We drove to see our 101 year old grandmother yesterday. It was quite a sad visit, as she is no longer as able to move around her house, and seems as if she suffers. She can't hear anything, so it isn't really possible to tell her all the things she wants to know, like how... Continue Reading →
Birthday greetings
I am 39 today. I always write my diary on my birthday, not that this is my diary. My actual diary contains even more boring diatribes about the various trivial frustrations of my life. Birthdays become a bit depressing past, say, 35. It's just a reminder that you've moved out of the "young" tickbox and... Continue Reading →
November dullness
A few weeks ago now Giles Coren's review of the Randolph appeared in The Times. It was accurately and amusingly bad, and intriguingly didn't even mention the only newsworthy event about The Randolph recently, namely the fire that broke out a few years ago. My memories of the Randolph are from occasional cream teas that... Continue Reading →
Still looking for the perfect Tablet
I have grown to hate all things Apple. I have had two ipads, and countless ipods - which these days are sort of obsolete anyway. The other day, my Ipad charger failed yet again; or rather, Apple clocked the fact it wasn't an approved charger that they want to charge some ludicrous fortune for, and... Continue Reading →
Apocalypse later?
In these days of uncertainty, where the only news seems to be confirmation that the world is losing its mind, I start thinking again about all the skills I would need to survive without the comforts of the modern world. Nearly every time I open the paper, and read about Trump, or Putin, or Assad,... Continue Reading →
Wisps of change
I was walking to work through Green Park as usual the other day, early on another sunny morning in what should already be Autumn. It is a strange pleasure wearing summer skirts as m feet brush through the falling leaves. Not exactly unwelcome, but does add to the general sense of foreboding about the future.... Continue Reading →
The cost of divisiveness
I enjoy Melanie Phillips columns; we clearly need more divisiveness and intolerance with our Marmite and cup of tea. Yesterday she writes - again - about the insidious nature of Islam. She seems to take a journalist's arrogance to a hugely complex problem, and as usual draws many parallels with our society's modern concepts of... Continue Reading →
European mushrooms
The Euro referendum is rather like picking mushrooms in the forest. It'll probably be fine, but since the downside is death, it is in most people's opinion too big a risk to take, and they leave the mushroom picking to sainsburys. It seems that on this occasion, people decided they didn't believe their sainsburys government any... Continue Reading →
Party like it’s 1999
Time hasn't so much stood still as gone backwards, rejoining the endless loop of stupid choices and the inescapable barbarity of human nature. For a little while, things branched off, developed a parallel reality in which differences were accepted, the greater good was a tangible ideal and not every favour was granted on a purely... Continue Reading →
