Villa La Fleur, Konstancin, Garden Statuary
The photographs here are all of statues and sculptures I liked for their sinuous forms. I just wanted to reach out and stroke and touch. Couldn’t of course. But it was pleasant just to linger and look.
Autobiography
John Rowlands
Christmas 2012 John pulling a cracker with “Magick” I first met John in 1992 in the grand educational establishment that was known as Walford High School. Set in the westernmost part of London, not the east end as you might expect, it was in many ways a nightmare of a school, but as a source […]Read Post ›
Sir Hardly Nobody
A few weeks ago my best friend’s brother died. He was also my husband’s cousin, and I’ve written about Tom before, I think. It was sudden, and shocking, and extremely sad. Tributes and memories poured in and many people came to the funeral. Including Tom’s childhood friends and members of his group, Just an Odd […]Read Post ›
Roy Kerridge
Who was Roy Kerridge? I found this letter from 1985. I must have written to him at the Spectator. I must have sent him a cheque. But why? Who are these people he is writing about. I did find an obituary of him which makes for interesting reading. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/04/17/roy-kerridge-writer-chronicled-colourful-eccentric-byways-british/ He never did write back to […]Read Post ›
Irena Delmar – 100 Lat.
Happy Birthday. 8 May I interviewed this beautiful woman a couple of years ago for an entry in the souvenir programme of the polish Jubilee Ball. As it is her birthday today I thought I would share the article with you. She was such a delight to talk to, as she gave me tea in […]Read Post ›
Up to a point, Lord Copper
Maybe that’s a bit of an abstruse connection, but yesterday one of my husband’s dreams came true. It was our 44th wedding anniversary and we decided to escape the Coronation and come to Soller so he could do a course in copper patination. A few years ago we were in Malaga and happened to wander […]Read Post ›
Liberation- Russian Style
Originally posted on Life Through Basia's Eyes:
This was the title of the book that my father gave me to read which explained how he and his family, amongst many thousands of others, were “liberated” from their homes in February to April 1940, for being “enemies of the people”. The weeks before had seen…
The Last Witness
This film made by Piotr Szkopiak was due to be released five years ago both in Poland and in the English speaking world, but somehow was never properly distributed, although it is available on streaming services and very occasionally in independent cinemas. As I knew it dealt with the Crime of Katyń, or the Katyń […]Read Post ›
Thomas Michael Maramaros OStJ 1948 -2023
My best friend’s brother, my husband’s second cousin. Our lives were intertwined in many different ways over the last six decades. and now he is gone. This is the eulogy I gave at his funeral mass at Ealing Abbey last Thursday. I could have written much more of course – he was so well-known and […]Read Post ›
Babcia Kika – Krystyna Marber Korzeniowska
I found this beautiful picture of my mother-in -aw today. Of course that should be mother in law, but I rather like mother in awe.I have never seen this before, but it fell into my hands just now as I was looking through a box of her papers that we brought back from Poland recently. […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 