Good Eggers

Count Egmont was a 17th century Dutch freedom fighter seeking independence from the Spanish Empire in the Low Lands in what became known as the Eighty Years War (1568  – 1648). His story was romanticised by Goethe in his 1787 play, Egmont.

Living in a Bubble

My bubble is very comfy. Robert and I have not lost our jobs because we didn’t have any and our income has not been reduced. Most people are not so fortunate.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Why Didn’t the Germans Win the War?

The Second World War and indeed the First – capital letters are an inadequate acknowledgement to the lives lost – are wars in which some of the combatants are known to me and probably you as family and friends. As a Pandemic Plus I’ve gained an incomplete insight into WW II.

Published
Categorised as History

Demolition Diary

Spokes of scaffolding have sprouted on the south west corner of the West London Magistrates’ Court to prepare for demolition. I intend to keep a photographic record of progress, as I did when the LAMDA extension was built.

Early Voting

“Vote early, vote often” is ascribed to corrupt elections in Chicago. In the UK the only way to vote early is by using a postal vote, a privilege much abused by Matron in old folks’ homes.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Trooping the Colour

Oh, Farrow & Ball, We must have Elephant’s Breath in the hall. There’s a room where I go for a drink, That will be Sulking Room Pink. Charleston Gray, London Clay, Setting Plaster and Card Room Green, Incarnadine, Borrowed Light, Skylight, What are these colours, pray? Eating Room Red for where I am fed, Pale Hound… Continue reading Trooping the Colour

Thank You, Hilary

I imagine when our Queen dies we will all feel a deep sense of loss and, of course, grief. Yesterday morning I got some inkling of how this will feel.

Playing Footsie

If I had a thousand bucks for every time I have been told or, more usually, read that stock-picking is a mugs’ game and a low cost tracker fund will, in the long run outperform stock picking.

Wotton House

This is Wotton House, built for Richard Grenville between 1704 and 1714. The wrought-iron screen and gates catch the eye as do the pavilions on the north and south sides of the house. The north pavilion, the Clock Pavilion, used to house the kitchen which must have ensured cold food by the time it got… Continue reading Wotton House