- 16 September 2013
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My sons bought me a surprise birthday present; a ticket to Leonard Cohen’s latest London concert. A wonderful gift since they know (only too well!) that I have been a Leonard Cohen fan since before they were born. I have heard Leonard Cohen live before – three or four years ago when he was doing concerts to replenish the savings he lost when he retreated into a monastery for a few years and his manager spent all his money. He […]
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- 17 August 2013
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Yesterday I went to Roehampton to watch the quarter finals of the Association Croquet World Championships 2013. This turned out to be a salutary experience. If you belong to a club and already play association croquet do not bother to read any further; it will be a waste of your time. However, if you think croquet is a joke and/or you play croquet in your back garden on a bumpy lawn where it is OK to hit your opponents ball […]
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I have lived in a flat in central London for 10 weeks now and am reflecting on differences to my life style. There are lots; no grass to cut and weeds to pull up, no Edwardian house to maintain and clean, no more trips to Henley in my Mercedes SLK with the roof down, no more messy hobbies (goodbye wobbly fish!), no more games of ping pong in the games shed at the bottom of the garden, no more grandchildren […]
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I have had a week of Wagner immersion at La Scala in Milan; four operas, four lectures, and two films (one, Tony Palmer’s Wagner, lasting 7 hours!). Had Richard Wagner still been alive, I like to think he would have congratulated us and dished out certificates – and we were only the audience! The reason why doing the four operas in the space of a few days feels like a Major Achievement is that it is. The operas are long; […]
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Larry was the owner-manager of a very successful laundry. It specialised in hotel and restaurant linen. Every day, including weekends, a fleet of vans set off on their respective rounds delivering large wicker baskets of clean linen and collecting the dirty linen. On the whole the drivers had good, friendly relationships with the staff they dealt with at the various hotels and restaurants. The drivers would frequently stop to enjoy a chat over a cup of tea and a cigarette. […]
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