Author Archives: j futrell

I remember monkey bottles, kangaroo tails, and Frank Ifield

Posted on November 28, 2018 by j futrell

  I am fortunate to have worked through a period in journalism when the gifts, the perks – the freebies to apply the correct journalistic parlance – were worth having. My diary is housed within a handsome Papyrus leather book … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, London, media, Seashores, travel, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The Price Of Fame

Posted on July 3, 2018 by j futrell

It’s flattering to receive an exclusive invitation, especially one from a Michelin rated chef. It reaffirms one’s faith in elitism, that select order of hedonists that has has a lot of bad press recently for being too clever and influential … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, media, shopping, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Significant Time

Posted on June 13, 2018 by j futrell

As a rule I’m not one for significant dates. Anniversaries I like because I like being married, and there are thems who are gone whom I miss. As for significant dates along the landfill of life –  you can keep … Continue reading →

Posted in health, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mick Owens – the artful life of a generous man

Posted on March 13, 2018 by j futrell

Michael Owens looms disproportionately large in my life; a presence in four of the rooms of my home to be precise. For a man I shared a house with nearly 40 years ago, and whom for the past ten years … Continue reading →

Posted in London, media, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

when is a bookshop not a bookshop? when it’s in Hastings.

Posted on February 15, 2018 by j futrell

We hadn’t gone to Boulevard Books with a view to buying something to read. The thing is this secondhand bookshop in the centre of Hastings Old Town mutates into a Thai restaurant after dark and despite the walls in our … Continue reading →

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Vandals at work – the death of the bungalow

Posted on September 25, 2017 by j futrell

There soon won’t be any 1930s bungalows left. While conservation groups, local authorities and investors, watched closely by the likes of English Heritage, take pains to preserve ancient cottages as well as properties from the Victorian and Georgian eras anything … Continue reading →

Posted in gone west, London, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Last Orders At The End Of The World

Posted on September 6, 2017 by j futrell

There’s nothing quite like the imminent end of the world to focus one’s thoughts on food. Long before Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump the father of a school friend of mine set aside a bedroom in the large detached family … Continue reading →

Posted in health, shopping | 2 Comments

A good day for Tilly

Posted on September 4, 2017 by j futrell

Little Tilly will never know how close she came to never enjoying another beach walk. Today, September 4, 2017, was to have been the Staffordshire Bull Terrier’s last. No more runs on Harbour Cove with Asta, her jaws clenched ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Dogs, gone west, Seashores, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Hello, I’m Seamus – give me your money

Posted on November 16, 2016 by j futrell

  I’m not unique. We’ve all been there. The phone rings and a voice introduces themself as Andy, or John: One insisted to me his name was Seamus without so much of a hint of an Irish accent; although perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in shopping, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Asta and Judgement Day

Posted on August 11, 2016 by j futrell

It’s generally inadvisable to loose temper with a man of the cloth. The ramifications could go on for, well, a very long time. Of course I knew of the local vicar, the one who oversees much of community life around … Continue reading →

Posted in Dogs, Uncategorized | 1 Comment