I’m currently reading a book I know I bought but can’t remember why. It’s a kind of fisherman’s memoir and the only reason I can think it appealed to me is that though I’ve never fished in my life, fishing does have a palimpset presence in my history. My grandfather was an avid coarse fisherman and during the war, when…

 Well, the Monday morning quarterbacks have appeared on cue. A 37 year old samurai sword owner with a history of domestic violence and threatening  behaviour emerges from a short stretch in prison, shoots the mother of one of his children, also her new boyfriend and a traffic cop going quietly about his duty. The boyfriend is killed,…

Today, a couple of slices from the Fruit Cake Zone of Politics. Italian roads, as you will know if you’ve ever tried to join one of their slip-roads to hell, are dangerous places. Mindful of this the Italian government is going to impose a driving ban on anyone over the age of 80. Well, it’s a…

This is John Bercow, Speaker to the House of Commons and a man anxious to prove he’s a now kind of guy. He famously and I thought rather churlishly refused to wear the traditional full-bottom wig when he was installed on the Speaker’s chair. I mean, even that old growler Ken Clark, now Secretary of State for Justice,…

Mr F and I have been a little too much at the trough this past week. First we were in up in County Meath enjoying a very well fed weekend with friends at their country cottage. Homemade scones, eggs from contented chickens, you know the kind of thing. And I did very little to work…

Yesterday was the third anniversary of my mother’s death and as I was too far away to take flowers to her grave I decided to commemorate her by using her old Pyrex dish and making a Chicken and Mushroom Pie, complete with pastry rose bud and leaves and gilded with beaten egg. It turned out pretty…

I’M BACK! Well here I am, back in circulation though, as you can see, somewhat aged by the events of the past three months. My website, on the other hand, got all spiffed up during its vacation. Anyway, here’s the update. Our final weeks in Venice were spent cleaning behind closets, reinstating the landlord’s wormy…

Touched,shamed and flattered by the three people who’ve told me they miss my blog, not to mention all those anxious for news of my husband, I’ve conceded it really is time I posted. Most important item first, Mr F is doing just fine, thank you. He was told by one doctor (a man who apparently skipped the Handling…

Last Tuesday was to have been our Fun Day in London. We were going to the National Gallery and then to the theatre. Around 8am, chatting to me over his first cup of coffee, Mr F gave me a look I can only describe as baffled terror. He then turned away from me very slowly,…

 I woke on Wednesday to the news that the Massachusetts election was being called for the Republican candidate. Well, you have to hand it to Obama. He gets things done. He’s managed to disgust, annoy and worry all those voters in just one year of office. Even Lyndon Johnson took longer than that. Tomorrow I fly to…