Not long back from a week in the French countryside. Time to reflect, to read, to sit and drink in the landscape, the deep blue sky and fields of maize and sunflowers. Terracotta tiled roofs, delicate orange poppies, pots of carmine geraniums, beds of red sage, lavender and rosemary. Self seeded walnut trees and catalpa. …
Tag: weather
the upsides of downpours
We've had a lot of rain recently. Slight understatement. And the weather seems to affect my spirits more than it used to. How I loved those grim louring skies when I first moved to London. And I do, still, sometimes, when I'm inside looking out, and not worrying about how drenched I'm going to get …
mucking in and agitating
I've recently discovered a wonderful community garden less than 5 minutes' walk from our flat. Yesterday, the first properly fine day after a long wet week, I dropped by for an hour armed with some onion sets kindly sent to us by Nick's mother in Norfolk. I am a gardening novice, but the Doddington Community …
evening buzz
A fine evening on Friday. Balmy would be overstating it, but spring was in the air, it hadn't rained for over a day, and it was light well beyond eight thirty. Near perfect conditions for the private view of the open studio exhibition at Johnsons Island. Brentford Is Brilliant, banners on the streetlights proclaimed, with …
word association football
I seem to have a very associative mind. I recently ordered a copy of the literary magazine, The Wolf, and now every time I see its cover I hear the Duran Duran song 'Hungry Like the Wolf''. I observe that it's raining (a not infrequent occurrence at the moment) and straightaway Nick Cave booms 'And …
a fair fortnight
Two weeks since we returned from Melbourne, and here are a few things that have eased my adjustment back into London life: The weather. We've had a spell of glorious, almost summery weather. Clear blue skies, temperatures into the low twenties, hazy sunshine. Crisp mornings and balmy evenings. Warm enough to sit outside a pub …
Hilaire 