Author Archives: j futrell

A Pub On The Road To Nowhere In Particular

Posted on September 14, 2021 by j futrell

  My favourite pub isn’t on the way to anywhere in particular. It’s off-the-beaten-track, its isolation playing a key part in why I rate it so highly after just two visits. I clearly recall departing on both occasions with little … Continue reading →

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Ever been to south west London

Posted on June 3, 2021 by j futrell

…the riverbanks, avenues and playing fields, beat clubs and bars and clothes shops that were the architecture of my first twenty or so years; the first three in Manchester notwithstanding. An adolescence upon a  stretch of Thames that winds south … Continue reading →

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Passenger On Board

Posted on May 27, 2021 by j futrell

The first four hours are the toughest. Traffic from the West End to, well, wherever? People, hordes of them, with one aim – to escape, to get to the pub, to see the kids, to watch television, to kiss the … Continue reading →

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happy birthday

Posted on April 25, 2021 by j futrell

  When winter’s gone and chills are scant, Our thoughts do turn to Polyphant. Therein amid a blaze of grandiflora blooms,  A steadfast clock and sun drenched rooms, Each one radiant with wood and dust and webs and brass. Where … Continue reading →

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Tied In Knots

Posted on January 13, 2021 by j futrell

  I’ll be frank, I didn’t know whether to be flattered or alarmed when a friend casually noted that I was wearing a tie while walking Asta on the beach. Not in a business suity sorta way with a white … Continue reading →

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It’s a dog’s life on Tregirls

Posted on December 28, 2020 by j futrell

The oceanic panarama at Tregirls’ changes all the time. This half mile stretch of sand from St.George’s Well to Harbour Cove, washed by the Atlantic and patterned with a patchwork imprint of thousands of webbed feet, changes from one hour … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus – a September view from Padstow

Posted on September 28, 2020 by j futrell

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 by j futrell

  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 by j futrell

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 by j futrell

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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