Category Archives: gone west

For Sonia

Posted on March 11, 2022 by j futrell

  I can see her over 20 years ago when she will have been younger than I am now in a black one piece swimming costume, slender and erect. The waist of a model and the shoulders of an athlete … Continue reading →

Posted in Dogs, gone west, Seashores, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Taking To The Hills – Malvern

Posted on January 25, 2022 by j futrell

  The most significant change to my life since being dumped from The Sunday Times by a man with a name synonymous with lavatory cleaning is no longer automatically being shown the best room in the hotel. Nowadays I must … Continue reading →

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A bigger SPLASH

Posted on November 5, 2021 by j futrell

  The most important thing for Kim and I to remember today (November 5) is to empty the bath. It remains half full or thereabouts for much of the week and sometimes longer, depending on how infrequently either of us … 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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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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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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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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coronavirus – a March view from Padstow

Posted on March 27, 2020 by j futrell

Monday March 30, 2020 A sign of the loneliness this death is bringing came to Dennis Road this morning. A loved, 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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The Quiet Life – or a hell of a holiday by Robin Banks

Posted on November 19, 2019 by j futrell

  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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