Some thirty years ago, I saw a film called White Buffalo. From memory, it starred Charles Bronson as an ageing Buffalo Bill obsessed and haunted by the idea of an albino buffalo that inevitably he has to confront (this being another parable of the Great American Dream which, amongst other things, involves eliminating anything that [...]
Christmas Eve, and a little French supper to prepare for tonight, including a cassoulet with salt pork (petit salé) and confit of duck. Unfortunately, I realised a couple of days ago that I had run out of saltpetre and, not having a cellar and therefore damp walls, and being far too far away from the [...]
For a brief few minutes today, we found ourselves whirled around in the maelstrom of the Christmas buying frenzy. Though we are able to recognise the signs, and are therefore able to avoid getting too close to those centres of commercial magnetism that exert the strongest pull, spinning the most powerful vortices, we were trying [...]
In common with many people we know, Sally and I are disenchanted with the madness that is the modern-day hyped-up Christmas, so we wondered what to do when given an invitation from Andy and Fleur at the New Harp to take part in a little carol singing under the recently erected Christmas tree outside the [...]
Life, as we know, is a journey. We really know nothing of that journey until it unfolds before us, confirming the observation made by Robert Louis Stevenson that to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. Never was this truer than today, when we set out after breakfast for Malvern. We had to [...]
Woke up late this morning. Went downstairs, made a cup of team, took it back upstairs and went back to bed. It was bliss. Last year it seemed that our busy season didn’t come to an end until halfway through November. This year, we can say quite categorically that it didn’t come to an end [...]
Here’s one for all you bird buffs out there (er, don’t know if you’re reading this, Richard . . .). We saw a white pheasant this morning. Idly looking up from my normal place at the sink, I just caught sight of it in the neighbour’s garden. It wasn’t moving much, just crouching in the [...]
We are relieved to report that the Great Egg Hunt has had a successful outcome. Oh – you didn’t know about that? Didn’t we tell you? We do apologise. That’s the problem with eggs of course. A lack of supply is very distracting, and when religion forbids us to set foot inside a supermarket to [...]
So December is upon us, and Christmas hysteria gets cranked up another gear. Only 24 shopping days left! And our first Christmas card dropped on the mat this morning . . . Well, call me a party-pooper, but I just can’t be doing with it. I have never seen myself as a victim of mass [...]