late summer and one September we had stumbled across a carpet of them growing in their favoured Eeyore environment - a damp mossy…