I was in West Kensington the other day and suddenly I was five again and going to school for the first time. Actually, maybe not the first day, as the routine had been established. I was holding my grandmother’s hand. We would play word games on the way. I must have been able to read, […]Read Post ›
wersja poprawiona Dzisiaj pożegnaliśmy niezwykłą osobę. Czerwony acer powyżej jest stałym przypomnieniem naszej przyjaźni. Kiedy poznałam Marysię i jej siostrę Annę, obie miały włosy w kolorze tego drzewa. Podobnie jak Ania z Zielonego Wzgórza, obie stały się moimi bohaterkami, ze względu na swoją żywiołowość, niekonwencjonalność i zadziorną inteligencję, która przejawiała się w moich oczach poprzez […]Read Post ›
Today we said our final goodbye to an extraordinary person. The red acer above is a constant reminder of our friendship. When I met Marysia and her sister Anna they both had hair the colour of this tree. Like Anne of Green Gables they both became my heroines, for their vibrancy, unconventionality and fierce intelligence […]Read Post ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
I just found this rather interesting (to me, at least) photograph. Taken in Egerton Court about 1966, from the left are my Aunt Alice, my mother Grazyna, her mother in law, Pani Seydlitzowa, as I called her, and Dr Ewa Janaszewska, a kidney specialist from Poland. More about her another time. Pani Seydlitzowa, as you […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 