I saw my first prosthetic foot in Split in Croatia. It was towards the end of the 1990s, and the shocking, merciless Balkans war was only recently over. Young men in shorts, not attempting to hide their disability, leaned their crutches against open air cafe tables, and tried to return to normal. There was no… Continue reading
Prince of Wales celebrates namesake pub – showing the way to ‘local’s’ survival
They been playing a slow and mournful lament for the British pub over the past 10 or 20 years. Most of us who support and applaud this wonderful institution, the local, have a sad story of decline and closure. In (and within walking distance of) my village alone three old pubs are gone for good… Continue reading →
Statue of Liberty – the French Connection
There are two ways to gaze into the eyes of the Statue of Liberty. 1. Hire a helicopter and hope you get close enough to the face of the 151 foot (46m) high statue before twitchy New York security hauls – or shoots – you out of the sky. 2. Visit a museum in the… Continue reading →
London’s newest champagne bar opens at Andaz Liverpool Street
Imagine. It is 1937. The Hook Continental is leaving shortly from London’s Liverpool Street station for Harwich, to connect to the night ferry to the Hook of Holland and the ongoing train deep into the heart of a dark, anxious Continent. In the Great Eastern Hotel, next to the station, a couple stand at the… Continue reading →
Swansea shortlisted as candidate for City of Culture, 2017
Swansea has been shortlisted as one of the candidates for the City of Culture, 2017 Craning my neck I could see the dreamer’s window in one of the most famous back bedrooms in literature. From here, at no 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea, a 20th Century superstar looked down over the town to the “twin tongued…carol-singing sea” and… Continue reading →
Is this U.K.’s greenest housing estate? The Passivhaus rural idyll
Is this the U.K.’s greenest housing estate, this vision of snug, low energy Passivhaus life in the country? What is believed to be the largest Passivhaus development to date has been given the go-ahead. Councillors on Herefordshire Council voted in favour of the estate of 150 houses, on a 20-acre site in the village of Kingstone… Continue reading →