Although I am recovering now, the events over the last three weeks have given a sobering reminder of how bodies - mine at least - age. Despite regular sessions in the gym, my trunk and limbs were suddenly forced to declare, or so it seemed, how they had become less able at coping with physical…
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…
A thought for tomorrow
Graham Dukes calls for the abolition of February and March I have been thinking. I don’t do it very often, because it tends to give me a headache; however, I have some hope that one day it may earn me a medal. This particular train of thought started up a while ago when I found…
Incatitude
Alan West resorts to "Cat Stuck On Roof" story. If you want unquestioning devotion they say, get yourself a dog. I’m all in favour of unquestioning devotion and I rather admire dogs, but I wouldn’t want one in the house. So we have a cat instead. What I like about cats is their pragmatism and…
Of ice and men
Exhibitions are an acquired taste, and as I age, going to them tastes better and better. Ice Age Art at the British Museum is one of the best. Not because of its design - I found its juxtaposition of original artefacts with more contemporary art infuriating - but because it set me thinking. Then, over…
A stake in the ground
A few weeks ago I stayed in a rather grand seventeenth century merchant's house in France. It had walls a metre thick and backed on to a hill, which was all very fine for protecting against the biting north wind but, 350 years later, made phoning or texting a lottery. Unless, that is, I went…
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…
Reluctant mermaid
It was more than sixty years ago; I was twenty and on my way to a party on a summer evening in Wonderful Copenhagen, as Danny Kaye had taught us to call it. Why Copenhagen? The University, you see, had organized a course in Danish for foreign students, most of who turned out to be…