At this moment our fridge, fruit bowl and vegetable basket contains the produce of many nations. Plenty of healthy eating grown (mainly) under plastic in southern Spain and shipped to the UK in lorries. Other produce comes from even further afield, some of it even by air. What if much of that food could be… Continue reading
African safari camps switch to solar power
To switch an entire tourist operation over to solar energy in one go is quite an achievement. But Wilderness Safaris are beginning to make a habit of it. This spring Mombo camp in Botswana became the latest in the company’s portfolio to become entirely solar powered. Wilderness invested US $860 000 in replacing diesel-powered generators… Continue reading →
Is the Volvo V40 the safest low-emission car around?
I just received a 6498 word e-mail from Volvo on their new five-door, five-seat hatchback, the V40, which was launched at the Geneva Motorshow on 6th March. That’s the size of quite a long magazine article. The company has an awful lot to say about this new model. At first I thought this was going to be… Continue reading →
Cars you don’t see so often at the petrol pump
Petrol prices have risen again in the UK. Campaigners call on the government not to raise duty, but surprisingly little is said about switching to higher mileage models. I’ve been looking at Volvo, who have a good reputation in this regard. The new Volvo V40 gives fuel consumption of 78.5 mpg. —— In the 1980s we… Continue reading →
A modern master returns to his roots – Hockney’s Yorkshire Wolds
Before our very eyes an exhibition of hundreds of paintings of trees and lanes and hills and grassy banks, set in a serene, wide-open, empty corner of England not many of us know well, is becoming one of the cultural triumphs of our times. The organisers of the Royal Academy’s David Hockney exhibition, A Bigger… Continue reading →
Afternoon tea, the great British success
This is a story of three variations on that great British success, afternoon tea. All quite different, but each, in its way meeting the same need, to halt and relax in the mid-afternoon, before a pot of tea, a plate of sandwiches, and a pyramid of cakes. We’ve been putting the afternoon on pause… Continue reading →