Rome is, arguably, one of the most handsome cities in the world. Not that I’ve been to every city in the world, of course, but that’s its reputation. But it’s also a city that’s in many ways defined by its debris, its dereliction, its waste. The glory of ancient Rome over the centuries became the [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Main thread'
Lewes to Rome in seven stages
August 30th, 2011 · 13 Comments · Main thread, Rome
After three or so years of deliberating, my wife Fran and I decided to move out of London to Lewes, in sunny East Sussex. Then, would you Adam & Eve it, Fran was offered a job – a dream job – in Italy. As Fran had always said she wanted to live and work in [...]
Tags:artesia·roma·rome·sleeper train
Flour
February 4th, 2010 · No Comments · Main thread
Quick inventory of the flour I’ve got: Strong white flour Strong wholemeal flour of an organic persuasion Stromg wholemeal flour ground at the watermill at Otterton in Devon Four grained malted flour from Swaffham Mill in Cambridge Self-raising white flour Plain white flour Tipo ’00′ flour Chickpea flour Rice flour Rye flour Barley flour White [...]
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Battle of the movie nice guys
October 2nd, 2009 · No Comments · Main thread
I recently caught Adventureland, the romantic comedy directed by Greg Mottola. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as a high school grad who has to get a job in a lame theme park when his family can’t afford to support his academic progress. He’s not just any high school grad though – he’s that US high school [...]
Tags:"jesse eisenberg"·"michael cera"·"nice guy"·"sensitive guy"·guy·movie·sensitive
Free fruit, and class questions
August 18th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Main thread
It’s late summer already. Sheesh. Still, got to love this time of year for all the free fruit. Spent Sunday gathering elderberries, blackberries and wild plums and making stuff. Also loads of rowan berries around, but I’ve not experimented with them (you can make wine, and a jelly which is presumably like rosehip jelly). Elder [...]
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Sod's law strikes again
August 3rd, 2009 · 1 Comment · Main thread
Friday – hot, dry and even summery. Sunday – warm and dry. Monday – warm and, so far, dry. Saturday: (Thanks to Ceri Thomas for the photo – and for holding the brolly while I flipped burgers…) Still, at least we had plenty of cake:
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Blog spellchecker
July 22nd, 2009 · 2 Comments · Main thread
Oh the irony – the spellchecker on my blog doesn’t recognise the word “blog”.
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Neighbours
July 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Main thread
A, B, C and D share a water supply, part of an intrastucture supplied by X. The water supply has a leak. While B and C are friendly, D won’t talk to C, and A won’t talk to B, C or D. A and D barely even leave their houses. Indeed, the son of A [...]
Institutionalised illiteracy
March 29th, 2009 · No Comments · Main thread
You do not “arrive into”, you “arrive at”. Yet the entire British rail network seems intent on using this mangling verb construction. “The train is now arriving into Basingstoke.” Excuse me while I wail in despair. I realise language is fluid, but come on: this is just ugly, dumb and wrong. It’s institutionalised illiteracy.
Economics of the high street
January 26th, 2009 · No Comments · Main thread
I consider myself a reasonably bright person, but one area I most decidedly struggle with is economics. When the newspaper goes on about “tumbleweeds blowing down your high street” I can’t quite reconcile it with a trip to the West End of London. Around Picadilly circus at 7.30 on the evening of Sunday 26 Jan [...]
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