England Ireland 2018

#21 looking back at London

This morning at the hotel I sat in my preferred breakfast seat in front of the servery. The two tables there are outside the dining room ...

#20 final week at Kew

'When you buy or commission the work of a craftsman you buy more than just an item or service. You buy hundreds of hours of experimentat...

#19 Richmond..

I loved seeing the very sophisticated Petersham Nurseries shop at Covent Garden - I tried to walk in before it even opened! But I was jus...

#18 if you're tired of London, you're tired of life!

That's the gist of what Samuel Johnson said way back in 1777. I couldn't agree more! So when I woke on Saturday to grey skies and drizzle...

#17 from Kew to the big smoke

Picture a chef standing in front of you shucking ice-cold Mersea Island oysters as fast as you can eat them. That was Thursday night, alt...

#16 on the hunt

I've been looking forward to searching the archives at Kew for so long I could hardly believe that the day had finally arrived. I was so ...

#15 Kew

The weather in Cork was just brilliant the whole time I was there but today it dawned drizzly, windy and foggy! It wasn't a pea souper th...

#14 Draíocht = magic

If you've been following my research travels, you'll know there's been magic happening. When I told a man sitting next to me on a plane t...

#13 riding in my car, car

'I think Europcar is the best rental car company in the world,' I said seriously. 'That wasn't always the case,' said my helper at Cork A...

#12 the city of Cork

Get ready. This post's a marathon. I told you about my mate Tom on the aeroplane. The next Corkonian I met was the taxi-driver - I asked ...

#11 A quick Oirish story

On the way over in the plane, I was sitting in the window seat 1A, and in aisle seat 1C was a darling old fellow who said he was 87 but I...

#10 London Biennale and Spring

I've heard so much about Petersham Nurseries that I was determined to see the shop in Covent Garden. These hydrangeas grandiflora were ha...

#9 phone debacle and better things

Thursday was another miserably ghastly London day! -:) I took the circle line to Green Park, and on my way past, dropped in at the Ritz, ...

#8 day trip to Portsmouth

Like Frida I've had two significant events since I wrote last. On Wednesday I went to Portsmouth, and on Thursday I lost my phone at the ...

#7 Chelsea or bust

I almost burst but not quite - 22,000 steps and 16 kilometres. I know because I looked at my watch. It's not easy being a tourist. I migh...

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