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Rail travail

I was brought up to respect thrift. My parents were of that post-war generation who did not espouse extravagance. Rationing was not abolished until 1954. Going to a restaurant other than Lyons Corner House was a rare treat.  Their first house was rented. Gradually by the sixties they came to enjoy [...]

July 28, 2021 // 0 Comments

Can we believe what we see?

This isn’t exactly rocket science, but occasionally every man (or woman) jack of us gets reminded that – for the human race generally – either things are never quite what they seem to be and/or (alternatively) sometimes they can be exactly what each of us want them to be, simply because [...]

July 28, 2021 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Sir Christopher Wren Windsor

A few years ago I was a regular visitor to both the Sir Christopher Wren hotel and Windsor. The hotel got tattier and tattier. One day on the outdoor terrace I saw a spritely Indian businessman directing affairs. He turned out to be the owner of Sarova hotels. Sarova have now taken over the hotel. [...]

July 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Positively ignoring my first Olympics

In accordance with what seems to have become a newly-adopted Rust policy stance that elite sporting games/events staged in the absence of crowds are unedifying to the extent of being unwatchable, I am currently “not watching” the Tokyo Olympics. Despite whatever brave and noble performances our [...]

July 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Borsalino (1970)

My Alain Delon season continued with the only film in which  he is paired with the other French  box office star of the sixties and seventies Jean Paul Belmondo. They play two up and coming gangsters in 1930s Marseilles. Even though they generate a certain chemistry on screen, off screen there [...]

July 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

Drunks

A few weeks ago on the car radio I happened to hear A Good Read, a book recommendation programmme presented by Harriet Gilbert. Under the Milkwood by Dylan Thomas was advocated by one participant. There was much praise for the Welsh poet’s lyricism. Harriet Gilbert, as accompaniment, used an [...]

July 24, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Hundred/a spectator’s view

I watched both the women’s and men’s Hundred on television and to my surprise enjoyed both. This said I believe it has more drawbacks than attractions. First is association. Neither Brighton nor Sussex have a franchise.  The nearest venue is Southampton where the Ageas Bowl hosts the Southern [...]

July 23, 2021 // 0 Comments

South Pacific

It was good after such a lengthy absence to see live theatre again. My last visit was possibly at the self-same Chichester Theatre to see Fiddler on the Roof. Similarly South Pacific carries a deeper message of racial prejudice. You cannot go wrong with this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic as it [...]

July 22, 2021 // 0 Comments

Going back to the theatre

I cannot claim, even in my BC (“Before Covid”) years, ever to have been a regular theatre-goer. From birth, by instinct and inclination I was never one for seeking the spotlight – and here I’d hesitate to go near the words “show off” in this context because they carry with them a whiff [...]

July 22, 2021 // 0 Comments

Family matters

A fortnight ago this Friday – on one of his rare visits back to Blighty – my son Barry flew in from the Mediterranean at 36 hours’ notice to spend what he intended to be four to six weeks “sorting out” his belongings before placing them in storage, renewing his commercial licence [...]

July 21, 2021 // 0 Comments

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