George Sand has always been a very romantic figure in my imagination. Ever since I was at my boarding school in Ealing, when Mother Mary Dominic swore me to secrecy not to let the other nuns know that I knew, she divulged that Chopin’s lover, that very wicked woman, had actually been a pupil at […]Read Post ›
I like being a tourist and doing touristy things. I don’t go as far as wearing a kissmequick hat, but I like to see the sights and take the photos. Most of all I like quirky forms of transport. This holiday has been no exception. Now that we’ve settled in to our charming hotel, we […]Read Post ›
Last Tuesday I woke up thinking how uneventful my life has become. I had my breakfast, did a little light housework – very light indeed to be honest- and searched for my book. Never got round to reading it because my husband decided that his detached retina had reattached itself sufficiently for us to risk […]Read Post ›
This is the book I would like to have written. ST and I have so much in common. Not everyhing of course. She is much, much cleverer than me and much more knowledgeable – and much wittier, to boot. But – we both like buses, and talking to strangers, and looking out of the window, […]Read Post ›
Stephen and I were exhausted. For the best part of the week we had been travelling without knowing where we were going, where we were going to stay, what we were going to do , or whether we would be able to afford it. Crazy, really, but it wasn’t as stressful as it might have […]Read Post ›
I have been thinking a lot about Syria recently, especially in the light of Poland refusing to accept Syrian refugees – or any others for that matter. How is that possible? where the Polish diaspora is all over the world, her refugees and displaced persons – as they were known at the time- having been […]Read Post ›
For JR Marguerite was the Diana to my Anne of Green Gables – many were the glasses of “raspberry cordial” that we shared, many potatoes peeled and eaten, many world problems discussed and solved, many evenings spent together, many days out, and in; generally, someone I relied on to be there when I needed her […]Read Post ›
I thought I would write a bit more about our Africa trip today but I stumbled upon these photos of amazing food carvings in Paris about ten years ago and thought I would regale you with them. It’s amazing what you can do with a carrot or two and a beetroot. This was seen just […]Read Post ›
Or Lucky Grapes Happy new year. Or szczęśliwego nowego roku. I am sitting in the tube at the moment and opposite me are a young couple who are having a lovely time. He is teaching her how to say happy new year in Polish. She is having difficulties but is gamely practising. I am inwardly […]Read Post ›
