London
About Isms He was Never Wrong: George Orwell at the Café Royal
George Orwell had an interesting chance encounter with a blasé conspiracy theorist at the Café Royal in 1940. (See left). The young…
Much Ado About Food: Kate Atkinson and Elizabeth David
Novelists and film makers often struggle to find the right period details to anchor their work in a particular era.…
Much Ado About Deception and Delusion: Kate Atkinson’s Transcription and London 1940
The sandwich was no comfort, it was a pale limp thing a long way from the déjeuner sur l'herbe of her…
Falling Wall
I began this post in 2017. The original focus was Louis MacNeice's's poem "Brother Fire". MacNeice was a fire-watcher during…
Back to the Future in Search of Doris Bass
I'm early but the staffroom is already blue with smoke and full of strangers who know each other. A row…
The Night City
If you've ever been young and full of dreams .... If you ever headed to the big city with your…
Blackbird
Blackbirds are notorious for being able to mimic the sounds they hear as they hop about the celestial chimney pots…
Unreal City: November 11th 1919
London on November 11th 1919 - a two minute silence at 11 o'clock to observe the first anniversary of the…
To Kill a Mockingbird on Trial
I haven't read Go Set a Watchman and I'm not sure I will. I did read the first chapter in…
Coal smoke and kippers
The farmers’ market is full of strange squash and gourds and pumpkins of every color, shape, and size. Autumn – …