Author Archives: j futrell

Coronavirus – a September view from Padstow

Posted on September 28, 2020

Kim and I went blackberrying today to an evidently not-so-secret spot near Constantine Bay: our source heavily pre-picked by the look of the denuded brambles.  It had been chilly when we left the house, passers-by in puffa jackets and woolly … Continue reading →

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that’s enough of that then – the scourge of shamefluencers

Posted on September 1, 2020

  If your sense of style has been turned on it’s head and your concept of acceptable popular culture is in retreat then perhaps like me you are an unwitting victim of  – shamefluencing.  I became aware of this new … Continue reading →

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life in the slow lane

Posted on June 11, 2020

It’s hard to comprehend I know but I like my Mercedes Benz estate. Not much to crow about in car terms, I’ll admit. It’s a C-Class diesel and far from being the fasted thing on the road, and despite the … Continue reading →

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coronavirus – an April, May and June view from Padstow

Posted on April 2, 2020

June 12, 2020 With everyone and his dog claiming that ‘lockdown’ is somehow making us better more caring people with an enhanced sense of community is overlooking the bald fact that it’s also turning us into caricatures. Today Kim and … Continue reading →

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coronavirus – a March view from Padstow

Posted on March 27, 2020

Monday March 30, 2020 A sign of the loneliness this death is bringing came to Dennis Road this morning. A love, admired and respected member of the community Rosemary Brinham was take from her home, Wingfield House, in Dennis Lane, … Continue reading →

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Just A Piece Of Cake

Posted on March 12, 2020

I remember clearly where I was when I tasted my first palmier. I was following a designated tourist route around Marseille’s Old Port accompanied by a woman from the local office de tourism: she pointed over there for the embarkation … Continue reading →

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Kim and Sally at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Posted on February 8, 2020

Everyone is very excited because later this month one of Kim and Sally’s ‘yukata’ and ‘obi’ designs outfits, produced when they were the Bentley & Spens textile design partnership, is to be featured in Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk an eye … Continue reading →

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too much information

Posted on December 11, 2019

There’s a scene in The Kominsky Method, that wry Netflix study of septuagenarians, when recently widowed bitter sweet Alan Arkin turns to the man behind the wheel, his thespian best friend Michael Douglas, and with an expression of despair says: … Continue reading →

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The Quiet Life – or a hell of a holiday by Robin Banks

Posted on November 19, 2019

  I ought have known something was wrong when the guest I was expecting insisted on the telephone that I am a “nasty person”. The woman, her mother and partner, had flown down for a short break and wanted to … Continue reading →

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where am I? A very meaty issue?

Posted on October 31, 2019

I don’t know how many times I have driven east towards London over the course of 25 years on the A303, passing Stonehenge making for the M3? Let’s settle for 150 times, it can’t be far off. So imagine how … Continue reading →

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