It’s Been An Odd Few Days…

I didn’t want to start this latest dispatch on a melodramatic note, but please indulge me: if you never see or hear from me again, thank you for your patience, your hospitality and, above all, for buying the books. In case you didn’t already know, at the end of this week I am jetting off [...]

cheese, muck and radio

Question: what do a Jewish radio station, a new pair of wellies (green) and over 2,000 flavours of cheese have in common?

Answer: they were all on my “to do” list first thing this morning.

I know you were probably expecting a much funnier punch line after such a teasing build-up, but at least it’s factually accurate. Believe me, the past twenty-four hours arguably rank amongst the most surreal of my life. If you want funny, how about me running through one of my trademark in a set of Chef’s whites and a pair of wellington boots?

testing, testing, 1,2,3,4,5…….

In 1982, the German and, frankly, slightly crazy, director Werner Herzog made a film called Fitzcarraldo. It tells the story of an Irishman named Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, who hopes to makes his fortune by collecting rubber in Peru (surely “mining” isn’t the correct word – insert joke about hitting rubber with pickaxes here). Fitzgerald hatches [...]

Proud of my Commonwealth connections

I was always told that pride was a bad thing. Pride, so say the people who like to say such things, comes before a fall. C.S. Lewis, a scholar and dreamer of faraway, imaginary worlds. wrote, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you’re looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you.”

One Night In Paris

One of the most touching stories that I have ever heard involves a good friend of a good friend. When he was much younger, he suffered from serious asthma. It was debilitating to the point that he was unable to go outside for long stretches, and the more strenuous forms of physical activity would cause him to wheeze and splutter and, to use his own words, think that he was going to cough up both lungs.