Perking the Pansies

An old pal of over four decades has just sold her gorgeous Victorian house in a leafy corner of old London Town. Down the years, hot gossip and saucy nudge-nudge, wink-wink titbits in her pretty city garden had become a firm and fabulous fixture in our social calendar – washed down with way too much fancy fizz. And so came the finale, our last performance. I shall miss it. For the girl from the…

We’ve finally recovered from our latest Hellenic odyssey to pretty Paxos and the Venetian glory of Corfu Old Town. While old Blighty baked under cloudless skies, we basked in Greek heat around a warm pool topped off by ouzo-fuelled steamy evenings of mirth and hot gossip with our travel companions. Thank you, you know who you are. A memory to savour was watching England beat Norway at the footie.…

I think it must be an age thing, but these days, we’ve become creatures of habit. When we stumble on something or somewhere we like, we tend to stick with it. For us, familiarity breeds comfort, not contempt. So once again we’re jetting off to the gorgeous Greek island of Paxos, followed by a couple of days re-sampling the Venetian delights of Corfu Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Well, I…

It was an immense privilege to be invited to see ‘Glitz’, the 2026 graduation gig from D16 Performing Arts College at the Gorleston Pavilion Theatre. The show was simply breathtaking. The uber-gifted cast – many of whom are destined for greater things – put on the glitz with infectious joy and energy. As the amazing Irene Cara sang in Fame, the dark and broody 1980 Alan Parker teen…

The final pitstop of our Victoria Wood jolly was in Lancaster, the county town of Lancashire. Our lodgings for the night were at the historic 17th-century Sun Hotel and Bar with fancy rooms. Like my creaking bones, the creaking floorboards gave its age away. Founded as a Roman fort in the 1st century CE, the handsome city, stuffed with listed buildings, is wrapped around the medieval castle…

Whenever we’re in London for our regular rendezvous with nearest and dearest, we try to fit in something a little different. And what could be more different than riding the Mail Rail? Back in the day when people still wrote actual letters, traffic gridlock in the smoky city was holding up the King’s mail. It just wasn’t on. The solution? Build a mini railway beneath the congested streets. From…

I received sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of someone I once knew well. Paul and I were firm friends at secondary school. We were in the same first year and bonded over comparing packed lunches in a ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ kinda way as we walked around the playing fields at break time. His sarnies were always more upper crust. It was 1972 and salami and other fancy…

Apologies for the ghost post, folks. A slip of the wrist. Normal services will resume soon! 🙂

Good old Norwich has been crowned the best place to live in the land for 2026 by The Sunday Times. Judges heaped praise on the city for its ‘historic character’ and ‘urban buzz’. No shit, Sherlock. Those in the know have known that for years. It was something that slapped us about the face when we first paddled up the River Wensum back in 2012. As I wrote for the Visit Norwich City of Stories…

At last, Liam’s liberation day has come to pass. Six weeks following surgery on his shoulder to repair a rotator cuff tear, Liam can finally fling that sling. He’s cleared the first hurdle in an ouch-ouch-ouch, pill-popping, slow-shuffle marathon that will last up to six months. We’re both mightily relieved. Me, because the end is nigh for my chief cook and bottle washer days and saintly Florence…

The relentless rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is fast impacting many aspects of our daily lives. I have no insight or wise words about where AI will eventually take us. Doubtless, as with all game-changing inventions and innovations, they’ll be winners and losers. The cottage spinners of old weren’t too pleased when jenny* started her spinning. Jenny might have put them out of business,…