Darkness at Noon
No, really, not a metaphor, it’s like so grey it’s dark at noon. It was time to say goodbye to London (Cricklewood) and say hello to London (Heathrow). But AF had cancelled the Thursday flight and bumped me to Friday. …
Stuck Between Hope & Doubt
Super Tuesday. (Not an election post!) Met Simon’s friend Michael in South Ken, who’s a member of several galleries/museums, so he took me (free) as a member’s guest to three different shows. I think most people who walk into the…
Uncle Bill Puts on Uniform
A lovely autumn day. Took the tube south to Kensington Gardens. It’s an obligatory tourist thing. They ask you at immigration upon departure. If you haven’t been to Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens they fine you. I just didn’t want…
The Vista to the Water Not Impaired
Today I headed out to Greenwich. It’s both a wonderful and a manic choice for a Sunday. Families, dog-walkers, couples, locals and tourists throng there. But there’s space, almost 200 acres, it’s spread out, and whether it’s museums, architecture, the…
Victorian Properties
Friday it was time to say goodbye to the comfort of service–the well-to-do families whose children spoke in unequivocally perfect English (they all seemed German) and businessmen with loud, curt voices that seemed to declare authority even when ordering a…
Let the Memory Live Again
Breakfast is included at the hotel. Not a buffet, you order off a menu. I ordered the vegetarian. Jeesh what a lot of food. Those faux meat sausages only took five and a half hours to digest Mid-morning I set…
The Day Today
The Day Today: That’s Armando Iannucci. I wish I had come up with that play on words, because the day today, how brilliant is that, but I didn’t. I put it on par with Bob Loblaw on Arrested Development, and…
Nice Going
Last day in Nice. I’m going to miss France; but not le smoking or the merde de chien… Another stunning Cote d’Azur October day. A tad hazier than yesterday but plenty warm, 22 plus humidity. Wanted to enjoy the weather,…
Oh Very Nice (“but maybe in the next world”)
What a gorgeous day. What an insanely beautiful day. What a nice day. I set out for a coastal walk. Where the rich look down on you View looking east from the path at Cap d’Ail 100% I would have…
Not Nice
This morning I took an early commuter train to Menton, which sits on the Italian border and, architecturally, seems much more like northern Italy than southern France. The plan was to visit the Jean Cocteau museum, then spend some time…